How do I turn on the lock screen sound?

What is Lock Screen Sound?

Lock screen sound refers to the audio notification that plays when you receive a new notification while your phone is locked. This sound alerts you that there is a new notification without having to turn on your phone’s screen or unlock it.

The purpose of having audible lock screen notifications is convenience and awareness. When your phone makes a sound for new notifications while locked, you can be made aware of incoming messages, app alerts, calendar events and other updates without having to constantly check or unlock your phone. This allows you to decide if you want to view, ignore or delay responding to the notification based on the audible cue.

Lock screen sounds provide a hands-free and glanceable way to get notified of potentially important events and communications when your phone is not in use. This can be helpful in many situations, like when your phone is in your pocket, bag or lying on a desk nearby.

Checking if Lock Screen Sound is Enabled

To check if lock screen sound is enabled on your iPhone or Android phone, follow these steps:

Open your device’s Settings app.
Scroll down and tap on “Sounds & Haptics” (iPhone) or “Sound” (Android).

Look for an option called “Lock Screen” (iPhone) or “Also vibrate for calls” (Android). Make sure this option is toggled on (blue on iPhone, checkbox marked on Android).
You can also test this by locking your phone, waiting for a notification to come in, and listening for a sound. If you hear the notification sound play with the screen locked, then lock screen sound is enabled.

By default, lock screen sound is enabled on iPhones and Android devices. Having it on allows you to hear notification sounds like texts, calls, or app alerts even when your phone screen is locked or asleep. Turning it off mutes notifications when the screen is off.

Enabling Lock Screen Sound on iPhones

iPhones come with the lock screen sound enabled by default, but you can customize or turn it off if desired. Here are the steps to manage the lock screen sound on iPhones:

Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
Tap on “Sounds & Haptics.”

Under System Sounds, toggle the “Lock Sound” on or off.

When enabled, you’ll hear a clicking sound whenever you lock your iPhone by pressing the side or top button. You can choose between the default sound or customize it by tapping “Lock Sound” and selecting another system sound like “Opening” or “Sent Mail.”

The volume of the lock sound can be adjusted under Sound & Haptics or using the iPhone’s volume buttons. If you ever need to troubleshoot issues with missing lock sounds, check that the Lock Sound toggle is still enabled and volume is turned up.

So in summary, navigating to the Sound Settings and toggling the Lock Sound option is all it takes to manage the lock/unlock sounds on your iPhone. Custom sounds help personalize your experience while default sounds provide useful audio cues.

Enabling Lock Screen Sound on Android Phones

Lock screen sounds can easily be enabled on Android phones with a few simple steps:

Open the Settings app on your Android phone.
Scroll down and tap on Sound or Notifications.

Toggle on the “Lock Screen Notifications” switch if it is off.
Tap on Lock Screen Notifications to go into more detail settings.
Toggle switches on for Show Notifications, Hide Sensitive Content (optional), and Play Sounds to enable lock screen sounds.

Scroll down to the app notifications section and select your preferred notification sound for each app.

The options for lock screen notification sounds on Android are quite customizable. You can choose between the default notification sound, other system notification sounds, customized sounds you add, and even short music clips. This lets you personalize the notification sound for the lock screen and for individual apps.

And that’s it! Lock screen sounds are now enabled. You’ll get audible alerts and tones whenever you receive a new notification to your Android phone’s lock screen.

Customizing Lock Screen Notification Sounds

There are a few ways to customize the default notification sounds that play on your lock screen when you receive alerts:

Selecting Custom Sounds

On both iPhones and Android devices, you can set custom sounds for your lock screen notifications. To do this on an iPhone running iOS 15 or later (according to Apple Support):

Go to Settings > Notifications
Choose a specific app
Tap Sounds

Select the sound you want to use from your ringtones or vibration patterns

The process is similar on Android devices, though the settings menu may vary. As noted by Digital Trends, on a Samsung Galaxy device you would:

Open the Settings app

Tap Notifications > Advanced settings
Tap an app
Tap Sound and select a custom notification sound

This allows you to set unique sounds for alerts from specific apps.

