Learn how to turn on an accessibility setting that makes your iPhone play a tone when you power it on or when you switch it off.
Mac desktops and notebooks play a startup chime when you press the power button. Similarly, various Windows versions are famous for having iconic startup sounds.
If you’re fascinated by this little life-improvement feature, you can enable it on your iPhone as well.
What’s the use of startup and shutdown sounds
These sounds are very helpful for blind people or those who cannot see properly as they confirm the iPhone is powering on or shutting down successfully.
Even if you have no vision problems, you can still turn it on for fun. And the tone is not too loud or distracting, so I see no downside to enabling this feature.
Compatible iPhones
You can activate power on and off sounds on the following models running iOS 16 or iOS 17:
- iPhone 14
- iPhone 14 Plus
- iPhone 14 Pro
- iPhone 14 Pro Max
- iPhone 15
- iPhone 15 Plus
- iPhone 15 Pro
- iPhone 15 Pro Max
Note: Startup and shutdown sounds are not available on iPad.
Activate power on and off sound for iPhone
- Open the Settings app on iPhone 14 or 15 series.
- Tap Accessibility.
- Tap Audio/Visual under the Hearing section.
- Activate the switch next to Power On & Off Sounds or Turn On & Off Sounds.
After this, your iPhone will play a short, sweet tone when you turn it off or back on.
Note: This sound may not play if your iPhone reboots automatically after freezing.
Can you change the iOS reboot sounds?
You cannot.
Are both sounds the same?
No. Your iPhone plays different sounds during startup and shutdown. But both are very short, like 1-second max.
If more people switch on this feature or if Apple turns it on out of the box, these tones could become as iconic as the Mac or Windows PC startup sound.
Does it play in silent mode?
Yes. I put my iPhone 15 Pro Max in silent mode and then shut it down. The tone still played. Similarly, it chimed in when I switched my phone back on.
What to do if you have an unsupported iPhone?
Startup and shutdown sounds are exclusive to the iPhone 14 and 15 series. But if you want them on your old iPhone or even iPad, you will have to explore the jailbreaking route and use the BootSound tweak to set a CAF audio file as startup sound.