Sound Notifications: Get notified about important sounds around you

Sound Notifications help you know what's happening in your home. When they're turned on, your phone always checks for sounds that you want notifications about, like when a smoke alarm beeps or a doorbell rings.

Step 1: Get the Live Transcribe & Sound Notifications app

Note: If you have a Pixel phone or a few other supported phones, go to Step 2. The Sound Notifications are already installed on your phones.

For other phones, you need to download the Live Transcribe & Sound Notifications on Google Play.

Step 2: Turn on Sound Notifications

To turn on Sound Notifications, follow these steps:

1. Open the Settings app on your device.
2. Tap Accessibility Sound Notifications.
3. Tap Open Sound Notifications.
4. Accept microphone and notification permissions.
5. Optional: You can make a shortcut to turn the listening helper on or off easily. Learn about accessibility shortcuts.
   • To open Sound Notifications, tap the floating Accessibility button with shortcut or other personalised options, like:
     • Quick Settings
     • Volume keys
     • Two-finger swipe up
6. Tap the Accessibility button .

Tip: If your device is an older model like Android 9, Android P or older, you might not be able to say 'Hey Google' when Sound Notifications are turned on. If you want to talk to Google Assistant on those older devices, you must pause Sound Notifications for some time. Learn how to check your Android version.

How to use Sound Notifications

Sound Notifications never send audio or background conversations to Google without your permission. All the audio that your device hears stays on your device. It's all private.

When you receive Sound Notifications on your phone, you can:

• Silence the alert: Tap Silence this alert.
• Send feedback about the alert: Tap Send feedback.
• Find the list of alerts: Tap the notification.

Tips for best results:

• Put your phone in the middle of the room where you want it to listen for sounds.
• Make sure that nothing is blocking your phone, like a pillow or a book.
• Try to keep other loud sounds down, like the TV.
• Sound Notifications are always listening, so they might use more battery power. It's a good idea to charge your phone every day.

Choose sounds to detect

1. Open your device's Settings app.
2. Tap Accessibility Sound Notifications.
3. Tap Open Sound Notifications Settings .
4. Tap Sound Notifications are active.
5. Choose the sounds that you want your device to hear, like:
   • Smoke and fire alarms
   • Sirens (like police cars)
   • Baby sounds (like crying)
   • Dog barking
   • Knocking
   • Doorbell ringing
   • Appliance beeping
   • Water running

Choose how you get alerts

1. Open your device's Settings app.
2. Tap Accessibility Sound Notifications.
3. Tap Open Sound Notifications Settings .
4. Tap Ways to be notified.
5. Choose how you want to get alerts:
   • Vibrate: Your device will shake.
   • Camera flash: The light on your device will flash.

Get more help

For more Accessibility help, contact the Disability Support team.