Why is the sound not working on Teams notifications on Mac?

Teams notification sounds on Mac depend on multiple settings working together. If any one of them is misconfigured, you'll see banners with no audio — or nothing at all. This guide covers the full Teams notification sounds on Mac troubleshooting path, from the most common fix to the least obvious.

Step-by-step troubleshooting

1. Check macOS notification sound toggle
   Open System Settings → Notifications → Microsoft Teams. Make sure "Play sound for notification" is turned on. This is the single most common cause of silent Teams notifications on Mac. If this toggle is off, Teams banners will appear but no sound will play.
2. Check Teams notification settings
   Open Teams → Settings → Notifications. Look for "Play sounds with notifications" and make sure it's enabled. If this setting is off, Teams won't send any audio signal to macOS, regardless of your system settings.
3. Check Focus mode
   Click the Control Center icon in the menu bar and check if a Focus mode is active (Do Not Disturb, Work, Sleep, etc.). If it is, either turn it off temporarily or add Teams to the Focus mode's allowed apps list in System Settings → Focus.
4. Check your audio output device
   Open System Settings → Sound → Output. Make sure the correct device is selected — if you previously used headphones or an external speaker, your Mac may still be routing audio there. Also check that the alert volume slider isn't set to zero.
5. Restart Teams
   Quit Teams completely (right-click the Dock icon → Quit, or use Cmd+Q) and reopen it. This clears any temporary notification state that may have gotten stuck.
6. Use the Test notification button
   In Teams → Settings → Notifications, click "Test notification." If you hear a sound, the issue was likely temporary. If you don't, re-check the steps above.

Still no sound?

If all settings look correct but sounds still don't play, try logging out of Teams and logging back in. In rare cases, reinstalling Teams resolves persistent notification issues caused by corrupted preferences.

Go further with Chirpy

Once your Teams sounds are working, you may notice a different problem: every notification sounds the same. Chirpy is a native Mac menu bar app that lets you assign distinct sounds to specific people, channels, or keywords in Teams. You'll know what a notification is about before you look at the screen.