Customize ringing/notification sound

[Luraktinus]

Some users (including me) find this high pitched sound unappealing, please let the users change it or go an octave lower.
thank you
--Lue

[lampholder]

I wonder - do fb messenger/web whatsapp/slack let you configure notif sounds? Or do they just pick a more universally appealing sound?

[hdoupe]

What's the status on this issue? My colleague and I are testing out the app. It's great so far, but this noise gives me a mini-heart attack every time I get a message.

cc @andersonfrailey

[NintendoManiac64]

If you're OK with manually doing the process every single time Riot updates, then you can at the very least manually replace the "message.mp3" and "message.ogg" files found at the following location on Windows:

%localappdata%\riot\app-0.17.0\resources\webapp\media

(replace the "0.17.0" text with whatever the newest version of Riot is at any given time; I find it easier to just go to "%localappdata%\riot" instead and then just manually click through the folders from there)

[itay-grudev]

Here is a link to the newly proposed sound:

⏯️ Ringtone by Baptiste Gelez

⏯️ Current ringtone (for comparison)

[Maffsie]

I'm in agreement here, the current notification sound for new messages gives me a not-insignificant amount of anxiety every time I hear it, which means I miss notifications because I need to have the sound turned off. Please give users the option of choosing their own tone without having to reapply a manual file swap on every (frequent!) Riot update.
@itay-grudev Those audio files appear to be for an incoming call, not for a notification of a new instant message. This issue covers both the ringtone (incoming call) and the notification tone (new message); the linked PR should not close this issue.

[Bandie]

For Arch Linux users:
You can manually change out/patch the files in /usr/lib/riot/webapp/media/

[t3chguy]

/usr/lib/riot/webapp/media/

Sounds like you're using some unofficial distribution, official one stores its files in /opt/riot-desktop/

[Bandie]

@t3chguy Well, it seems the package maintainer decided to put things there.
(I use arch btw. >:) )

[lectrode]

IMHO, the proposed ringtone is much better than the current. Has a decision been made on whether or not to switch to it?

[domoritz]

Besides changing the default, it would be nice to allow people to choose a sound. That was in #6776 and merged into this issue.

[DanH42]

I wonder - do fb messenger/web whatsapp/slack let you configure notif sounds? Or do they just pick a more universally appealing sound?

For starters, none of them uses such a LOUD notification sound. When my system volume is set such that everything else (notifications, videos, etc) is a comfortable volume, an Element notification is borderline painful it's so loud. I have to keep the tab muted and rely on visual cues to tell when I've gotten a message.

A volume control would be great, but custom notification sounds would also allow for an easy workaround that would also satisfy others who don't like the sound itself, regardless of how loud it is.

[caniko]

Why can't we select from a list of ringtones? Why just one default tone?

Please hurry up with the solution, I get anxious every time somebody calls me 🍡 (no need to hurry, just trying to be lighthearted)

[ShadowJonathan]

For what it's worth, there's some more information here: matrix-org/matrix-react-sdk#4500 (comment)

While this may be a marked improvement, we wouldn't like to merge this into the project as is. This clashes with some notification work we're (@matrix-org/design) doing internally and any updates to the sounds would have to be part of a pack with variations for multiple contexts, rather than just one sound being changed arbitrarily.

...

As the Design team mentioned above that they'd like to handle this as part of reworking notifications more generally, I don't think it makes sense to keep this open for the moment. We'll keep the sound in mind as we work on notifications.

TLDR; This is still happening, only it's part of the design team's (large) workload, which they'll get to in time. They've already done a lot of work recently to improve the look and feel of Element, most of which equally important as this, so this will happen sometime in the future, just be patient for a little while longer.

[t3chguy]

My guess is differing github permissions

[daniellekirkwood]

👋 Member of the product team here...

Thanks so much for all the feedback on this issue. Please rest assured that we understand how impactful this is to users. "Sound" more holistically is an item on our backlog and we will certainly get to it (and engage y'all here when we do). Unfortunately this is not something that we're looking at working on right now. Instead we're spending our time focussed on bugs such as stuck notifications, accessibility, timeline jumpiness, etc.

In the meantime, it is possible to change the sound of rooms from inside the room notifications settings. While I imagine this may be tedious for those users with lots of rooms, it is still possible to do. We are not looking at allowing folks the ability to personalise the sounds of Element as a whole.

