How To Set Alarm On Android

Tips
1

I just switched to an Android phone and I can’t figure out how to properly set a repeating alarm using the built‑in Clock app. I’m not sure which settings control sound, vibration, and days of the week, and I don’t want to miss an important early morning meeting. Can someone explain the steps clearly and mention any common mistakes to avoid?

2

On most Android phones the steps are close, but labels move a bit between brands. Here is the general way and where to find each thing you asked about.

  1. Open the Clock app
  2. Go to the Alarm tab
  3. Tap the big plus icon or “New alarm”

Time
4. Set the hour and minutes
5. Confirm with OK or Done

Repeat on specific days
6. Look for “Repeat” or day letters (M T W T F S S) under the time
7. Tap “Repeat”
8. Select the days you want, for example Mon to Fri for work days
9. Make sure they highlight or get a check mark

Sound
10. On the alarm edit screen tap “Alarm sound” or “Ringtone”
11. Pick a sound from the list
12. Use the volume keys while a test sound plays to set loudness
13. Some phones have a separate “Alarm volume” slider in
Settings → Sound & vibration → Alarm volume

Vibration
14. On the alarm edit screen look for “Vibrate”
15. Toggle it on if you want the phone to buzz
16. If the toggle is missing, check Settings → Sound & vibration and look for a global “Vibrate for alarms” option

Label
17. Tap “Label” or “Name” if you want something like “Wake up” or “Gym”

Smart / gradual volume (optional)
18. Some phones have options like “Gradually increase volume” or “Alarm duration” in the three dots menu inside Clock → Settings
19. Turn on gradual volume if you do not want to get jump scared at 6am

Quick checks so you do not oversleep
20. Make sure the alarm toggle is on in the main Alarm list
21. Check the status bar for a small alarm clock icon
22. If you use Do Not Disturb, go to Settings → Notifications → Do Not Disturb → Alarms and make sure alarms are allowed
23. Keep alarm volume above zero and not on silent

Brand notes
• Samsung
Clock app → Alarm → tap alarm → “Repeat”, “Alarm sound”, “Vibration”, “Snooze” are all on one screen.
• Google Pixel / near stock
Very similar, but “Alarm volume” lives in system Sound settings and the Clock app has “Gradually increase volume”.
• Xiaomi / OnePlus
Same idea, sometimes they put “Repeat” under a small arrow or “More” section.

If something still looks off, say your phone brand and Android version and people here can point to exact menu names.

3

Couple of extra angles to add on top of what @viajeroceleste wrote, since Android loves hiding stuff in weird places:

  1. Check what happens when the phone is on silent or vibrate

    • Go to Settings → Sound & vibration
    • Look for Alarm volume and make sure it is not linked to the main volume.
    • On some phones, alarms still ring at full alarm volume even if the phone is on silent, but on others Do Not Disturb can block them if misconfigured.

  2. Do Not Disturb gotcha

    • Open Settings → Notifications → Do Not Disturb (sometimes “Notifications → Do Not Disturb,” sometimes directly under Sound).
    • Make sure Alarms are explicitly allowed.
    • I disagree a bit with the idea that “just turning on alarms is enough” here. On some OEM skins, if you use custom DND schedules, alarms can still be muted unless you re-add them as allowed.

  3. Check that it’s actually repeating and not a one‑off

    • After setting the days (Mon–Fri etc.), back out to the main Alarm screen in the Clock app.
    • Under the time, it should say something like “Every Mon, Tue, Wed…” or “Weekdays”.
    • If it only says “Tomorrow” or shows a single date, it’s not properly set to repeat.

  4. Avoid overlapping or duplicate alarms

    • If you imported stuff from your old phone, you might have multiple alarms close together.
    • Scroll your alarm list and either delete or toggle off extras so you know exactly which one is the “real” daily alarm.
    • This also matters because different alarms can have different sound/vibration settings, which gets confusing fast.

  5. Test it without waiting till morning

    • Set a test alarm for 3–5 minutes in the future.
    • Lock the screen and leave it alone.
    • When it goes off, confirm:
      • Sound is the volume you want
      • Vibration is on/off like you prefer
      • Snooze and dismiss buttons behave how you expect

  6. Battery / power saving traps

    • Go to Settings → Battery (or “Battery & performance”).
    • Look for Battery optimization or Background restrictions.
    • Make sure the Clock app is not heavily restricted.
    • Some aggressive OEMs (looking at you, Xiaomi & some others) can delay alarms if the app is restricted, especially for long‑term or repeating ones.

  7. If you really hate the default sound choice layout

    • On most phones, you can drop your own audio file in a folder like Ringtones or Alarms and it’ll show up in the alarm sound list.
    • That way you’re not stuck picking from the same 8 slightly-annoying tunes.

In short, the basics live in the Clock app like @viajeroceleste described, but the “not oversleeping” part is mostly about:

  • Alarm volume slider
  • DND exceptions
  • Battery optimization
    and running at least one test alarm so you’re not debugging it at 6 a.m. with bed hair and panic brain.