Sick of missing appointments due to quite Android Calendar
May 17, 2016 11:53 AM   Subscribe

I missed an appointment today as I didn't hear any of the FIVE alarms I had set in my phone, despite it being on the desk right beside me at the time. It seems Android's version of Google' Calendar's reminder sound is a meek little beep. My version is a klaxon. Is there a way to fix this?

Back when I had a Palm IIIe and 500m in the 90s I could count on if I set something in the calendar I *would* hear the alarm. Now? Not so much. I've got a Nexus 5X direct from Google, and I just missed 5 alarms despite the phone being right beside me, and all the volume sliders set to maxim. The CLOCK alarm is nice and loud, but the calendar reminders are meek and useless. Is there a way to set a "this is impossible to ignore" alarm in Google Calendar? Or another app that still interfaces with Google?

I'm willing to spend money on this, though I would prefer not to. I'd also rather not root my phone or anything else drastic. This appears to be a common problem, but it is hard sorting through a million forums posts about outdated bits of software, stuff specific to old versions of android or specific devices.

Me and the $25 missed appointment fee thank you.
posted by Canageek to Computers & Internet (5 answers total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
Response by poster: Oh, ways to get it to keep blaring at me until I deal with the alarm would also be helpful.
posted by Canageek at 11:54 AM on May 17, 2016


Best answer: A quick googling resulted in this app. You should be able to create your own notification sounds that way.
posted by o0dano0o at 12:01 PM on May 17, 2016 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Open Calendar and go down to Settings. Tap General, then down at the bottom tap Notifications. There should be a little radio slider next to "Use standard tone." Turn that off. Then a thing that says Tone should appear, which'll have a dropdown menu of all your sound options. The default sound is a pleasant, unobtrusive, background de-doop. Change it to something more piercing and obnoxious. You should also set the Vibrate radio slider to on while you're in that section.

If you need something more than that, there are ways to add mp3 files to your phone to act as custom notifications, but that's a whole thing and requires some effort, so see if this works for you first.

I'm not aware of any way to make it keep chirping at you until you do the thing, but when you add an event to your google calendar you can have it notify you via email and sms for any amount of time before the event you want, if having multiple pop-up thingies would also help.
posted by phunniemee at 12:02 PM on May 17, 2016 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Okay, just fooled around with my Nexus 5, and here's the path I found.

Settings (from pull down menu gear shape)
Sounds and Notification
App notifications
Calendar (scroll to the bottom for settings)
App Settings (then down to notifications section)
"use standard tone" has "yes/no" slider, choose no, and pick a new tone, like a minute-long ringtone.
posted by aimedwander at 12:03 PM on May 17, 2016


Response by poster: Thanks all! I used o0dano0o's suggestion to copy Oxygen into my calendar alarms, then the other two to set that as my alarm. I'll give it a try, thank you.
posted by Canageek at 12:11 PM on May 17, 2016


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