Sunrise: Gentle Wake Alarm — Help

Check these, one at a time:

1. In Sunrise, check the alarm is switched on, with the right time and days, and that you didn’t skip that morning.
2. Check Sunrise can set alarms: in Sunrise’s Settings, Backup alarm says Alarms allowed. If it doesn’t, allow alarms on Sunrise’s page in the Settings app (tap Apps, then Sunrise).
3. Check the alarm volume: in the Settings app, tap Sounds & Haptics and drag the Ringtone slider up (Ringtone and Alert on iOS 26). See “My alarm is too quiet” below.
4. With Seashore, Birdsong, Waterfall or your own sound, also turn the volume up with the volume buttons. The Tonight sheet tells you if it’s low.
5. Open Wake history in Sunrise to see what happened that morning.

Your alarm uses the iPhone’s own alarm system, so it rings even if Sunrise is closed. If your free trial has ended, alarms stay off until you unlock Sunrise.

Sleep or Do Not Disturb may be hiding it. Let Sunrise through in each one:

1. Open the Settings app (the grey gear icon on your Home Screen), then tap Focus.
2. Tap Sleep (or Do Not Disturb).
3. Under Allow Notifications, tap Apps.
4. Tap Add.
5. Search for Sunrise, choose it, then tap the tick at the top right.

Then do the same for the other one, if you use it. In Sunrise, Settings → Bedtime reminder → Reminders not arriving? shows each step.

Still nothing? Check that notifications are on for Sunrise (in the Settings app, tap Apps → Sunrise → Notifications), and that Remind me is on in Sunrise’s Settings, under Bedtime reminder.

This only affects the reminder. Your alarm rings either way.

The light only works while bedside mode is open on the screen.

1. Start bedside mode before you sleep and leave it open.
2. Don’t lock your iPhone with the side button or swipe Sunrise away.
3. Using Screen Time Downtime? Keep Sunrise open overnight by adding it to Always Allowed (below).

If you leave bedside mode, your alarm still rings, but without the sunrise.

Keep Sunrise open overnight with Screen Time

1. Open the Settings app (the grey gear icon on your Home Screen), then tap Screen Time.
2. Tap Always Allowed. If you don’t see it, tap App & Website Activity and turn it on first.
3. Under Choose Apps, tap + next to Sunrise. (If you see Add Apps instead, tap it, choose Sunrise, then tap Done.)

Sunrise moves to Allowed Apps and stays open overnight. If a parent manages your Screen Time through Family Sharing, ask them to add Sunrise. In Sunrise, Settings → Bedtime reminder → Using Screen Time Downtime? shows each step. Downtime only affects the sunrise and bedside mode: your alarm rings either way.

Set up a shortcut once, and bedside mode starts by itself when you plug in at night, if your next alarm is within 16 hours. It takes about a minute. In Sunrise, go to Settings → Bedside mode → Start automatically, which shows each step in the Shortcuts app.

iOS 27

1. Open the Shortcuts app and tap +. If it asks what you want your shortcut to do, tap ✕.
2. Search for Charger, then tap Charger (under Automation: “When this device connects to power”).
3. Leave Automation on and Notify off (tap the arrow next to Connects to see them).
4. Search for Sunrise and tap Start bedside mode. Leave Only at night and Open When Run on (tap › next to Start bedside mode to see them).
5. Tap the back arrow. The shortcut is saved as Start bedside mode.

If you set this up before iOS 27 and it no longer starts bedside mode, set it up again with these steps.

iOS 26

1. Open the Shortcuts app, tap Automation, then New Automation (or +).
2. Choose Charger.
3. Leave Is Connected chosen, choose Run Immediately, then tap Next.
4. Search for Sunrise and tap Start bedside mode. Its Only at night and Open When Run settings are on by default, so it only opens Sunrise at night. Shortcuts saves the automation straight away.

Then, in Sunrise, choose the hours it can start in (Start automatically → Only start when). Unlock your iPhone before plugging it in, so Sunrise can open.

If Sunrise is already open when you plug in, it asks “Plugged in. Start bedside mode?” instead. You can also start bedside mode from the bedtime reminder: touch and hold it, then tap Start bedside mode.

• The night before: tap Skip tomorrow on Home. Tap Undo skip if you change your mind.
• In bedside mode, from 2 hours before your alarm: use Slide if you’re up, or tap Exit bedside mode, then I’m up.
• On the Lock Screen, from 2 hours before your alarm: tap I’m up, then tap again to confirm. Undo is there until the alarm time.

Only that morning is skipped, with its backup alarm and bedtime reminder. Your next alarm is unchanged.

The alarm tone and the backup alarm ring at your iPhone’s alarm volume, like the Clock app, even with the silent switch on. To turn it up:

1. Open Settings, the grey gear icon on your Home Screen.
2. Tap Sounds & Haptics (under Notifications).
3. iOS 27: under Ringtone, drag the slider up. Alarms ring at this volume while Match Ringtone Volume is on, under Alarms and Timers. If it’s off, drag the Alarms and Timers slider up instead.
   iOS 26: under Ringtone and Alert, drag the slider up.

With Change with Buttons on, the volume buttons change it too. The volume buttons alone may not change your alarm volume.

Seashore, Birdsong, Waterfall and your own sounds play at Sunrise’s own volume instead: Ambient volume in Edit alarm (40% to start), a share of your iPhone’s volume, which the volume buttons set. The Tonight sheet tells you if it’s low. In Sunrise, Settings → Bedtime reminder → Alarm too quiet? shows each step.

While bedside mode is on screen, your watch isn’t changed. When you leave Sunrise or lock your iPhone, Sunrise shows bedside mode on the Lock Screen, and your Apple Watch shows it too.

To stop it opening by itself, open Settings on your Apple Watch, tap Smart Stack, then Live Activities, and turn off Auto-Launch for Sunrise, or turn off Sunrise there altogether.

Your alarm rings either way.

• Sunrise can use MP3, M4A and WAV files up to 10 minutes long and 50 MB. In Edit alarm, tap More sounds, then Add a sound from Files.
• A file in iCloud Drive is downloaded first, so you need to be online. If it still won’t add, open it once in the Files app, then try again.
• Songs from Apple Music can’t be used, because they’re protected.

Bedside mode keeps the screen on all night, very dim. Plugging in is best, and you’ll wake up fully charged.

On battery it uses some charge overnight, so start with plenty. A lower night brightness, or Blackout, uses less.

The torch comes on for the last third of the sunrise, and only while bedside mode is open. If your phone gets warm, it dims, then turns itself off.

Check the alarm’s light is set to Torch or Both in Edit alarm. New alarms use the screen only.