Need to get notified of calls or texts enough to wake me from a deep sleep

[InfoTime]

I'd like to be sure I don't miss any calls or texts while I'm asleep. I've got the phone right next to my bed and turned up all the way. But sometimes the phone ringing or the ding of a text message won't wake me up enough. And even if I am awakened I'm not always lucid enough.

What I'd like is some kind of method, maybe using iOS Shortcuts, that would continuously notify me about a call or text until I respond to that notification (not to the call or text, but turn off an alarm).

This is pretty important and I'd go to great lengths for a solution, even setting up another computer or Raspberry Pi or something that could hear the phone ring or the text sound then create some kind of alarm system that I'd have to fully respond to.

I looked at iOS Shortcuts briefly and so far I haven't seen how to make a missed call or text an event that can trigger something else.

Any ideas are appreciated.

 

[ovbacon]

I'd like to be sure I don't miss any calls or texts while I'm asleep. I've got the phone right next to my bed and turned up all the way. But sometimes the phone ringing or the ding of a text message won't wake me up enough. And even if I am awakened I'm not always lucid enough.

What I'd like is some kind of method, maybe using iOS Shortcuts, that would continuously notify me about a call or text until I respond to that notification (not to the call or text, but turn off an alarm).

This is pretty important and I'd go to great lengths for a solution, even setting up another computer or Raspberry Pi or something that could hear the phone ring or the text sound then create some kind of alarm system that I'd have to fully respond to.

I looked at iOS Shortcuts briefly and so far I haven't seen how to make a missed call or text an event that can trigger something else.

Any ideas are appreciated.

I'd be interested to know "how" important it is but also why, when you have your phone ringers volume all the way up and no "do not disturb" on, you could still miss a call. As a cardiologist I had to get into the habit of being on call and getting used to "expecting" calls and thus even sleeping being more aware of it.

Choose a ringer (or make one) that will definitely get you up. When you say "And even if I am awakened I'm not always lucid enough", there is no app, shortcut or whatever that is going to make this better.... You either have to decide to wake up or you have a medical problem that you should have your doc look into.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

Pair it to a loudspeaker and turn the volume on that waaaay up.

 

[ovbacon]

Pair it to a loudspeaker and turn the volume on that waaaay up.

When I pair my iPhone to a speaker the call ringer does not use the speaker... It does with my headphones though.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

When I pair my iPhone to a speaker the call ringer does not use the speaker... It does with my headphones though.

How to Hear the Phone Ring With Bluetooth and iPhone? | Techwalla

In addition to acting as a standard cell phone, Apple's iPhone has the ability to connect to and utilize a Bluetooth hands-free headset. This will allow you to make and receive calls without using your hands.

www.techwalla.com

EDIT: I just realized you said rings come through on your headphones but not speaker. It seems like it should, unless the difference is lack of a microphone? Double-check your settings to be sure.

 

[arw]

If you have an iPhone XS or later you can make use of NFC tags:

Spoiler: original answer

- Create a Shortcut that fits your needs (repeat something until you press a button) and set an NFC tag as trigger via personal automation.
- Bring the NFC tag close to your iPhone before you go to bed.
- As soon as you receive a message or call, the display activates and the NFC tag gets recognized to trigger your shortcut.

(Apple has implemented two conditions for an NFC tag to be read: flight-mode has to be off and the display has to be active but not necessarily unlocked)

EDIT: Said Shortcut can also be used to send sounds to your Bluetooth speaker

Correction: I'm sorry for the confusion. I thought my more complex automation can be stripped down for your use case but it is not that simple.
Displaying the notification alone is not enough, it has to be combined with an automated off-on toggle of flight mode for NFC tags to get detected without any user interaction.

 

[InfoTime]

I have an iON Tailgater Bluetooth speaker. It would certainly be loud enough. Not sure, as others mentioned, that calls and texts would ring through that.

Edit: tried that. Tried telling the iPhone that the Device Type was Headphone and then Hearing Aid, but when I call my phone it doesn't ring through the speaker.

