# Anyone know of a "what beeped?" app for Mac? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 18, 2013, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-of-a-what-beeped-app-for-mac/676668 "2013-12-18T19:32:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-of-a-what-beeped-app-for-mac/676668/1 "2013-12-18T19:32:11Z")
I have tons of things running on my mac. Frequently beeps and other notification type noises occur without any accompanying text notice, and I have no clue what the beep is telling me, or which app or menubar app or system preference pane or what have you is responsible. Is there any kind of “What beeped?” application, or some system thing that will tell me, something in the logs, perhaps? Which are a bitch to look at, but if I knew what to look for… ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-of-a-what-beeped-app-for-mac/676668/2 "2013-12-18T19:38:39Z")
I’ve never heard of such an app. Generally, beeps are accompanied by the Notification Manager bouncing the icon in the dock, but if the application is generating alerts without using the Notification Manager, you are SOL. You might try installing Growl. Lots of Applications are Growl-aware, and it provides a visual clue. ---
**Author:** ![TheSeaOtter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed655f/32.png) [@TheSeaOtter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheSeaOtter)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-of-a-what-beeped-app-for-mac/676668/3 "2013-12-18T19:44:23Z")
The latest OS includes a ‘notifications center’, and is better about using Growl-style top-corner messages for this sort of thing (see link below), but if something is just beeping without a notification and you don’t have a bouncing Dock icon, I don’t think there’s any way to get this info. It’s not like an app needs to write to a log in order to produce a sound. > **[Hands-on with OS X Mavericks: Notification Center](https://www.macworld.com/article/221561/hands-on-with-os-x-mavericks-notification-center.html)** > > Jason Snell takes a hands-on tour of Notification Center in OS X Mavericks. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-of-a-what-beeped-app-for-mac/676668/4 "2013-12-18T19:52:13Z")
You could go into System Preferences and click Notifications. From there you can scroll down the list to see what apps are there. If need be, go to the Applications folder and start each app in the Notification list that you suspect may have beeped, to see if any contain anything new. I’ve turned them all off in Notifications and created a “Silence” no-sound for the system beep by turning on the recorder and immediately turning it off, then saving it as Silence.aiff, moving it into the system library’s Sounds folder and choosing Silence in the Sounds preference pane. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-of-a-what-beeped-app-for-mac/676668/5 "2013-12-18T20:23:31Z")
Anyone know of such an app for Windows? When this happens to me, it is usually because someone in my family left Facebook open on another tab, and they got an IM from someone. But that’s usually, not always, and it is so annoying when I’m really unsure. ---
**Author:** ![madrabbitwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-of-a-what-beeped-app-for-mac/676668/6 "2013-12-20T02:37:10Z")
I would pay damn good money for something for my android phone. Darn thing beeps and chimes for no good reason I can see and it is driving me nuts.