How to Set Alarm on Apple Watch

Plus how to delete and cancel Apple Watch alarms

by Robert M LeFebvre
Rob LeFebvre has been a freelance technology writer for 10 years and an educator for 20. His articles have appeared in 148Apps, Cult of Mac, Engadget, and many others.
Updated December 04, 2019

Setting an alarm on Apple Watch is pretty straightforward. You have two ways to do so: with Siri and your voice or with your fingers on the screen. Any alarms you set will alert you at the specified time, even if your Apple Watch is in nightstand mode (a handy feature if you’re using your wrist piece to wake you up). Once you’ve set an alarm, it’s also fairly easy to cancel and delete it. Let’s take a look at how to set an alarm on Apple Watch and manage all the alarm features.

Use Siri to Set an Alarm on Apple Watch

Asking Apple’s digital assistant to set an alarm on Apple Watch is similar to doing so on the iPhone. 

  1. First, make sure Siri is enabled on your Apple Watch. Tap Settings > Siri. You can turn “Hey Siri,” Raise to Speak, and Press Digital Crown on here (or all three) to choose how to activate Siri. 

    Settings, Siri, Siri options on Apple Watch

  2. Next, invoke Siri with your chosen method and tell it to set an alarm. “Hey Siri, set an alarm for 6:15 PM.” or “Set repeating alarm for 5 pm daily.” You can also use relative time: “Set an alarm for 45 minutes from now,” or “Set a weekend alarm for noon.” 

    Siri,

  3. Now your alarm is set. 

How to Set An Alarm on Apple Watch

You can also tap your way to an alarm right on your Apple Watch.

  1. Tap the Alarm icon on your watch face (it’s the orange clock icon).

  2. Tap Add Alarm (you may need to scroll down past any other alarms you may have set already).

  3. Use the Digital Crown to change the hour you want the Alarm set at, then tap the minutes and rotate the Crown to change them. Tap AM or PM to choose the time of day. 

  4. Tap the Set button and then you’ll see your new alarm in the list of alarms on your Apple Watch. 

    Alarm icon, Add Alarm button, Set button on Apple Watch

  5. Tap the green toggle to turn your alarm off and on. 

  6. Tap the alarm time to set options like Repeat, Label, and whether you want to let the alarm snooze or not. 

    Alarm time, editing options for Apple Watch

How to Cancel Your Alarm Clock

Canceling or deleting an alarm from your Apple Watch is also straightforward. 

  1. Launch the Alarm app on your Apple Watch.

  2. Tap the alarm you want to delete.

  3. Scroll down to the bottom and tap the Delete button there. There is no confirmation step, so you’ll need to re-make the alarm if you delete by mistake. 

    Alarm icon, Alarm to delete, Delete button on Apple Watch

Set Push Notifications for Your Alarm

The alarms you set on your iPhone can automatically appear on your Apple Watch, too. 

  1. Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, and select My Watch in the lower left corner of the screen.

  2. Scroll down to tap Clock, then toggle Push Alerts from iPhone to green. 

    Watch icon, Clock button, Push Alerts from iPhone toggle ON on iPhone

Now your Apple Watch will alert you when an alarm from your iPhone goes off, letting you snooze or dismiss that alarm from your wrist. You won’t be alerted on your iPhone when your Apple Watch notifies you. 

Snooze Your Apple Watch Alarm in Nightstand Mode

Once you’ve set an alarm on your Apple Watch, you can snooze and/or dismiss the alarm while the watch is in Nightstand Mode.

  1. Place your Apple Watch on its side, buttons facing up. You’ll see the date and time, its charging status, and the time of the next alarm you’ve set. 

  2. When the alarm goes off, you can press the Digital Crown to snooze the alarm for 9 minutes, or you can press the Side button to dismiss the alarm completely.

    Nightstand mode on Apple WAtch
    Apple Inc

  3. That's it! Now you can set alarms on your Apple Watch with ease.