Find out what to do if you constantly see an “Alarms Access is Off” popup when you open the Reminders app on your iPhone running the latest version of iOS 26.
Why this happens
iOS 26.2 and later include a thoughtful feature that lets you set an alarm for very important reminders, so you don’t miss them. All you need to do is turn on the “Urgent” switch when adding the task in the iPhone Reminders app.
Using this feature requires the iOS 26 Reminders app to have access to your alarms. And if you didn’t allow that and have still set up an urgent reminder with an alarm, you’ll see the “Alarms Access is Off” popup every single time you reopen the Reminders app.
Here’s how to fix this.
Turn off the reminder alarm
Since the “Alarms Access is Off” popup appears only if you have enabled the ‘Urgent’ switch for a reminder, turning it off will help fix that.
1) Open the Reminders app and tap Not Now on this popup.
2) Tap the Urgent tile from the top to see all your reminders with alarms. If you don’t see the Urgent tile, move to the next solution.
3) Tap the added task and then tap the info button ⓘ next to it.
4) Turn off the Urgent switch and tap the checkmark to save this reminder without the alarm.
5) Now force-close and reopen the Reminders app, and you’ll no longer see the “Alarms Access is Off” popup.
Allow alarms access
In case you do want to use reminder alarms, follow these steps to allow the Reminders app to access the Alarms features. Doing so will let you get loud alerts when it’s time for an important to-do, and the “Alarms Access is Off” popup will never appear again.
1) Open iOS 26 Settings and tap Apps from the bottom.
2) Select Reminders from the list of applications.
3) Turn on the switch next to Alarms.
4) Force close and reopen the Reminders app, and the popup will no longer appear.
Restart your iPhone
If you have already followed one of the steps above but still see the popup, it may be due to a temporary glitch. Just turn your iPhone off and back on to fix this.
Also, ensure your device is running the latest version of iOS 26.
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