{"id":199420,"date":"2026-01-12T12:38:03","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T17:38:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/midatlanticconsulting.com\/blog\/?p=199420"},"modified":"2026-01-12T12:38:03","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T17:38:03","slug":"how-to-add-alarms-for-urgent-reminders-on-iphone-in-ios-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/midatlanticconsulting.com\/blog\/2026\/01\/how-to-add-alarms-for-urgent-reminders-on-iphone-in-ios-26\/","title":{"rendered":"How to add alarms for urgent reminders on iPhone in iOS 26"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In this quick tutorial, we’ll show you how to set an alarm for an important reminder on your iPhone in iOS 26 so you get a louder, clearer alert instead of an easy-to-miss notification tone or banner. We’ll also tell you how this works if you have an iPad or Mac.<\/span><\/p>\n

Out of the box, when a reminder goes off, all you hear is a small tone and see a notification banner. Both these things are easy to miss.<\/p>\n

Therefore, to ensure you don’t overlook an important task, iOS 26 lets you mark it as urgent<\/em>, which in turn automatically creates an alarm for that reminder. These reminder alarms bypass even your iPhone’s DND<\/a> or other Focus mode<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Set an alarm for your important reminder<\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Update your iPhone to iOS 26.2 or later.<\/li>\n
  2. Open the Reminders app, add a task, and then tap the info button<\/strong> \u24d8 next to its name.<\/li>\n
  3. Set the Date<\/strong> and Time<\/strong>. To add a precise time, tap the slider and enter the numbers using the keyboard.<\/li>\n
  4. Turn on the Urgent<\/strong> switch, then tap the checkmark button to set an alarm for this task.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"Setting <\/p>\n

    When the reminder time comes\u2026<\/h2>\n

    You’ll see the alarm interface on the full screen of your locked iPhone, showing the reminder name with Snooze<\/em> and Stop<\/em> buttons. Here’s what these buttons and other subsequent options do:<\/p>\n

    Snooze:<\/strong> Just like traditional alarms, tapping this button snoozes the reminder alarm for another 9 minutes, and then you’ll be alerted again. But unlike a clock app alarm, you can’t change its snooze duration from 9 minutes to something else<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    \"Snoozing <\/p>\n

    Slide to stop:<\/strong> Using slide to stop<\/em> turns off the alarm and shows a Live Activity on your iPhone screen, displaying the reminder name, when it was due, and an option to reschedule it. Note that you can easily replace the ‘slide to stop’ slider with a simple one-tap ‘stop’ button<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Mark as complete:<\/strong> After stopping the alarm, tap the small circle next to the reminder name to mark it as complete.<\/p>\n

    \"Stopping <\/p>\n

    Reschedule:<\/strong> Tapping this button takes you to the Reminders app, where you can change the to-do’s time and date and turn off the alarm by disabling the Urgent<\/em> switch.<\/p>\n

    \"Rescheduling <\/p>\n

    Can’t dismiss the Live Activity:<\/strong> In my tests, I found that unlike Live Activities from other apps, I can’t slide to remove the Live Activity for a reminder alarm. Maybe this is a good thing, which ensures you don’t inadvertently miss an important task. Marking the task as complete, rescheduling it, or deleting it seems to be the only way to clear that Live Activity.<\/p>\n

    Note:<\/em><\/p>\n