Get Sound Notifications on your phone

Sound Notifications help you know what happens in your home. When Sound Notifications are on, your phone will always check for sounds you want notifications about, like when a smoke alarm beeps or a doorbell rings.

Step 1: Download Live Transcribe & Sound Notifications

Note: If you have a Pixel phone, skip to Step 2 below. Sound Notifications are already installed on Pixel phones and select other Android phones.

For other phones, download Live Transcribe & Sound Notifications on Google Play.

Step 2: Turn on Sound Notifications

To turn on Sound Notifications, follow these steps:

  1. Open your device's Settings app .
  2. Tap Accessibility and then Sound Notifications.
  3. Tap Open Sound Notifications.
  4. To accept the permissions, tap OK.
  5. Optional: Change your Sound Notifications shortcut. Learn about accessibility shortcuts.
  6. To start Sound Notifications, use your Sound Notifications shortcut (2-finger swipe up or tap the Accessibility button Accessibility).

Tip: If your device runs on an older version of Android 9, like Android P or older, you can't use "Hey Google" or "Ok Google" when Sound Notifications are turned on. If you want to use Google Assistant via voice command on those devices, pause Sound Notifications. Learn how to check your Android version.

How to use Sound Notifications

Sound Notifications never send audio or background conversations to Google without your consent. All audio is processed locally and never leaves the device.

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

  • Silence the notification: Tap Silence this alert.
  • Send feedback about the notification: Tap Send feedback.
  • See a timeline: Tap the notification.

For the best results, follow these tips:

  • Center your phone in the room where you want audio detected.
  • Make sure nothing blocks the phone.
  • Keep other sounds in your home low, like the TV.
  • Sound Notifications are always on and may increase battery usage. Charge your phone daily.

Choose sounds to detect

  1. Open your device's Settings app .
  2. Tap Accessibility and then Sound Notifications.
  3. Tap Open Sound Notifications and then Settings .
  4. Tap Sound Notifications are active.
  5. Choose the sounds that you'd like to detect:
    • Smoke and fire alarms
    • Siren
    • Shouts
    • Baby sounds
    • Doorbell rings
    • Knocks
    • Dog barks
    • Appliance beeps
    • Running water
    • Landline phone rings

Choose how you get notified

  1. Open your device's Settings app .
  2. Tap Accessibility and then Sound Notifications.
  3. Tap Open Sound Notifications and then Settings .
  4. Tap Notification preferences.
  5. Choose how you'd like to get notified:
    • Vibrate
    • Flashing light
    • Notify on connected watches. This option applies to Wear OS watches and some other wearables. You might need to change your wearable notification settings. If you can't receive notifications, check the help documentation for your wearable device. Learn more about notifications on wearables.