iPhone alarm picker stops at 4:39 despite endless scrolling
The iPhone Clock app’s alarm picker appears to scroll endlessly, but its hours and minutes stop at 4:39, or 16:39 in 24-hour time. The endpoint is a harmless quirk and does not prevent users from setting alarms; Apple has not explained why it occurs.
The article also notes that the Clock app icon shows the current time, and Low Power Mode on iOS 26.1 and later changes its second hand from a smooth sweep to one-second ticks. In Stopwatch, swiping switches between digital and analogue faces. For a bedside display, StandBy mode offers clock styles and a red-tinted Night Mode, while an Always-On Display is needed to keep the screen lit continuously.
- Alarm scrolling ends at 4:39, or 16:39 in 24-hour time.
- The endpoint does not restrict which alarms you can set.
- Stopwatch faces and StandBy display options are built in.
New here? Start with this
The Clock app is a standard feature on iPhones that allows users to set alarms for important times, such as waking up in the morning or reminders throughout the day. The app includes an alarm picker, which is the scrollable time selector that appears when users choose what time their alarm should sound. On most applications and devices, scrollable time pickers typically cycle through all available options continuously.
A peculiar limitation has been discovered within Apple's Clock app alarm picker. When users scroll through the available times, the hours and minutes stop at 4:39 in 12-hour time, or 16:39 in 24-hour time, rather than cycling endlessly as expected. Although the picker appears to scroll infinitely, no matter how much users scroll, they cannot access any times beyond this point.
The quirk does not prevent users from setting alarms normally, as the app still functions as intended for everyday use. Apple has not provided any explanation for why the alarm picker stops at this particular time. The discovery has been noted online but poses no practical problem for users.
Read the full article at the source →
Originally published by Engadget as “The iPhone clock app has an oddity not many people know about”.