 

[ovbacon]

How to Hear the Phone Ring With Bluetooth and iPhone? | Techwalla

In addition to acting as a standard cell phone, Apple's iPhone has the ability to connect to and utilize a Bluetooth hands-free headset. This will allow you to make and receive calls without using your hands.

www.techwalla.com

EDIT: I just realized you said rings come through on your headphones but not speaker. It seems like it should, unless the difference is lack of a microphone? Double-check your settings to be sure.

So as an example.... from the moment I started working in Hospitals on call/night shifts in a city I started using a white noise machine.. Now having retired from that and living way the hell out in the country I still use white noise (pavlov is at fault here).

So I have a small bose speaker attached to my phone or iPad and running a white noise app... when I set an alarm, the alarm will use the phone or iPad speakers but not the actual bose speaker that the device is paired with and has been using the whole night without any problem?! As I rarely need an actual alarm it has not been any priority but it has always kinda annoyed me that the alarm would not use the speaker.... the same goes for getting a call btw.

 

[InfoTime]

- As soon as you receive a message or call, the display activates and the NFC tag gets recognized to trigger your shortcut.

So your idea works because the triggering event is the display lighting up?

 

[arw]

So your idea works because the triggering event is the display lighting up?

Spoiler: original answer

Yes, although only indirectly.
The triggering event for the Shortcut is still the NFC tag nearby. But it only gets detected by the iPhone when the display is active. Which it is not when you're asleep and not using the iPhone and are not getting any notifications.
So basically:
Incoming call activates display > active display unlocks searching for nearby NFC tags > NFC tag triggers Shortcut

EDIT: You may have to set up a Focus mode at night that only allows Messages and Phone to wake the iPhone to avoid false alerts.

Correction: Displaying the notification alone is not enough, it has to be combined with an automated off-on toggle of flight mode for NFC tags to get detected without any user interaction.

 

[InfoTime]

Incoming call activates display > active display unlocks searching for nearby NFC tags > NFC tag triggers Shortcut

So it would also be true that any notification that comes in overnight would trigger this? For example my bank usually sends me a notification about a balance or deposit around 4:00 AM. Guess I'd have to turn off all notifications except for calls and texts.

 

[Isamilis]

I'd like to be sure I don't miss any calls or texts while I'm asleep. I've got the phone right next to my bed and turned up all the way. But sometimes the phone ringing or the ding of a text message won't wake me up enough. And even if I am awakened I'm not always lucid enough.

What I'd like is some kind of method, maybe using iOS Shortcuts, that would continuously notify me about a call or text until I respond to that notification (not to the call or text, but turn off an alarm).

This is pretty important and I'd go to great lengths for a solution, even setting up another computer or Raspberry Pi or something that could hear the phone ring or the text sound then create some kind of alarm system that I'd have to fully respond to.

I looked at iOS Shortcuts briefly and so far I haven't seen how to make a missed call or text an event that can trigger something else.

Any ideas are appreciated.

Have you tried pairing the phone with Apple Watch or Garmin watch?

 

[InfoTime]

Have you tried pairing the phone with Apple Watch or Garmin watch?

So you're suggesting sleeping with the Watch on to get notified?

 

[ovbacon]

So you're suggesting sleeping with the Watch on to get notified?

So it is interesting how you are responding to some technical ideas that might or might not add anything but I'm still curious how important are these calls you need to wake up for and are they in like the middle of your night (3 at night orso) and when you say that even when you are awake you are not "lucid enough" to respond what is it you are expecting from some app or gadget?

Give us some actual info on the problem because like I said I have the feeling you might need to simply go to bed earlier or go to your doctor and see if there is an issue why you are not awake when you are awake.

 

[InfoTime]

I'm self employed, one man show, and I do IT support for small companies and individuals. I'm also a night owl. I've battled the problem for years. I've seen doctors and therapists, etc. I've tried changing my schedule, but I'm at my best when I go to bed around 3 and and get up around 11.

Problem is is that getting up around 11 isn't good for business. So I try to sleep with "one ear open" in the morning and make sure I don't miss anything important - like "our server is down". Those calls are (luckily) extremely rare. But if I got one at 7:30 AM or 815 AM and somehow slept through it it would be BAD.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

So as an example.... from the moment I started working in Hospitals on call/night shifts in a city I started using a white noise machine.. Now having retired from that and living way the hell out in the country I still use white noise (pavlov is at fault here).

