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How to play a sound when you open your MacBook lid

Short answer: your MacBook does not make a sound when you open the lid, and macOS has no setting to turn one on. The only sound your Mac plays on its own is the startup chime, and that is a different thing. To hear a sound every time you lift the lid, you need a small app such as LidShutter.

What macOS does and does not do

When you lift the lid of a MacBook that is asleep, it wakes up quietly. Nothing plays, and there is no switch in System Settings for a “lid open” sound.

The startup chime is the sound some Macs play when they turn on from fully off. It is not tied to the lid, it does not play when a Mac wakes from sleep, and on many newer Macs it is off unless you turn it on. If your Mac offers it, the setting is in System Settings, under Sound.

Your options

  • An app made for it. LidShutter sits in the menu bar and plays a sound when you open the lid and another when you close it. It has 22 sounds, and you pick them.
  • A script. If you are comfortable with scripting, tools such as Hammerspoon can run your own code when your Mac wakes. It takes setup, and a wake is not always the same as a lid opening.

How to set it up with LidShutter

  1. Download and install LidShutter. Download LidShutter from lidshutter.com, open the file, and drag LidShutter into your Applications folder.
  2. Activate your license key. Open LidShutter, open the dashboard from the menu bar icon, choose License, paste your key and press Activate.
  3. Choose your opening sound. In the menu bar panel, pick a sound under “When I open”, or press the dice for a random one.
  4. Choose your closing sound. Pick a goodbye sound under “When I close”. On MacBooks with a lid angle sensor it starts while the lid is still moving.
  5. Set the volume. Use the volume slider, which goes up to 200%, and open and close your lid to hear it.

What it costs, and what it does not do

LidShutter is a one-time purchase with no subscription. Launch pricing starts at $1.99 for one Mac, and one key can cover 2 to 10 Macs. It works offline after you activate it, needs macOS 13 Ventura or later, and has no account and no analytics. See the pricing and the questions people ask.

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