How to snooze an appointment alarm on iPhone

Updated October 8, 2026

When an appointment alarm rings and you are not ready, you have two choices: bring it back in a few minutes, or move the appointment itself. In Tellendar, the "Snooze 10 min" button sits on the alarm screen, and you can tap it as many times as you need. For a real change of plan, one sentence is enough: "move the dentist to 3pm", and the alarms follow.

Two ways to put it off

Snoozing the alarm gives you a few minutes: you finish what you were doing, and it rings again. The appointment does not move. It is the same gesture as on an alarm clock.

Moving the appointment means another time or another day. The alarm then has to move with it, or it rings for an appointment that is no longer at that time.

The iPhone's apps do not treat these two gestures the same way. Here is what they offer.

What your apps already do

The Clock app: a Snooze button, for alarms at a set time

Every Clock alarm has a "Snooze" option. When it is on, the ringing alarm shows a Snooze button, and the alarm pauses for the duration chosen in its settings. This suits a wake-up alarm, but Clock knows nothing about your appointments: it rings at a time, not for a calendar event.

Apple's Calendar: an alert that does not come back on its own

In Calendar, an event's alert is a notification. It shows once, then goes to Notification Center. To be warned again, edit the event: the "Alert" row offers fixed lead times, from "At time of event" to "1 week before", and each alert you set makes a row appear for the next one. To push back the event itself, change its date or time: the alerts, counted as a lead before the start, follow.

Reminders: a reminder stays until you complete it

A reminder has a date and a time, and it stays in the list until you mark it as completed. To push it back, open it and change its date or time. A reminder marked "urgent" rings like an alarm when it is due, as described in How to make your iPhone ring for an appointment, even in silent mode, but a reminder is not an appointment: it has no duration and does not sit in your calendar.

Snoozing the alarm with Tellendar

Tellendar is a calendar app for iPhone that only warns you with alarms. Each one rings like an alarm clock, even in silent mode, and shows on the Lock Screen with the name of the appointment and two buttons.

1. The alarm rings. Tap "Snooze 10 min".
2. It stops.
3. Ten minutes later, it rings again, with the same name. Stop it, or snooze again.

You do not need to open the app or unlock the phone. The delay is always ten minutes. If you need more, tap the button again when it comes back.

If you stop the alarm, it does not come back. The appointment stays in your calendar, and its other alarms, if it has any, ring in their turn.

Moving the appointment itself

When it is the appointment that is in the wrong place, not the alarm, move it. In Tellendar, you say it in one sentence, typed or spoken:

• "Move dinner to 6pm"
• "Move the appointment to the 23rd"
• "Push the meeting back a week"

The alarms follow. An alarm set "1 hour before" stays one hour before the new time, and the day before stays the day before the new day. You can also tap the appointment's card and change the date or time in the form: the result is the same.

For a repeating appointment, say whether you are moving one occurrence or the whole series: "shift the whole series an hour later". Several alarms on one event are covered in Multiple alarms for one appointment on iPhone.

Frequently asked questions