If you’ve been an iPhone user for a long time, you might remember “slide to unlock.” When you wanted to use your iPhone, you had to physically move your finger along the screen to actually unlock the device. It was a clever way of ensuring than your iPhone didn’t unlock in your pocket, or due to an accidental touch.
With iOS 10, Apple killed slide to unlock in favor of pressing the Home button, then later swiping up on the bottom of the screen. Since then, for the better part of a decade, swiping right on the Lock Screen simply takes you to the “Today View,” which contains your widgets. Change is good, and I don’t necessarily think Apple should bring back slide to unlock for the Lock Screen, but sometimes, I miss how things worked on my old iPhone 3GS. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.
To my absolute surprise, however, the company is bringing back the slide function—just not to unlock. Instead, you’re now able to slide to stop your alarms, which might come as a surprise to anyone used to the usual alarm routine. Imagine it: One morning, you’re tapping to turn off your alarm as usual; the next, your taps are fruitless, and your alarm keeps blaring. Bleary-eyed, you look at your screen, to find a new “Slide to stop” function. If you’re like me, you’ll follow instructions, sliding to stop the alarm, only to forget the whole ordeal within moments, doomed to repeat the affair the next morning.
This change arrives as part of iOS 26.1, which dropped on Monday, and Apple doesn’t give you any say in the matter—at least, not at first. After updating to the latest update, your next alarm or timer will include the next slider (though “snooze” or “repeat” remain buttons), but the switch up is fine by me. I like it, and it brings back a fun feature from iOS’ heyday. But if you dislike the change, and you wish you could simply tap a button to silence your alarms and timers, the good news is, you still can.
What do you think so far?
How to disable “slide to stop alarm”
Apple buried the option to revert your alarm and timers back to the way they used to be, so I wouldn’t blame you for not knowing they even exist. You won’t find them in the Clock app’s settings page, which is confusing. Instead, it’s part of a hidden system-wide setting, called “Prefer Single-Touch Actions.”
This setting will disable sliders across iOS, and replace them with buttons. For our purposes, that turns “Slide to stop” back into a simple off button. To find it, head to Settings > Accessibility > Touch, then enable the toggle next to “Prefer Single-Touch Action.”
Slide to stop (left) vs. stop button (right).
Credit: Lifehacker