Setting Lock Screen Sound Schedules

You can set schedules to automatically enable or disable lock screen sounds on your iPhone or Android device. This allows you to mute sounds during certain times, like at night when you don’t want to be disturbed, or during meetings.

To schedule lock screen sound changes on an iPhone:

Go into the Settings app and tap on Do Not Disturb.
Tap on Do Not Disturb Schedules to schedule Do Not Disturb for a set time period, which will mute lock screen sounds within that time period.
Tap on Allow Calls From to allow calls from Favorites or selected contacts.

Tap on Options and disable the “Allow Repeated Calls” setting if you want to mute all lock screen sounds during the Do Not Disturb time period.

For Android devices, open your Calendar app and create a recurring “Quiet Time” or “Meeting” event. Notification sounds will automatically be muted during that scheduled event.

You can also set up “Bedtime” options in the Settings app or in the Clock app to mute lock screen notifications at certain times when you go to sleep and wake up.

Lock Screen Sound Apps

In addition to the built-in settings for lock screen sounds on iOS and Android, there are also several third party apps that offer more customization options:

Custom Sounds

The Custom Sounds app allows you to set any song, sound effect, or audio file as your lock screen sound. To use it:

Download and install the Custom Sounds app from the App Store or Google Play Store

Open the app and browse the library of built-in sounds or import your own audio files
Tap on a sound to preview it
Tap the plus icon to set the selected sound as your lock screen notification sound

Lock Screen Sounds & Ringtones

The Lock Screen Sounds & Ringtones app gives you a wide selection of alarm tones, notification dings, and other sounds to use. Here’s how to set them up:

Install Lock Screen Sounds & Ringtones from the app store
Launch the app and browse the different sound categories

Tap on a sound to preview it
Tap the save icon to set that sound for lock screen notifications

Troubleshooting Lock Screen Sound

If you are having issues with missing or intermittent lock screen sounds, there are some troubleshooting steps you can try:

Common issues with missing lock screen sounds include:

Sound is disabled in phone settings
Volume level set too low or muted

Headphones are connected, diverting sound
Software glitches after an OS update

Here are some troubleshooting fixes to try:

Check sound and volume settings in your phone and confirm nothing is muted [1]
Disconnect any wired headphones or Bluetooth devices
Perform a restart of your phone

Check for and install any pending system software updates
Reset app preferences or perform a factory reset if issues persist

If none of those basic troubleshooting steps restore your missing lock screen sounds, you may need to contact the device manufacturer for further support.

Accessibility Considerations

There are a few accessibility options related to lock screen sound for users with visual or hearing impairments:

Features for visually impaired users

Some Android phones have an option to enable “screen lock sound” or “power button confirms” in the accessibility settings. When enabled, this makes an audible sound whenever the screen turns on or off which can help visually impaired users know when the screen is locked.

iPhones also have a “Lock Sound” option in Accessibility settings that plays a sound whenever the device locks. This can confirm for blind users that their phone screen has been successfully locked.

Options for hearing impaired users

For those with hearing difficulties, both iPhones and Android phones allow customizing the notification settings so that the flash briefly lights up whenever a lock screen notification is triggered. This visual alert can act as a substitute cue.

There are also third party lock screen apps like Colorful Notifications that display notifications in vibrant colors, flashes, and vibrations for hearing impaired users.

Summary

In this article we covered how to enable and customize lock screen sounds on both Android and iPhones. This can be an important step in ensuring you never miss a sound when notifications arrive while your phone is locked.

On iPhones, we saw how to toggle on lock screen sounds in the Sound settings. On Androids, we looked at accessing the Lock screen section in your main Sound settings to enable both screen locking and notification sounds.

We also saw the options to customize notification sounds with specific tones and alerts to complement your ringtones. This can help distinguish important notifications from lower priority ones while the phone is locked without even having to look at the screen.

The ability to set sound schedules and “Do Not Disturb” times allows you to ensure lock screen sounds are active during the hours you need them without unnecessary late night disturbances. Finally, there are third-party apps that offer additional features and customizations for your lock screen sounds.

Taking the time to tweak these settings to your preferences ensures you’ll never miss crucial alerts, messages, and notifications – even when your phone is locked and the screen is off.