An alarm clock is the last thing most of us want to hear in the morning. The typical loud, blaring alarm sounds don’t really help matters either. If you’re using an iPhone for your morning alarms, though, it is actually possible to change your alarm sound.

There are several ways you can change the alarm sound, and you can potentially use anything you want to wake you up in the morning, from calming noises to your favorite song. There are only a few steps needed to do this, and you can change your alarm sound as much as you want.

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    Someone holding a small alarm clock

    How To Change the Alarm Sound on iPhone

    You can change iPhone alarm sounds directly from the Clock app where you set your alarms. There are a few different ways to change your alarm depending on what kind of sound you want.

    1. On the iPhone Alarm Clock app, go to the Alarm section and tap on Edit in the top left corner.

    Edit button selected in Alarm window

    2. Select the alarm you’d like to change the sound for, then tap on the Sound option in the next screen.

    Edit Alarm screen

    3. There are three ways you can change your alarm sound under either Store, Songs, or Ringtones.

    Sound, Store or Ringtones options

    Using the Tone Store

    By selecting the Tone Store option, you’ll be brought to an iTunes page where you can search through the tone offerings and buy a new alarm sound to use. You can choose from songs, TV and movie dialogues, sound effects, and more. Any tone here will cost $1.29.

    Tone Store screen

    After purchasing a new tone, it will show up in the Ringtones section of your alarm sounds. You can select it as your alarm tone for that specific alarm.

    Using a Song

    You can also choose a song you have downloaded on Apple music to use as your alarm. Under the Songs section, tap on Pick a Song. You’ll be brought to your Apple music library and can select a song from there.

    If you don’t use Apple music but still want to use a song as your alarm, a better option would be to buy a song’s tone from the Tone Store as mentioned above.

    Using Ringtones

    All the existing alarm tones you have bought and/or downloaded are listed under the Ringtones section. There are also many default alarm sounds available you can choose from. At the very bottom, you can also select None to turn off the alarm sound completely.

    Sound > Ringtones

    How To Upload Your Own Ringtone

    You can also use any sound you have downloaded to your computer and upload it to your iPhone to use as a ringtone. Here’s how:

    1. Make sure you have iTunes downloaded on your computer.

    2. Download an iPhone ringtone online. Note that this needs to be a .M4r file.

    3. Connect your iPhone to your computer via USB, and choose the Trust option on your iPhone.

    4. In iTunes, select the iPhone device icon to the left of Library.

    iPhone device icon

    5. In the left sidebar, select the Tones option.

    Tones option

    6. Drag and drop the ringtone into this Tones section.

    The ringtone will now show up under Tones, and you can select it on your iPhone to use it.

    Changing the Alarm Vibration

    Under the Sound option, you can also change the vibration pattern of your iPhone when the alarm is going off.

    1. Select Vibration from the Sounds screen.

    2. The default selection is Synchronized. You can change this by selecting any of the options under Standard.

    Vibration options

    3. Under Custom, you can create your own vibration pattern. Select Create New Vibration and tap on your screen in the pattern you want the vibration in. Tap Stop when you’re done, and then tap Save.

    New Vibration window

    4. You can also choose to have no vibration by selecting None at the bottom of the screen.

    The vibration function is a good choice if you want to use the alarm feature without having a sound going off.

    Using Apps to Change the Alarm Sound

    Another way you can change your alarm sound is by using apps on the App Store. There are a few different kinds you can use to change alarm sounds.

    These apps may have different sounds you can use. For example, the app Sleep Cycle has calming alarm sounds that go along with its alarm.

    You can also download apps that allow you to download ringtones for free. These usually have libraries of sounds that you can use as your own alarm tones. A couple of these apps are Best Ringtones 2021: Songs and Zedge.

    Changing Your Alarm Sound for A Better Wake-Up

    The first thing you hear when you wake up can be an important factor in how the rest of your morning goes. So choosing an alarm sound you like and would feel better waking up to can be a great way to make your mornings easier. By following the above steps, you’ll be able to get an alarm sound that you can enjoy.