iPhone Alarm Clock's Hidden Scrolling Limit Surprises Users

Daily Technology

·

16/12/2025

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The iPhone alarm clock's time picker looks as if it scrolls forever - yet it stops at a hard limit and leaves a blank gap at the other end. Users who keep scrolling downward eventually hit 4:39 (16:39 in 24-hour mode). Users who scroll upward past 1:00 meet an empty space instead of the next number. The same behaviour appears in every tested iOS version including beta releases.

Key Points

The picker does not loop endlessly.
Downward scrolling halts at 4:39.
Upward scrolling shows blank space after 1:00.
The quirk exists in current and beta iOS builds.

The Hidden Wall

Many owners believed the hour-and-minute wheels wrapped around forever. A Reddit post showed that after roughly ten to fifteen seconds of steady downward swipes the numbers simply stop at 4:39. The same test in 24-hour mode ends at 16:39.

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The Empty Top

Swiping upward behaves in mirror fashion. Once the display shows 1:00, the next swipe reveals only white space where the next hour should appear. The limit holds for both 12-hour and 24-hour formats and has persisted since at least 2018.

Why It Happens

Apple has not explained the behaviour. Observers suggest the picker loads a fixed list that repeats a handful of times before it reaches a hard upper or lower edge. It acts like a short line of numbers rather than a true circle. The discovery reminds users that even routine controls can hide unexpected edges.

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