---
title: Actions on alarms
description: Give an alarm or reminder something to do when it rings: open an app, or call someone with the number ready in your phone app.
order: 10
since: 0.0.12.1
---

# Actions on alarms

An alarm or reminder can carry one **action**: something it does when it rings, besides
ringing. There are two kinds.

- **Open App.** The ringing screen shows the app's own icon, and tapping it opens the app.
  See [launching apps from alarms](/docs/everyday-use/launching-apps-from-alarms.html).
- **Phone Call.** The ringing screen shows a phone badge with the person's name, and tapping
  it opens your phone app with their number filled in.

The case it was built for: *call Mum at six*. The alarm rings, the badge says **MUM** with
**TAP TO CALL** curved under it, and one tap puts the number in your dialler. Nothing to look
up while half-listening to a ringtone.

> **Calendite never dials by itself.** Tapping the badge opens your phone app with the number
> ready; you place the call. You always see the number before anyone's phone rings.

---

## Adding an action

The action belongs to the alert, so it's set where you set the alert's time and choose
between **Alarm** and **Notification**. On a reminder it's the **Action** tile.

1. Add or edit an alert on an event.
2. Tap the **Actions** row. Unset, it reads *Add Action*.
3. Choose **Open App** or **Phone Call** from the sheet.
4. For a call, tap **Choose From Contacts** and pick a number, or type one and say who it is.
   Tap **Continue**.

The row now shows the action: the app's icon and name, or a phone glyph with *Call Mum* and
the number underneath. One action per alert; choosing another kind replaces it, and the × on
the row removes it.

**Choosing from contacts** uses your phone's own contacts picker. Calendite receives the one
number you tap and the name it's filed under, and asks for no access to the rest of your
contacts. The name is kept with the alarm so the badge can still say who it's for if the
contact is later renamed or deleted.

**Typing a number** works for anything not in your contacts: the dentist, a helpline. The
name is optional. Without one the badge shows the number instead.

---

## When the alarm rings

The bell at the top of the ringing screen becomes the action's badge: the app's icon, or a
phone glyph in a circle, with the name curved above and **TAP TO OPEN** or **TAP TO CALL**
curved below. Everything else is as usual: the alert text, snooze, slide to dismiss.

Tapping the badge stops the ringing, does the action and closes the alarm screen, in that
order, so you are never left with an alarm ringing behind the dialler.

The same action is on the alarm's card in the notification shade, as a **Call** or **Open**
button beside Snooze and Stop. On a locked phone the card shows the button without the
event's name, the same as its other controls.

---

## What it doesn't do

- **It doesn't place the call.** Your phone app opens with the number ready, and you tap Call
  there.
- **One action per alert.** An alarm can open an app or offer a call, not both.
- **Plain notifications show no button.** A notification that doesn't ring carries the action
  on the event, but its card in the shade has no buttons.

---

## Next

- [Launching apps from alarms](/docs/everyday-use/launching-apps-from-alarms.html)
- [Reminders and alerts](/docs/everyday-use/reminders-and-alerts.html)
- [What leaves your device](/docs/privacy/what-leaves-your-device.html)