Why Did My iPhone Suddenly Start Making this Weird Noise? This May be Why

apple watch pinging iphone
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If you have an iPhone 5 or an iPhone 6, and it suddenly starts making this incredibly loud alert notification noise – sort of like a bell at claxon level – that you can’t find any way to turn off, because there is no app doing it, here’s one possible reason. First, ask yourself if you have an Apple Watch.

If you do have an Apple Watch, there is a very good chance that what is happening is that for some reason your Apple Watch has triggered the “find my iPhone” function of your Apple Watch.

apple watch find my iphone feature

 

Tapping on the picture of the iPhone with the sound waves coming out of it will send a ping to your phone, and cause your iPhone to emit – well, claxon-level bell sounds – so that you can find it. Which is why they are crazy loud.

apple watch pinging iphone

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Now, here’s the thing: your Apple Watch only sends one ping to your phone, and your iPhone only emits one sound, for each time you tap the ‘find my iPhone’ icon.

However, sometimes, for some unknown reason the watch and phone seem to get into some sort of crazy loop, all on their own, without your even having activated the ‘find my phone’ function of the watch at all.

In fact, it’s happened to us once.

And the only way that we have figured out to stop it is to reboot your watch.

To reboot your Apple Watch, press and hold down the side button:

apple watch buttons

 

until you see this screen:

apple watch reboot power off power reserve lock device screen

 

Slide the ‘Power Off’ slider to the right to turn your watch off.

apple watch reboot power off

 

Then to turn your watch back on, hold the side button down again until you see the Apple logo.

apple watch start up logo

 

So far we haven’t heard of this happening a lot, but in case it happens to you, now you know what it is, and what to do about it.

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7 thoughts on “Why Did My iPhone Suddenly Start Making this Weird Noise? This May be Why

  1. My iPhone 6Plus started screeching the other day; no obvious cause and I could not get the phone to power off. Took a couple of minutes of fumbling before I was able to power off. Modern electronics. Due to upgrade but until this week there was no cause. Three times in three days.

  2. I don’t have an apple watch. Phone started ringing a sound I’ve never heard. No apps open. Nothing stopped it from happening.

    turns out it was a Facebook Messenger phone call, but the app didn’t open, and there was no indication that I should check that. It was my first FBM call. So, now I know what it sounds like!

  3. I have iPhone 6s now before 6s i used 5s n 4s n this weird sound was there before… N I don’t have an Apple Watch.so if you say this sound coming because of other people have Apple Watch.. So all my iPhones configured with Apple watch which is defenatly not mine.. Either the company selling used iPhones or device is faulty..??

  4. Mine does the weather alert or Amber alert sound. It’s an iPhone 4. I have no Apple Watch

  5. my phone will not turn on, and I keep hearing the bell noise repediatly. I do not have an apple watch.

  6. Just started having the same problem every time I hit send. All apps closed. Did you come to a conclusion?

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