* This article is from our Tip of the Day newsletter. Sign Up. *
Getting up in the morning can be challenging, and waking up to blaring or jangly alarm tones can make it even worse! The good news is that if you use your iPhone as an alarm clock in the mornings, you can choose to wake up to your favorite song instead.
Why You'll Love This Tip
- Wake up to your favorite tunes instead of the default (and sometimes annoying) alarm sounds.
- Pick different songs for each alarm, so you can choose just the right music for waking up or hitting the gym.
How to Change Your Alarm Sound to a Song
If you enjoy learning about your iPhone features, sign up for our free Tip of the Day. To change your alarm sound to a song, you need to own the song or have an Apple Music subscription. We'll start by quickly covering how to make sure your song has been downloaded (otherwise, the alarm likely won't play the music), then we'll show you how to make a song your alarm sound.
- Open the Apple Music app.
![Home screen with Music app icon marked.]()
- Locate the song you want to use for your alarm tone. I prefer to use the Search tab to look for a specific song title or artist.
![Apple Music app with Search button marked.]()
- Once you've opened the album with your chosen song, tap the More icon for the album (in the upper right corner) or tap the More icon directly to the left of the song title.
![Apple Music app with an album open and the three dot buttons on the album and on a song marked.]()
- If you see Add to Library at the top of the menu, tap it (if it says Delete from Library instead, skip to the next step). After you see the confirmation that the song or album has been added, tap the More icon again.
![Apple Music app with the three dot button menu for an album open and Add to Library marked.]()
- Once you've added a song or album to your Library, tap Download from the menu to make it available for offline listening.
![Apple Music app with the three dot button menu for a song open and the Download option marked.]()
- Open the Clock app.
![Home screen with Clock app icon marked.]()
- Tap the plus icon in the upper right corner to create a new alarm (or tap an existing alarm to edit it).
![Clock app screen with the plus icon button marked.]()
- Tap Sound.
![Clock app Add Alarm screen with the Sound option marked.]()
- Tap Pick a song.
![Tap Pick a Song]()
- From your Library screen, tap Downloaded.
![Clock app in song Library screen with Downloaded option marked.]()
- From here, locate the song or album you previously added. If you downloaded the song while following the steps above, it should appear at the top of the Recently Downloaded section. Tap the album to select a song.
![Clock app in Downloaded screen for Library with an album in the Recently Downloaded section marked.]()
- Tap the song you wish to use from the album.
![Clock app with downloaded album open and the only shown song marked.]()
At this point, you'll be returned to the Clock app and the song will be selected as the alarm sound. Finish setting the alarm as you usually would, and it will alert you at the set time with your chosen song.
Is Your iPhone Alarm Not Playing the Song?
The Clock app will allow you to select any song that you've added to your Library, but in my experience, it will only actually play the song when the alarm sounds if it has been downloaded. When I tried this with a song that hadn't been downloaded, it played the default alarm sound instead. So if your alarm isn't playing your chosen music, double-check that the song has been downloaded from Apple Music and added to your Library.
