Don't Touch Choose the alarm sound for your phone's theft alarm
Open Settings, tap Alarm Sound and pick from 5 options. Siren and Alarm Beep are free. Police Wail, Scream and Dog Bark come with Pro, or you can watch a short ad to use one for the current session. I listened to all five back to back before writing this, and my pick isn't the obvious one.
The five sounds
| Sound | Free plan | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Siren | Yes | Yes |
| Alarm Beep | Yes | Yes |
| Police Wail | One session after a short ad | Yes |
| Scream | One session after a short ad | Yes |
| Dog Bark | One session after a short ad | Yes |
All five are generated by the app itself rather than recorded audio files, and every one of them loops until your PIN is entered.
How to change the alarm sound
- Open Settings from the home screen of Don't Touch.
- Tap Alarm Sound.
- Tap the play button next to a sound to hear a 2-second preview.
- Tap a sound with no lock to select it; a check mark shows the current one.
- Tap a locked sound to watch a short ad that unlocks it for this app session. If no ad is available, the Pro upgrade opens instead; you can also swipe left on the row and tap Go Pro.
- Back in Settings, tap Test Alarm (3s) to hear it at the level it will really play.
Which sound suits a stolen phone alarm?
No single right answer here, it depends on the room, but Siren is a solid default for most places. A few rules of thumb:
- Siren is the classic alert everyone already recognizes, which is exactly why a would-be thief puts the phone down fast.
- Alarm Beep is sharper and cuts through a noisy cafe better than Siren does.
- Police Wail gets heads turning nearby, maybe too many.
- Scream and Dog Bark are built to startle. Funny on a prankster sibling at home, a bad idea in a silent library.
Make whichever sound you pick louder
- Keep Max Volume on Trigger on (it is by default): the siren then plays at the phone's full volume level instead of 75% of it.
- Raise the phone's volume with the side buttons before arming. The Ring/Silent switch does not mute the alarm, but the volume level still sets how loud it is.
- Place the phone on a hard surface with the speaker uncovered.
Is this the same as the iPhone's own security alert?
No. iOS has its own sounds, like the one Find My plays when you locate a lost device, and Don't Touch doesn't touch those. Its siren only plays from inside the app itself, which is also the limit: close the app and there's no sound left to play, from any sound you picked.
Questions and answers
Are all alarm sounds free?
Can I use my own sound or a song?
Does the sound I pick affect the test button?
Why did my premium sound lock again?
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- Does a phone alarm work in silent mode on iPhone?
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- Does a pocket alarm app really work on iPhone?
- Can your iPhone be the anti-theft alarm in your backpack?
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- All questions about Don't Touch
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