Some Google Pixel Alarms Suddenly Stop Working
There was a time when we all had special alarm clocks on our bedside tables to wake us up in the morning. I bet a smartphone will do the job for most of us ( whether we like it or not ).
Here’s the thing about alarms, though: they’re supposed to go off every time they’re scheduled to go off. There is no acceptable failure rate since presumably you set your alarm for a specific time for a good reason. You may have a job, an interview, a meeting, or many other important obligations, and not all of them will tolerate the phrase “my alarm didn’t go off” as an excuse. So, alarms must work, and at this time, alarms installed on Google Pixel cannot be trusted.
Alarms currently don’t work on Pixels.
There’s something strange going on with Pixel alarms, as evidenced by this Reddit thread on r/GooglePixel . One user said that the alarm on his Pixel 9 didn’t go off this morning, causing him to be late for work. This wasn’t a one-time worry either (not that the situation would have gotten any better); rather, it was the user’s pre-scheduled Monday through Friday alarm that had been running for years, according to the poster.
As you browse the thread, you will find posts from other users experiencing similar alarm problems. Some even received notifications from Android that the alarm didn’t go off, which is at least somewhat helpful. (You won’t have to spend the entire day wondering if it was your phone that crashed or if you turned off the alarm in your sleep.) However, not all affected users were so lucky: Another user claims to have five alarms set every morning and none of them went off, with no notifications of any failure on the Android side. Interestingly, one user says he woke up late, but his Pixel reported that there was an upcoming alarm for a time that was already in the past – as if the phone thought it was currently earlier than it actually was.
This may not just apply to Pixel phones. One commenter believes this is an issue with alarms in the Google Clock app on Android 15 that a user encountered on their OnePlus device. However, Android Authority was unable to reproduce the issue on its end , so it’s possible that this issue isn’t affecting all Pixel phones or all Google Clock users. However, there are enough reports to cause some concern.
Why doesn’t my Pixel alarm work?
It’s unclear what causes this particular problem, but this isn’t the first time smartphones have had problems with alarms. Last year, Google admitted that there was a bug when deleting saved alarms on Android, causing a similar issue. You may also have problems with Google Assistant turning off the alarm too quickly , or with your Pixel Watch beeping too early or, worse, too late.
Before any Apple fans get too complacent, note the same difficulties as on iOS. Last year, Apple confirmed problems with iPhone alarms , as users reported their alarms weren’t going off. Some even say problems are still occurring.
The short answer is that there’s likely a bug that’s causing your Pixel or Google Clock to not turn on the alarms you’ve set. As of this writing, Google has not publicly commented on the issue, but a Reddit poster said that Google support has reached out to them. If this is a bug, we hope Google fixes it quickly.
How to Bypass a Broken Pixel Alarm Clock
While we wait for a potential fix from Google, it’s safe to say that the Google Clock app isn’t currently the best option for those who want to make sure they wake up on time. Luckily, there are a surprising number of alarm clock apps you can switch to if you don’t trust Google’s built-in solution. Give it at least one chance, at least until we get more clarity from Google about the situation.
Alternatively, you can rely entirely on another device for your morning alarms. If you don’t have a real alarm clock these days, you may have other technology that doesn’t support Google Clock, like a smart speaker. However, this is definitely a nuisance since setting alarms is a basic function that you would expect a smartphone to be able to handle.