Sound Auto-play Policy for Web Browsers

Owned by Anand Rajaraman
Last updated: Jun 26, 2024 by Del Gonzalez
3 min read

Modern web browsers have an auto-play policy to improve user experience and prevent media playback from starting without your consent. This policy affects how applications with alert mechanisms such as alarms or notifications can play sounds.

Due to browser policies, the alert sound won't play by default in browsers such as Safari, Chrome, Edge, and Firefox. However, the browser provides simple instructions for enabling the sound if users want to hear the alerts.

This policy means that the sound for "A New Alarm" in the Alarm Viewer page will not play by default every time the Web Client Alarm Viewer page is loaded.

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To enable sound for the "A New Alarm" alert in Safari, Firefox, Chrome, and Edge, follow these steps:

 

In Safari

To always allow auto-play with audio:

  1. Launch the Safari app on a Mac system

  2. Select Safari from the menu bar options

  3. Choose the Settings… option under the Safari menu

  4. Switch to the Websites tab within the popup window and choose Auto-Play in the sidebar

  5. Select the drop-down menu and your preferred choice. Selecting Allow All Auto-Play will allow auto-play with audio.

 

In Firefox

To always allow auto-play with audio:

  1. Click the menu button horizontal_menu_button.png and select Settings
    Select the Privacy & Security panel and go to the Permissions section (or enter Auto-play in the Find in Settings search box)

  2. Click the Settings… button next to Auto-play

  3. Use the Default for all websites drop-down menu to select how you want Firefox to handle media Auto-play for all websites

  4. The default Block Audio setting will prevent Auto-play for all media with sound

  5. Click Save Changes after you have made your selection

  6. The setting you have selected will apply to all media for all websites except for specific Auto-play site settings

 

In Edge Browsers

To Enable Edge to allow sound.

  1. Open your Microsoft Edge browser's Settings and More menu by selecting the three dots at the top right

  2. Choose Settings

  3. In the left menu, choose Cookies and site permissions, then scroll down (on the right pane) and select Media autoplay

  4. On the right, a drop-down arrow gives you the options to Allow, Limit, or Block autoplay

     

In Chrome Browsers

To Enable Chrome to allow sound.

  1. Click View Site Information in the address bar

  2. Click Site settings

  3. Under Sound, select Allow