Oliver Haslam·

How To Use iOS 14 Sound Recognition Feature

Apple is adding a ton of new and highly useful features to iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, with one of them being something called Sound Recognition. And it does precisely what it suggests, recognizing sounds and then alerting users as required.

Why could that be useful? First and foremost, it’s an accessibility feature for those who cannot hear things like doorbells or water running. With this feature enabled they’ll receive an alert when a device hears for them. And, of course, we can all use it as well.

It’s easy to set up, although you’ll need to have iOS 14 or iPadOS 14 installed to use it. They’re available as a developer beta right now, but everyone should be able to enjoy them in or around September later this year.

Here’s how it all works.

  1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
  2. Head to Accessibility > Sound Recognition.
  3. Here, toggle the switch to the “On” position and tap Sounds.

Now you can enable all the things you want your device to notify you of, ranging from sirens to car horns.

You can add a toggle for Sound Recognition to Control Center, too. That’ll give you an easier and quicker way of enabling and disabling the feature when required.

  1. Once again, launch the Settings app, and select Control Center.
  2. Under More Controls, tap the plus sign next to Sound Recogntion to add it to your Control Center screen. You can move it around, too.

Now that you’re all set up your device will prompt you with a notification you when it detects any one of the enabled sounds.

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