Multiple alarms for one appointment on iPhone

Updated October 8, 2026

One appointment can have several alarms: the day before to get ready, one hour before to leave. Apple's Calendar and Google Calendar both allow several alerts per event, but they are notifications, and easy to miss. With Tellendar, each alarm rings like an alarm clock, and you add them in one sentence or in the event's form.

Why one alarm is not enough

An alarm just before the appointment tells you it is time to leave. It leaves no time to gather documents, plan the trip or let someone know. That is why you often need two moments: the day before, to get ready, and one hour or thirty minutes before, to go.

For a birthday or a deadline, you would rather have one a week before, to buy the gift or finish the file, then one on the day itself.

What your apps already do

Apple's Calendar: several alerts, as notifications

In the Calendar app, an event's form has an "Alert" row. As soon as you set one, a new "Alert" row appears below it for the next one. So you can add several, the day before and one hour before for example. But they are notifications: in silent mode, your iPhone vibrates once, then files the alert away. The reason is explained in Why you miss calendar alerts on iPhone.

Google Calendar: several notifications

In the Google Calendar app, edit the event and tap "Add another notification" in the Notifications section. You can add several. On iPhone, they arrive as notifications too, subject to silent mode and Focus modes.

The Clock app: alarms, but no appointment

Clock rings even in silent mode, and you can create two alarms there. But each one is set to a time, not a date. For an appointment in three weeks, you have to remember to create them at the right moment, then delete them. Nothing links them to your calendar.

Reminders: one moment per reminder

A reminder has one date and one time. To be warned twice, you need two reminders. Since iOS 26.2, a reminder marked "urgent" rings like an alarm, as described in How to make your iPhone ring for an appointment, even in silent mode.

Several alarms with Tellendar

Tellendar is a calendar app for iPhone that only warns you with alarms. An appointment can have several, and each one is a real iOS alarm: it rings in silent mode and with a Focus on, and it shows on the Lock Screen with the name of the appointment.

In one sentence

You can type or dictate everything in one sentence:

1. Open Tellendar and type or dictate, for example: "Dentist Thursday at 2pm, alarm the evening before and one hour before".
2. Tellendar creates the appointment with its two alarms and shows them on the card.
3. To add one later, reply in the same conversation: "add an alarm 15 minutes before".

In the event's form

You can also use the form. Tap the appointment's card, or the "Edit" pill. In the form, the "Add Reminder" row offers a quick list: at the time of the event, 5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes before, 1 or 2 hours before, the day before, a week before. "Custom…" opens two wheels, a number and a unit, for any other lead time. Each alarm has its own row, with "Remove reminder" to take it off.

How Tellendar counts lead times

For an appointment at a set time, each alarm is a lead before the start: 30 minutes, 2 hours, 1 day, 1 week. If you move the appointment, the alarms move with it. That is why "the evening before" on a 2pm dentist becomes "18 hours before": the same moment, counted from the appointment.

For an all-day event, a birthday for example, the alarm keeps a day and a time: that morning at 9am, the day before at 5pm, a week before at 9am, or any time you choose.

When they ring

Each alarm rings in turn, and you stop each one, or tap "Snooze 10 min" to have it come back. On a repeating appointment, every occurrence gets the same alarms. If you connect Google Calendar, you can put several alarms on the events already in it.

Frequently asked questions