Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for Sol: Sun Clock

Below is a list of questions we’ve been asked about Sol: Sun Clock and their answers.

I’m not hearing the alarms. What gives?

Check the following:
  1. the mute switch is not on.
  2. your device's volume is turned up loud enough to hear.
  3. you have allowed the app to send you notifications (Settings> Notification Center> Include > SOL — make sure it's set to receive Sounds and Alerts).
  4. your phone is not set to "Do Not Disturb" mode during the hour of the scheduled notification. (I have a sunrise alarm that never goes off in the summer because I have my Do Not Disturb hours set from 11pm to 8am.)

If I have the mute switch set on my iDevice, I can't hear the alarms. Why is this? Other alarm apps sound no matter what setting I have.

Technically, those other "alarm" apps are using the media playback protocol which Apple has defined as inappropriate for alarms. These apps could get pulled from the App Store for violating Apple's own policies. Those apps are constantly eating up your battery life to work. It's a hack to do that, and we chose to preserve your battery life and respect Apple's guidelines in this case. Sol: Sun Clock uses Apple's Notifications system, which has to respect the volume of the device and the mute switch. Apple does not give developers a way to make alarms that work the way their own built-in alarms work. Hopefully they will at some point, and when they do, we'll put that in the app as an option.

I'm fairly certain that the majority of our users like the fact that SOL respects the mute switch and volume switch. I have daily reminders set for my general usage, but don't want them going off if I have my mute switch on at a meeting or a movie.

Does using the location-based alarm drain the battery?

You can set an alarm to a static location without fear of extra battery drain. Only if you select "Travel Mode" for an alarm will the app need to poll your location behind the scenes in order to properly reschedule the alarm. We've gone to extra lengths to make SOL battery-efficient. Even before polling, the app takes care to set a minimum distance it's concerned about—a change in longitude or latitude that would result in the alarm needing to be rescheduled by more than one minute or more. Moving about your own city is generally not going to cause this to be retriggered, and thus Sol: Sun Clock would not be launched in the background to reschedule. It's also useful to note that having more than one alarm with travel mode set will not increase the battery use over just having one alarm with travel mode set.

Still have a question?

Check the live FAQ on the website for recent updates. Don't forget to read the Help page for questions about how to use the app. The Glossary is a useful explanation of terms. (Both are found under the Extras menu.) If you still have a question, please contact us.