A March 2021 update has infected our android alarms to stop working and let us sleep through the day.
The inoperative alarm makes a couple of Pixel users suffer the erratic behaviour of Google Alarm Clock. They wrote about this on Reddit, where they mentioned that their morning and evening alarms were notified as missed without going off on time.
They cleared out the storage and cache and even restarted the devices, but the issue still prevailed. Soon, this problem was reported by several others, some of whom even brought down the app’s overall rating on the Google Play store.
Initially, this situation was faced by Pixel users mostly, but with time users of other brands like Oneplus, Oppo, and many others observed the same being repeated with their devices.
Some even noticed that their alarm is not working with Spotify playlists and suspects that the bug results from the Spotify incorporation.
The alarm issue is relatively recent as every complaint and report belong to this period. Although angry users have rated the app poorly, Play Store still maintains a 4.0 rating of the Google Clock app.
Troubleshooting the Google Alarm Clock
The complication was first officially brought to Google’s view by Android Authority, who used the app themselves and could not replicate the bug.
While its origin remains a mystery, other alarm apps could come in handy, primarily since many depend on their androids to set alarms and reminders.
Meanwhile, it’s not known when Google would declare a new update where they fix the bug and provide relief to thousands and thousands of users of the Google Clock app, which comes pre-installed in most androids.
The standard troubleshooting methods such as uninstalling and installing the app, deleting its cache and changing its settings are not working regarding this issue. Therefore, it is only wise to either get a backup of the alarm or use any other clock app in the interim.
Some of the clocks that seem dependable are Nest Hub (2nd gen), Echo Show 5 (2nd gen), Alarmy and many more. The first two alarms can be used as a nightstand alarm and are highly functional as it also records sleeping patterns and keeps an overall fitness track.
The Google Clock v6.4 update got rolled out in March 2021 and right after the upgrade, the problem began to creep up, irritating the users and even resulting in loss of jobs.
One such user complained by commenting in Play Store, “lost my teaching job because I missed two-morning class schedules”.
Google acknowledged the issue and replied in a statement, “We’ve shared this with our product and engineering teams and will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available”.
So, till the new update comes, the customers just have to depend on other apps or invest in a grandpa clock to wake them up in an old-fashioned way.
