Find out how to quickly increase or decrease the alarm volume on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
Whether you need the volume on your alarm clock to be super loud to actually wake you up or really low so you don’t wake everyone else in the house, you can easily tweak it.
The alarm clock volume setting isn’t in the iOS or macOS Clock app, as you might think. So, here’s how to adjust it.
iPhone or iPad
iOS 27 finally adds a switch that lets you use separate volume levels for alarms and ringtones. Earlier, the alarm volume matched your ringtone volume, and there was no way to change it aside from using third-party alarm apps, which had their own downsides, such as being unreliable due to iOS limitations.
In iOS 27
- Open the iOS 27 Settings app and tap Sounds & Haptics.
- Turn off the Match Ringtone Volume switch so your alarm and timer volumes are no longer tied to your ringtone volume.
- Adjust the slider there to adjust the alarm and timer volume level.
In iOS 26 and older
- Open the Settings app and select Sounds & Haptics or Sounds.
- Move the slider under Ringtone and Alerts to change the alarm volume. Remember, as the feature’s name suggests, this will also affect the volume levels of your iPhone’s ringtone, notifications, and other alerts.
If you want to be able to change the alarm clock volume with the physical volume buttons on the side of your phone or tablet, you can do that after enabling ‘Change with Buttons’ in iOS Settings > Sounds & Haptics. Just remember that it will also affect the ringtone and notifications, so don’t reduce it too much, or you’ll start missing important calls, texts, and app notifications.
Note that the alarm sounds play even when your iPhone or iPad is in silent mode, or a Focus (like Sleep or Do Not Disturb) is active.
Mac
After you set an alarm inside the Apple Clock app on your Mac, just press the volume keys on the keyboard or use the sound slider in macOS Control Center to adjust the system volume, which also affects your alarm.
You can also go to System Settings > Sound and drag the output volume slider to your liking.
Other alarm tips for you: