4 Ways To Keep From Sleeping Through Your Android Alarm

I LIKE TO think of myself as a reasonably punctual, conscientious guy who shows up when he says he’s going to show up.

- Ben Patterson

So imagine my embarrassment when I dozed right through my Android alarm on a recent morning, missing an early meeting and earning a reproachful glare from my hungry 4-year-old.

What happened? I did, after all, have my Android Clock app set to wake me at 6:30 A.M.., and it’s not like I didn’t hear the buzzer; it simply never went off.

As it turns out, there are plenty of reasons why an Android alarm might fail to buzz. Maybe your Do Not Disturb rules are to blame, or perhaps you’re being a tad too aggressive with Total Silence mode. And even if your Android alarm does buzz, you might have the volume set too low, or maybe it’s just too easy to hit the snooze button.

Check your Do Not Disturb rule settings

As you may already know, Android’s Do Not Disturb mode (go.pcworld. com/andsdnd) lets you set “rules” that turn on your quiet times automatically—and if you’re not careful, your Do Not Disturb rules may override any alarms you’ve set.

For example, I had a Do Not Disturb rule that set my Android device to Total Silence mode from 10 p.m. to 7 A.M.. When I tried setting an alarm for 6:30 A.M.., the alarm never went off, and I slept like a baby right through a meeting.

Now, if you tap the Do Not Disturb button in Quick Settings to manually switch your device to Total Silence mode, you’ll get a warning if you’re about to silence an alarm.

But Android will let you set an alarm during an upcoming Total Silence period without complaint, so be mindful of any Do Not Disturb rules that might conflict with your alarms.