So I have a small bose speaker attached to my phone or iPad and running a white noise app... when I set an alarm, the alarm will use the phone or iPad speakers but not the actual bose speaker that the device is paired with and has been using the whole night without any problem?! As I rarely need an actual alarm it has not been any priority but it has always kinda annoyed me that the alarm would not use the speaker.... the same goes for getting a call btw.

I don't have access to my own bluetooth speaker right now, but I'm fairly certain this is a solveable issue. Here's one article where someone wanted to stop his iPhone from ringing over his bluetooth speaker. Basically there are two options in the Phone setting for each paired device: "phone audio" and "media audio".

iPhone plays call ringtone over connected bluetooth speakers while on silent more

When I have my iPhone X on silent and I'm playing music through my Bluetooth speaker, if someone calls me I hear the ring over the speaker. How do I stop this?

apple.stackexchange.com

 

[InfoTime]

I don't have access to my own bluetooth speaker right now, but I'm fairly certain this is a solveable issue. Here's one article where someone wanted to stop his iPhone from ringing over his bluetooth speaker. Basically there are two options in the Phone setting for each paired device: "phone audio" and "media audio".

iPhone plays call ringtone over connected bluetooth speakers while on silent more

When I have my iPhone X on silent and I'm playing music through my Bluetooth speaker, if someone calls me I hear the ring over the speaker. How do I stop this?

apple.stackexchange.com

I couldn't find the settings they're referring to. Maybe it's different in current iOS 16 than it was whenever those posts were made.

 

[Newbie67]

I wear my watch when I have duty. Gentle taps on the wrist always works

 

[crimson avenger]

Use an Apple Watch. You can configure it to use haptics to buzz your wrist for whatever notifications you need. I’ll occasionally miss a text, but a phone call always wakes me. Is it possible to have your clients just call you?

 

[TechnoMonk]

I'd like to be sure I don't miss any calls or texts while I'm asleep. I've got the phone right next to my bed and turned up all the way. But sometimes the phone ringing or the ding of a text message won't wake me up enough. And even if I am awakened I'm not always lucid enough.

What I'd like is some kind of method, maybe using iOS Shortcuts, that would continuously notify me about a call or text until I respond to that notification (not to the call or text, but turn off an alarm).

This is pretty important and I'd go to great lengths for a solution, even setting up another computer or Raspberry Pi or something that could hear the phone ring or the text sound then create some kind of alarm system that I'd have to fully respond to.

I looked at iOS Shortcuts briefly and so far I haven't seen how to make a missed call or text an event that can trigger something else.

Any ideas are appreciated.

Get those old fashioned pagers. Those vibrate and shake like crazy.

 

[Rnd-chars]

A couple of ideas come to mind:
- do you use PagerDuty or similar service? This seems like a good fit because it allows for hooks for automatic notification (eg a server’s heart beat stops so it creates an incident and notifies you, which is always better than a client calling you), you can set up custom notification rules (eg call and text me at this number, repeat every x minutes until I acknowledge, if no acknowledgement after y minutes call my backup) and all of the notifications come from the same message and/or iOS app allowing you to set that specific number to the loudest ring tone you want and preventing non-emergency calls from disturbing your sleep.
- if you have a Mac and calling enabled from there, those speakers should be significantly loud enough to wake you

 

[InfoTime]

@Newbie67 and @crimson avenger thanks for the Apple Watch ideas. I don't currently have an Apple Watch but would be willing to buy one if it was the best answer for this. Although there's a few hesitations - a) I don't like wearing a watch, b) when I had a Watch the battery would last almost a day, so sleep time was when it was charged and c) texts are as important as calls and you said sometimes you miss texts.

Get those old fashioned pagers. Those vibrate and shake like crazy.

Not a bad idea. But how do I get the pager to go off? I need an app on my phone or on some computer that recognizes when I've received a text or call to kick off some other process like what @Rnd-chars says PagerDuty can do.

