Android did a lot of work in recent years to improve notifications distribution and the way we receive and interact with notifications. Most users are happy with the changes but some report strange reoccurring random notification sounds without actual notification showing. It seems that the phone keeps making a notification sound even when notifications are opened or dismissed.
If that’s what bothers you, too, check the instructions below.
Table of contents:
Why do I keep getting notification sounds with no notification?
You might keep getting notification sounds with bo notification from some system apps, but that’s truly rare. Usually, you’ll see the notification in the notification shade. You can try restarting your Android first.
If that doesn’t help, check an advanced notification option called Notification reminders. Finally, if the problem is regular, don’t be afraid to perform a factory reset.
1. Restart your Android
The first thing you should do is restart your Android. The problem should stop occurring after that. However, if you still get the notification from a non-existent app or notifications you already dismissed, make sure to check the next step.
Alternatively, you can boot into Safe mode and check if the notifications re-occur. Uninstalling or limiting notifications for third-party apps is another obvious solution. Just navigate to Settings > Apps and locate apps that are bothering you with repetitive notifications. Open the app, choose Notifications, and toggle off all sections that you don’t deem necessary.
We’ll need to check notification settings next and ensure that notification reminders are disabled.
2. Disable Notification reminders
The most probable reason why this occurs is something introduced in a few latest Android iterations. That’s the Notification reminders feature. When enabled it will remind you about missed notifications or notifications you dismissed without opening them every few minutes. It’s a Notification feature so you’ll usually find it in Notification settings.
Here’s how to disable notification reminders on your Android:
- Open Settings.
- Tap Notifications.
- Open Advanced options.
- Toggle off the Notification reminders.
Have in mind that the exact procedure might differ a bit on different Android skins. Although, essentially, it should be pretty similar.
3. Turn off NFC and Bluetooth when not used
Some users reported that the issue stopped after they disabled NFC and Bluetooth. Usually, you can have both Bluetooth and NFC on at all times but if you are somewhere where there are a lot of Bluetooth or Near Field Communication devices, you might get reoccurring notifications. Also, watch out for extra battery consumption.
Finally, if nothing helps, we can only recommend resetting your device to factory settings. This seems to be a major bug and the clean slate approach is advised. You can learn how to reset your Android to factory settings.
And, on that note, we can conclude this article. Does the phone keep making the notification sound despite these steps? Make sure to tell us. You can do that in the comments section below or on Twitter or Facebook. Thank you for reading and have a nice day.
Editor’s note: This article was initially published in January 2022. We made sure to revamp it for freshness and accuracy.
my phone keeps making a sound that i can only describe as being a ‘bloop’ sound. i went through all my notification sounds and the sound doesnt even exist on my phone. and every time i check recent notifications log after, there is nothing there for what i just heard. driving me bonkers. at least it doesnt audio duck what i am listening too.
I have a Sony Xperia 5 II with the same issue, but the tone that I hear is not any tone that I have set for any of my apps. When I followed the steps as outlined, there is no choice for “Advanced options” in my notifications menu. Going by your screenshot, I see that you are working with a Samsung, and not having ever owned an Android phone before, could this setting only be for Samsung phones?
I have another issue where at times I hear a notification tone start to play that is also not any that I have set for any app, that gets interrupted by the actual notification tone for the app. As far as I can remember, this only happens with the calendar app. I’m not using the stock Android calendar, but it looks identical to the Android calendar.
To resolve the annoying unknown notification every 2 min (Pixel phone) where it doesn’t show up in your notification history – go to google play store, click on your profile up in right upper corner – you will see notifications tabs with notifications that have no earthly reason for being there. Delete each one. This worked for me…2 minute notifications stopped immediately.