How to make Google Calendar ring like an alarm on Android

1. Choose when Google Calendar reminds you

Each calendar has default reminders (Google calls them notifications) for new events:

1. In Google Calendar, tap the menu (☰), then Settings.
2. Under your account, tap the calendar. Your main calendar is called Events unless you renamed it.
3. Under Default notifications, tap a time to change it, or tap Add a notification. Choose a notification on your phone, not an email.

For a single event, open it, tap Edit (the pencil), then Add notification, and Save. An event can have up to 5 notifications, so you can have one 10 minutes before and another a minute before.

2. Give event reminders their own sound

Android lets you set a sound for each kind of notification an app sends. Google Calendar’s event reminders are called Calendar notifications, separate from its Tasks notifications.

The quickest way there is from Google Calendar: Settings › General › Calendar notifications › Sound. Or from your phone’s settings:

Pick something long and loud that sounds nothing like your messages. It still plays once, at your notification volume.

3. Make them pop up, on the lock screen too

On the same Calendar notifications page:

• Pixel: choose Default (not Silent), turn on Pop on screen, and check the Lock screen setting shows the notification.
• Samsung: choose Alert (not Silent) and turn on Show as pop-up. Under Settings › Notifications, Notification pop-up style sets how big the pop-up is, and Lock screen notifications sets what shows when the phone is locked.

4. Let them through Do Not Disturb

Do Not Disturb silences notifications from apps you haven’t let through, so a meeting reminder can arrive without a sound.

Silent mode is different: when your phone is on silent or vibrate, notifications make no sound at all, Google Calendar’s included. Only alarms still ring.

5. On a Samsung: repeat the sound, or go full screen

Samsung phones have two extras that get closer to an alarm.

Repeat the sound until you look

Open Settings › Notifications › Advanced settings › Repeat notification alerts (called Notification reminders before One UI 8) and turn it on. If your phone lists apps there, make sure Calendar is one of them. Your phone then replays the reminder’s sound until you dismiss the notification.

A full-screen alert from Samsung Calendar

Samsung Calendar can show your Google Calendar events too, and it has a stronger alert than Google’s app:

1. Open Samsung Calendar, tap the menu (☰), then the gear icon for Settings.
2. Tap Alert type. Medium shows a full-screen alert with a short sound. Strong shows it full screen and keeps ringing until you dismiss it.
3. Make sure your Google calendars are switched on in Samsung Calendar, so their events show there.
4. Turn off Google Calendar’s own notifications (step 2), or you’ll get two alerts for every event.

Some Galaxy S25 owners have reported that the full-screen alert didn’t appear for them on One UI 7, so test it with an event a few minutes ahead before you rely on it.

6. If reminders don’t arrive at all

• Notifications are off. Google Calendar warns you on its notification settings if your phone blocks them. Allow them under Settings › Notifications › App notifications › Calendar.
• Battery saving. Google says Battery Saver and Adaptive Battery can stop or delay alerts. On a Pixel, open Settings › Apps, find Calendar (you may need to tap See all apps), tap App battery usage and turn on Allow background usage. On a Samsung, open Settings › Battery › Background usage limits and make sure Calendar isn’t a sleeping or deep sleeping app.
• The calendar isn’t syncing. On a Pixel, check Settings › Passwords, passkeys & accounts › your account › Account sync › Calendar. On a Samsung, check Settings › Accounts and backup › Manage accounts › your Google account › Sync account. In Google Calendar, ☰ › Refresh syncs straight away.
• The event has no notification, or only an email one. Open the event and check (step 1).

7. What Google Calendar can’t do

Even with all of this, a Google Calendar reminder is a notification. It doesn’t fill the screen, it plays once (unless your Samsung repeats it), and it’s silent when your phone is on silent.

Google’s Clock app doesn’t make alarms from calendar events either: its Bedtime screen only shows tomorrow’s first event to help you set a wake-up alarm, and not for work or school accounts. You can ask Gemini to set an alarm for a particular time, but that’s one alarm at a time, by hand, and it won’t move if the meeting does.