Mac making strange alert/notification sounds with all notifications turned off

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Mac making strange alert/notification sounds with all notifications turned off

My Mac Mini M1 makes a strange custom alert sound randomly throughout the day. I can be sitting right in front of it when it happens and there's no obvious reason for it that pops up. Sometimes it will happen back to back to back, other times I won't hear it for a day or two. I have all notifications turned off, and the particular sound it makes doesn't show up as a standard alert sound under the sounds effects screen. I'm on Ventura 13.5.2. What can I do to troubleshoot this issue?

Mac mini

Posted on Sep 15, 2023 12:15 PM

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Answer 1

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DanArthur28 Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 20, 2023 1:05 PM in response to DanArthur28

I located the app making the notifications - Flock

Even though notifications were set to OFF in the apple system settings menu, it was still giving audible notifications when that app was open.

I was able to locate the Ta-da-dum sound in the Flock/Preferences/Notifications menu and turn off the notifications in there which were superseding Apple System Settings/Notifications OFF setting.

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Answer 2

DanArthur28 Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 19, 2023 4:25 AM in response to leroydouglas

How can I identify the sound if it's not an apple sound available in the settings menu?

I can be sitting in front of it when it happens and there's no notification or indication of what the sound is for.

I tried safe mode but it still happens.

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Answer 3

Sep 16, 2023 10:16 AM in response to DanArthur28

DanArthur28 wrote:

My Mac Mini M1 makes a strange custom alert sound randomly

for it that pops up.

? what custom sound...

pops-up...?

Not much to go on here.

To trouble shoot further you can:

—A SafeBoot Use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support will sort many anomalies

Does a quick disk repair before it fully boots up, and certain system caches get cleared and rebuilt, third party system modifications and system accelerations are disabled.

Login and test. Reboot as normal and test. Caches get rebuilt automatically.

This test will tell you if third party interference; most* extensions etc are not loaded in safe boot mode.

—Test issue in another user (or guest user) account Change Users & Groups settings on Mac - Apple Support

This will tell you if it a universal issue or isolated to your user/admin account.

unplug all third party peripherals when testing

Uninstall all third party apps that are Cleaners/Optimizers/VPN/Anti-Virus

all known to cause issues on the macOS

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Answer 4

ASTRO24

Community Specialist

Sep 16, 2023 12:43 PM in response to DanArthur28

Hi DanArthur28,

Thanks for posting in Apple Support Communities.

To address the random alert sound, restart your Mac, if you haven't already and make sure all applications are closed. When you are back on the desktop, open one app at a time to see whether the alert begins again.

Regards.

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Mac making strange alert/notification sounds with all notifications turned off

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