Notifications

Simple Alarm Clock uses Android notifications to keep you informed about alarm states and provide quick actions. This guide covers all notification types and behaviors.

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Alarm notification types

The app displays different notifications depending on the alarm state:

• Active alarm notifications: High-priority notifications when an alarm is ringing
• Snooze notifications: Persistent notifications showing when a snoozed alarm will ring again
• Skip notifications: Pre-alarm warnings with skip action buttons
• Auto-silence notifications: Informational notifications when an alarm silences itself

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Active alarm notifications

When an alarm rings, a high-priority notification appears with the alarm details and quick actions.

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Notification content

• Title: The alarm’s label (or a default title if no label is set)
• Text: “Tap to snooze or dismiss the alarm”
• Icon: Alarm bell icon
• Priority: PRIORITY_HIGH to ensure visibility
• Category: CATEGORY_ALARM for Android system classification

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Actions

Active alarm notifications include two action buttons:

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Full-screen intent

Alarm notifications use setFullScreenIntent() to display the alarm screen even when your device is locked. This ensures you can interact with the alarm immediately when it rings.

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Notification channel

Active alarm notifications use the high-priority notification channel (CHANNEL_ID_HIGH_PRIO) to ensure they:

• Bypass Do Not Disturb mode
• Show heads-up notifications
• Display on the lock screen
• Play sounds and vibrate according to alarm settings

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Snooze notifications

After snoozing an alarm, a persistent notification displays when the alarm will ring again.

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Notification content

• Title: “Snoozed: [alarm label]”
• Text: “Alarm snoozed until [time]”, where time shows when the alarm will ring
• Icon: Alarm bell icon
• Status: Ongoing (cannot be swiped away)

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Actions

Snooze notifications include:

1. Reschedule: Opens a time picker to set a custom snooze time instead of the default duration
2. Dismiss: Cancels the snooze and dismisses the alarm entirely

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Time format

The snooze notification displays time in your device’s format:

• 24-hour format: "E kk:mm" (e.g., “Mon 07:30”)
• 12-hour format: "E h:mm aa" (e.g., “Mon 7:30 AM”)

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Clearing snooze notifications

Snooze notifications are automatically removed when:

• The snoozed alarm rings (transitions to active alarm notification)
• You dismiss the alarm from the notification
• The alarm is disabled or deleted from the alarm list
• The alarm fires as a pre-alarm

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Skip notifications

Skip notifications appear before an alarm is scheduled to ring, giving you the option to skip the next occurrence.

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When skip notifications appear

Based on the skip duration setting (default: 30 minutes), a skip notification shows up that many minutes before the alarm time. For example, with a 30-minute skip duration and a 7:00 AM alarm:

• 6:30 AM: Skip notification appears
• 7:00 AM: Alarm rings (if not skipped)

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Skip notification content

• Title: The alarm’s label
• Text: “Alarm is about to go off: [next alarm time]”
• Icon: Alarm bell icon
• Status: Auto-cancel (dismisses when tapped)

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Skip action

The skip notification includes an action button:

• For repeating alarms: Button reads “Skip” and advances to the next scheduled occurrence
• For one-time alarms: Button reads “Disable alarm” and turns off the alarm

When you tap the skip action:

1. The skip notification disappears
2. The alarm enters the skipping state
3. For repeating alarms, the next occurrence is calculated and scheduled
4. The alarm list updates to show the new next alarm time

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Skip notification scheduling

The app uses inexact alarms to show skip notifications:

• If the alarm is due in more than the skip duration, an inexact alarm is scheduled
• If the alarm is due in less than the skip duration, the skip notification appears immediately
• Skip notifications are removed when the alarm state changes or the main alarm fires

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Pre-alarm notifications

Pre-alarms don’t have separate notifications—they use the standard active alarm notification. The difference is that pre-alarms:

• Start ringing at a lower volume (configured by KEY_PREALARM_VOLUME)
• Ring for the pre-alarm duration before the main alarm
• Transition to the main alarm notification when the main alarm time arrives

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Pre-alarm behavior

When a pre-alarm fires:

1. An active alarm notification appears with the alarm label
2. The alarm service starts playing the ringtone at pre-alarm volume
3. The main alarm is scheduled for the configured alarm time
4. If you snooze or dismiss during pre-alarm, the main alarm is also affected

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Auto-silence notifications

When an alarm rings for the auto-silence duration without interaction, it automatically stops and shows an informational notification.

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Auto-silence notification content

• Title: The alarm’s label
• Text: “Alarm silenced after [X] minutes”, where X is the auto-silence duration
• Icon: Alarm bell icon
• Status: Auto-cancel
• Ticker: Same as text (for accessibility)

This notification is informational only and has no action buttons. It informs you that an alarm rang but was automatically silenced.

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Notification channels

Simple Alarm Clock uses two notification channels:

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High-priority channel

ID: CHANNEL_ID_HIGH_PRIO Used for:

• Active alarm notifications
• Pre-alarm notifications

Characteristics:

• High priority
• Full-screen intent capability
• Bypasses Do Not Disturb
• Shows heads-up notifications

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Standard channel

ID: CHANNEL_ID Used for:

• Snooze notifications
• Skip notifications
• Auto-silence notifications

Characteristics:

• Default notification priority
• Normal notification behavior
• Can be customized by the user in system settings

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Notification IDs

The app uses different ID ranges for different notification types to avoid conflicts:

• Active alarms: Base offset 100000 + alarm index
• Snooze notifications: Base offset 1000 + alarm ID
• Auto-silence notifications: Base offset 2000 + alarm ID
• Skip notifications: Base offset 3000 + alarm ID

This ensures each alarm can have multiple notification types active simultaneously without interfering with each other.

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Foreground service notifications

On Android 8.0 (Oreo) and above, when an alarm rings, the app starts a foreground service with the alarm notification. This ensures:

• The alarm service isn’t killed by the system
• The notification remains visible and interactive
• The alarm continues ringing even under memory pressure

The foreground service automatically stops when the alarm is dismissed or snoozed.

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Notification permissions

On Android 13 and above, the app requires the notification permission to display alarm notifications. The app requests this permission during initial setup. Without notification permission:

• Alarms still ring (audio and vibration work)
• No visual notification appears
• You cannot interact with snooze or dismiss actions from the lock screen