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Notification sounds not working in imessage (Big Sur)

I'm on Big Sur 11.2.3 and realized I am no longer receiving imessage sound effects. I have my settings in my imessage preferences turned on - other apps have sound. I have followed the guides in a few other posts about checking my settings and all of those threads were dead ends with no official resolution. Those threads are too old to post a follow up so here I am adding my name to the list - how do I get my notification dings back? The notification itself pops up in the upper right, but there are no chime/note/alert noise.

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 11.2

Posted on Apr 16, 2021 1:55 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Apr 17, 2021 11:29 AM

For anyone looking for the answer - turns out my external monitor was set to the alert notification device instead of whichever system default device I was using... (annoying and not sure why I'd want those separate, but also don't see a way to make alerts default to the system default either). I hope this helps someone.


(Sound preferences -> Sound effects tab -> "Play sound effects through" drop down selection to proper audio output and ensure volume is at full throttle)

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 17, 2021 11:29 AM in response to gleep52

For anyone looking for the answer - turns out my external monitor was set to the alert notification device instead of whichever system default device I was using... (annoying and not sure why I'd want those separate, but also don't see a way to make alerts default to the system default either). I hope this helps someone.


(Sound preferences -> Sound effects tab -> "Play sound effects through" drop down selection to proper audio output and ensure volume is at full throttle)

Notification sounds not working in imessage (Big Sur)

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