Attention: Updating to iOS 14.3+ has caused alarms to stop working for many users. I have released a new version of Next Up (2.5.2) to address this. Please make sure you have updated to the latest version of Next Up before trying other solutions. Thank you.
Next Up can only see podcasts when there is at least one episode downloaded to the device. It’s a limitation with how apps are able to interact with the native Podcasts app, unfortunately.
To manually download an episode, head to the Podcasts app, tap Library, then the show. Tap on See All Episodes, then tap an episode. If it just shows the cloud icon, tap one more time to download it to your phone (Next Up can’t access episodes that are only in the cloud).
Once you’ve downloaded an episode to your phone, it may still take a couple of minutes for it to show up in the Next Up. After a minute or two, try to create or edit an alarm. When you go to pick the podcast, it should show up. You can also pull down on that screen to force it to re-check your Podcasts library.
This doesn’t mean you always need to have the latest episode pre-downloaded. You can download an episode, set up an alarm, and then delete the episode if you’d like (Though Next Up will warn you that there currently aren’t any episodes downloaded). If you are subscribed with automatic downloads on, new episodes will show up when they are automatically downloaded. See below.
Next Up checks for the newest episodes on your device before the alarm plays, so as long as automatic downloads are turned on in Apple Podcasts, the newest episode should play in the morning (if ‘Play Newest First’ is turned on in the alarm settings).
Recent iOS changes have caused podcasts episodes to no longer be marked as ‘played’ when they are played through the Apple Music app, which means that the Podcasts app is not informed that an episode has been played. When it detects that a user has not listened to episodes from a particular podcast in awhile, automatic downloads for that podcast are paused.
I have submitted a bug report to Apple, and am working hard to find a work-around. I apologize for the inconvenience. In the meantime, episodes can be downloaded manually via the Podcasts app. Doing this should also restore automatic downloads for awhile.
In that case Next Up will play the backup sound selected in the Alarm Settings screen.
This seems to be a bug on Apple’s end. In my experience, art that couldn’t be found at first sometimes randomly shows up a couple days or weeks later. One thing you can try is deleting that Podcast and its episodes from your library and then re-downloading them, but it’s no guarantee.
Next Up relies on the native Apple Music app to play podcasts. If it has been deleted, re-downloaded it from the App Store. You will need to force-quit and restart Next Up.
If you have Screen Time limits set, iOS may shut down Next Up if the limits are exceeded. See this guide for more information about using Screen Time limits.
The alarm will be deactivated if Next Up is force-quit, the device is rebooted, or the OS or app are updated. It’s never a bad idea to open the app for a second before bed just in case it was closed for some reason.
Bugs do also happen, and no third party iOS app is immune from occasional failure. When waking up on time is critical, consider setting a backup alarm for a bit later in the native Clock app.
But if you are still having problems getting the alarm to play, please do send me a bug report so I can investigate.
Recent iOS changes have caused the Apple Music app to stop tracking the position of the podcasts played through it. I have submitted a bug report to Apple, and am working hard to find a work-around. I apologize for the inconvenience. This feature should still work if an episode is played in the Podcast app prior to being used as an alarm.
If the alarm is activated, but an alarm sound plays instead of the podcast, be sure there is a matching (e.g. unheard) episode downloaded to the device.
Also be sure that the native Music app is still installed on the device. Next Up uses it to play your podcasts. If it has been deleted, re-downloaded it from the App Store. You will need to force-quit and restart Next Up.
If the alarm is set to ‘Device Volume’ in the ‘Alarm Settings’ screen, the alarm will play at the volume your device is set to when it goes off. Make sure it’s loud enough to wake you up.
If the alarm isn’t activated, no audio will play if the device is in silent mode.
Sort of. There’s no built-in way to achieve this yet, but you can set an alarm without a podcast (just the backup sound will play) for a few minutes before your regular one to give you time to wake up a bit.
Next Up uses some power when activated and in the background. Battery Saving Mode allows you to wait to activate until before bed in order to conserve battery power.
You can enable ‘Always Activated’ mode from the settings screen if you don’t want to worry about remembering to activate it.
When in Battery Saving Mode, if the alarm is not activated, it will only play if the app is open in the foreground with the screen on (Next Up will prevent the screen from automatically turning off). Otherwise it will send notifications. The notifications will only be audible if the device isn’t muted. To turn the alarm off completely, disable it in the ‘Alarms’ tab.
It means the alarm is currently activated only because the device is charging or white noise is playing. Unplugging the device and/or stopping the white noise will deactivate the alarm. Manually activate the alarm to be sure this doesn’t happen. When an alarm is manually activated, the colored border will flash green and then disappear.
Also be sure that the native Music app is still installed on the device. Next Up uses it to play your podcasts. If it has been deleted, re-downloaded it from the App Store. You will need to force-quit and restart Next Up.
If there are no alarms set, Next Up will automatically deactive the alarm to conserve power. In ‘Battery Saving’ mode, the alarm will also be deactivated when either ‘Stop’ or ‘Keep Playing’ are tapped after an alarm goes off. The podcast will continue to play even when the alarm is deactivated.
The badge indicates that there is an alarm set but it is deactivated. This can happen when the app is force-quit, the device is restarted, the app is updated, or when in ‘Battery Saving’ mode and not manually activated.
Apple requires Next Up to stay open behind the scenes to play alarms from the background. It’s not really doing anything, but it does still consume some power. To avoid unnecessary power drain, you can change to ‘Battery Saving’ mode and deactivate the alarm until you’re ready for bed. It’s also recommended to keep your device plugged in overnight while using Next Up.
From the ‘Settings’ tab, you can also set reminders to let you know when an alarm is set but not activated.
You can adjust the white noise volume on the White Noise tab. This will change the white noise volume without affecting the device volume. You can also set a specific alarm volume in the Alarm Settings screen.
Definitely, maybe. I’d absolutely love to get some recommendations. I’ll check each one out, and as long as I think it’s a reasonably appropriate fit and doesn’t clash with my values, I’ll add it to a future release. Send your recommendation to recommendations@nextupalarm.com
I am open to collaborations with podcasts whose content I think is a good match with Next Up. Send me and email at support@nextupalarm.com with a link to the podcast and a little note about why it might be nice to wake up to and we can see if we can work something out.
Maybe! My foremost priority will always be maintaining and improving the core functions and reliability of the app, but I may add more features in the future, and am always open to suggestions.
For any additional questions or bug reports, send me an email at support@nextupalarm.com
Next Up is the pet project of a lone developer, so I’ll do my best to respond as quickly as possible, but patience is always appreciated.
