What to know

  • iOS 18 lets you make sounds and noises to trigger set actions on your iPhone.
  • Choose from several different sounds, such as ‘click’, ‘click’, ‘Oo’, ‘La’, etc. from the ‘Sound Actions’ accessibility feature.  
  • Set up ‘Sound Actions’ from Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Sound Actions.

iOS 18 is full of unexpected and surprising features and we’re still discovering new additions to the iPhone experience. One of the recent finds is ‘Sound Actions’, a highly useful feature that lets you perform actions by making little sounds and noises. 

There are several sounds that you can use, such as ‘click’, ‘cluck’, ‘eh’, ‘Oo’, etc. and tie them to the actions that you want to perform. Sounds fun? Set up ‘Sound Actions’ from Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Sound Actions. 

There are 14 different sounds to choose from. Tap on one to set it up. Then select the action that you want to trigger when you make that sound.

If you’re not sure how to make the sound, tap on ‘Practice’ and start making the sounds. 

By tying actions to different sounds, you can effectively trigger multiple actions quickly just by making a few sounds.

Note that this feature is different from ‘Vocal Shortcuts‘ on iOS 18 which uses custom words and phrases to trigger actions. But there’s a wide range of possible actions that you can set up when using Vocal Shortcuts and Sound Actions in conjunction.