@Rnd-chars - how is PagerDuty triggered? I guess they offer some kind of app that runs on a server or pings it or some kind of watchdog. That might help, but I really need the input to be a missed call or text to my iPhone.

I do have a Mac (actually several Macs, too many actually, so I could set up a Mac just for this). I just turned on "Allow CAlls on Other Devices". So now if I receive a phone call FaceTime will open on my Mac and I'll get a pop up notification about an incoming call.

I presume there's some kind of script or Automation on the Mac that could use that as a trigger to kick off other notifications. That may be one major key to this solution.

The other event I'd need as a trigger would be a new text message. I do use Messages on my Mac (one of my favorite features of the Apple ecosystem is the ability to do my texting from my computer). When a new text comes through I do get a notification pop up from the upper right. Capturing that could be a reliable trigger.

 

[InfoTime]

I started poking around in Automator but could find a way to trigger. So I asked ChatGPT about the problem. After a bit of back and forth it suggested a combination of AppleScript and Hammerspoon.

I've run out of time for now and have to run out or I'd test it a little more. Will do first chance I get. Here's the details from ChatGPT in case you're interested.

iOS Automator: Call & Text - A ShareGPT conversation

This is a conversation between a human and a GPT-3 chatbot. The human first asks: I use an iPhone and a Mac. I'd like to program a series of actions when I receive a phone call or a text message to my phone. So far I haven't found a way for the iPhone itself to programmatically do something if...

sharegpt.com

 

[InfoTime]

Argghhh. This was exciting and fun. Now it's getting totally aggravating.

Hammerspoon didn't seem to work, so I asked ChatGPT about that and it referred me to Better Touch Tool. When I couldn't find the options it said I needed to use it said "oh, use Keyboard Maestro". Got close with Keyboard Maestro.

It can tell when FaceTime app on my Mac is activated - that happens during an incoming phone call, FaceTime will activate momentarily. That's enough to generate a reliable trigger that I can build on.

However, text messages only show a notification on the Mac. The Messages app on my Mac doesn't become active when a text arrives, if it did then problem solved.

So I Googled for how to read notifications on a Mac and it looks extremely complicated.

Here's the updated ChatGPT discussion if you're inclined

iOS Automator: Call & Text - A ShareGPT conversation

This is a conversation between a human and a GPT-3 chatbot. The human first asks: I use an iPhone and a Mac. I'd like to program a series of actions when I receive a phone call or a text message to my phone. So far I haven't found a way for the iPhone itself to programmatically do something if...

sharegpt.com

 

[Newbie67]

@Newbie67 and @crimson avenger thanks for the Apple Watch ideas. I don't currently have an Apple Watch but would be willing to buy one if it was the best answer for this. Although there's a few hesitations - a) I don't like wearing a watch, b) when I had a Watch the battery would last almost a day, so sleep time was when it was charged and c) texts are as important as calls and you said sometimes you miss texts.


Not a bad idea. But how do I get the pager to go off? I need an app on my phone or on some computer that recognizes when I've received a text or call to kick off some other process like what @Rnd-chars says PagerDuty can do.

@Rnd-chars - how is PagerDuty triggered? I guess they offer some kind of app that runs on a server or pings it or some kind of watchdog. That might help, but I really need the input to be a missed call or text to my iPhone.

I do have a Mac (actually several Macs, too many actually, so I could set up a Mac just for this). I just turned on "Allow CAlls on Other Devices". So now if I receive a phone call FaceTime will open on my Mac and I'll get a pop up notification about an incoming call.

I presume there's some kind of script or Automation on the Mac that could use that as a trigger to kick off other notifications. That may be one major key to this solution.

The other event I'd need as a trigger would be a new text message. I do use Messages on my Mac (one of my favorite features of the Apple ecosystem is the ability to do my texting from my computer). When a new text comes through I do get a notification pop up from the upper right. Capturing that could be a reliable trigger.

Perhaps purchase the cheapest Apple Watch you can find just for sleeping. Set it up for the notifications you need. Have a friend test it out. Problem solved! Sleep well