The iPhone clock app has an oddity not many people know about

Sure, you can set your iPhone’s alarm to any time you choose. But there’s a hidden limit to how far your choices will stretch, though most users won’t reach it. The iPhone clock app has an oddity not many people know about.

Big Tech Apple The iPhone clock app has an oddity not many people know about There’s a limit to how far your alarm settings will scroll, and most people never reach it. There’s a small curiosity hiding within the alarm settings that went viral in mid-2025, along with another quirk we’ll talk about below. To put it simply, the alarm hour and minute scrolls seem infinite at first glance, but rapidly scrolling through the hours and minutes will eventually reach a dead end at 4:39.

For those with a preference for military time, it ends at 16:39. Go ahead, give it a try and see for yourself. Open the Clock app, select Alarms, tap the + button and start scrolling through the hours and minutes until you reach the end.

It will take several swipes, but not too many if you scroll through as fast as you can, which is the reason why most people never noticed it in the first place. This little endpoint doesn’t mean you’re limited in setting alarms.