If you have a iPhonewhen you activate it snooze of the alarm clock – i.e. the function to postpone the alarm time – you have 9 minutes extra rest before it rings again. But why 9 minutes and not a “round” figure, for example 10 minutes? This detail was apparently inherited from the world of mechanical watches, with a history dating back to the 1950s. At the time, the snooze function was introduced with the bedside alarm clock Snooz Alarmproduced by General Electric Telechron. Its engineers found that setting the snooze function to exactly 10 minutes was complex due to the gear configuration, making 9 minutes a simpler and more functional choice. This duration has remained such a distinctive feature that it has been adopted by Apple on its iPhones, perhaps as a tribute to tradition. Although Apple has never officially clarified the reason for the choice, in fact, it is likely that it is a celebration of this historical feature.
What does “snooze” mean and why does the iPhone alarm last 9 minutes
The origins of the snooze button date back to 1956with the alarm clock Snooz Alarm produced by General Electric Telechron. Since then, the snooze button has become synonymous with comfort, giving millions of people a few extra minutes of rest without the risk of falling too deeply asleep. Although there are no official sources confirming this, it seems that the reason was purely technical: the mechanism of the time required a simple solution, and keeping the time in single digits was the optimal choice.
Today, thanks to technological advances, the snooze function could last more than 9 minutes even on the iPhone, but Apple has chosen to keep this default value. Even if, in the absence of official explanations, we cannot say it with certainty, that of the Cupertino company has all the flavor of a homage to the history of watches and alarm clocksharking back to an era in which technology was in all respects dominated by mechanical gears. A detail that for many may seem insignificant, but which represents a sort of “bridge” between past and present in the history of watch technology.
How to set iPhone alarm snooze
On the iPhone, the snooze of an alarm can be activated or deactivated, but its duration cannot be changed (unless you use third-party apps). By default, snooze is already active when you create a new alarm; to deactivate it, simply enter the app Clock of iOS and turn off the option Postpone – the virtual switch will move to the left and lose its green color – present in the alarm editing menu.