I have learned the hard way that with my phone in mute, the alarm does not sound. After reading one of the threads in the GS5 Forum on this site, I learned how to set up "Priority" and that in order for your alarm to sound, you have to keep the volume set to "sound" on the phone and then go tell the phone what you consider a "Priority Notification" like calls or texts from Favorites and then you have to check which applications are considered "Priority". I have mine set pretty much the way I used Blocking Mode: Calls from Favorites; Messages from Favorites. I did not check the "Events and Reminders" box...so, I **thought** I had mine set correctly but at @1:30 this morning, my phone sounded an Outlook Reminder tone...I double checked and I do have the "Events and Reminders" check box unchecked...which is "OFF" in Priority Mode, but it made sound anyway. This sounds so trivial, but it is MADDENING...all 3 of us in my household use GS5 and have been relying on our smartphones for our alarms for years and they've always worked flawlessly...I cannot figure our for the life of me why they dropped Blocking Mode. It was so effective and this new system SUCKS. Are there any work-arounds out there???