If you need to know how to set a song as an alarm, this quick guide will show you how.
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Getting up in the morning can sometimes be a challenge, and waking up to the blaring beep or buzz of an alarm can make it even worse. If you use your iPhone as an alarm clock in the mornings you can choose to wake up to your favorite song instead.
Related: How to Set an Alarm on Your iPhone or iPad
Why You'll Love This Tip
- Wake up to your favorite tunes.
- Pick different songs for any alarm.
- No more default alarm sounds.
How to Change Your Alarm Sound to a Song
Note: You will need an Apple Music subscription or to otherwise own the song you would like to use as an alarm for this tip to work.
- Open Apple Music.
![Home screen with Music app icon marked.]()
- Locate the song you want to use however you like. I prefer to use the Search tab.
![Apple Music app with Search button marked.]()
- Once you've opened the album with your chosen song, tap the more icon for the album itself (in the upper right corner) or 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 Add to Library appears 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 offline.
![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 Add icon in the upper right to create a new alarm (or simply tap an 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]()
- In the 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 it while following these steps it should appear in the Recently Downloaded section. Just tap the album.
![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, the song will be selected as the alarm sound, and you can finish setting up the alarm as usual. If you've found this useful, be sure to sign up for our free Tip of the Day newsletter for more quick guides on the features of your favorite Apple devices.
Important Note: 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 simply used the default alarm sound instead, so if you've tried to do this in the past and are wondering, "Why won't my alarm play a song," double-check that the song has been downloaded as well as added to your library.