Again, I appreciate all your comments and feedback.
Please be patient with us as we're all working hard to ensure this is a product that you continue to enjoy to use.

[Ryonez]

We are not looking at allowing folks the ability to personalise the sounds of Element as a whole.

As a user I feel like this is the wrong decision. This is a 5 year old issue on just how bad the default sound is. Manually changing the sound for each room is frankly not going to happen. And honestly even if you barrelled through with not letting users change the sound overall, despite years of us trying to find some way to work around it, you could at least take an hour or two to find a default notification sound that isn't PTSD inducing. The amount of time this has caused chest pains when it's gone off sucks. Even when trying to limit the amount of time it goes off.

[piegamesde]

I have total understanding for not being able to customize the notification sound, for the reasons outlined.

However, why the default sound has not been changed to something more pleasant is beyond my understanding. (Tbf this is tracked in a separate issue, which should be bumped in priority IMO.)

Have a look at the other (desktop) messengers. Do users come in crying that they want to customize the notification sound? As far as I know, no. Why? Because theirs does not suck. I think it's fair to say that most users don't want a custom notification sound, they just want a good one.

[ShadowJonathan]

Alright, I have been understanding of Element's priorities for at least a long while now, but this has crossed my personal threshold for how much patience I have for this kind of corporate behaviour.

Since this is clearly not a priority, and still affecting a lot of users, either Element employees have gotten deaf or muted the sound themselves, or they simply don't care about accessibility like this, since there is clearly a breakdown of communication between those who prioritise, and those who consider user accessibility like this.

Therefore, I don't think that, in the end, Element cares about user accessibility, or user care, at all. Except for what looks good and what's flashy, given that this is still on the backburner, compared to other features and fixed being shipped left and right.

I understand Element's financial situation, but I have lost enough patience to care, and am now seeing this as a deficiency of theirs to not come back to the community on this.

[t3chguy]

either Element employees have gotten deaf or muted the sound themselves, or they simply don't care about accessibility like this

@ShadowJonathan you are aware matrix-org/matrix-react-sdk#9143 landed, yes? It'll be in today's release. Its not the final state of the situation but it resolves the primary complaint of volume.

I don't think that, in the end, Element cares about user accessibility

As someone who has personally spent many weeks both paid and unpaid working on accessibility you can rightly fact check yourself.

[KaKi87]

That's not enough.
Especially for a several years old issue.
We want what we actually asked for.

[offsetcyan]

If you've needed the feature for several years, you could always submit a PR

[piegamesde]

@grxnola You mean like this? matrix-org/matrix-react-sdk#11078
(also allegedly there have been several PRs on that topic who either rot or got rejected, mine is far from being the first one)

[lectrode]

@ShadowJonathan you are aware matrix-org/matrix-react-sdk#9143 landed, yes? It'll be in today's release. Its not the final state of the situation but it resolves the primary complaint of volume.

While that is certainly a small step in the right direction (it took nearly an entire year just to accept a PR to reduce the volume of some of the sounds?! Wtf...), that does not resolve the primary complaint that the existing ring/notification sounds are jarring enough to wake the dead.

As someone who has personally spent many weeks both paid and unpaid working on accessibility you can rightly fact check yourself.

I don't think anyone is questioning work ethic of contributors - only the apparent strictness with which PRs and other improvements are adopted. A review and approval process is definitely a good thing, but there is such a thing as "letting the perfect be the enemy of the good". In this case, smaller improvements that provide a net benefit are rejected because there are projects "in the works" that will resolve something related.

That would be fine, except that those projects take years to complete (the supposed sound theming project has been in progress for over 7 years), leaving a gaping accessibility hole in the client for everyone during the interim. The proper solution for this would be to adopt a better ring and notification sound for now, and provide a refined/"perfect" sound theming solution later.

[epicEaston197]

Bro when I first heard the notification sound for ringing I thought my spaceship was under attack

[luixxiul]

This is a cross-post from #5031 (comment) to let you guys know that schildichat, an Element-based client, has implemented an option to select a less stressful notification sound which should not be so jarring.

The proper solution for this would be to adopt a better ring and notification sound for now, and provide a refined/"perfect" sound theming solution later.

[adamency]

@daniellekirkwood

We are not looking at allowing folks the ability to personalise the sounds of Element as a whole.

Please explain the reasoning behind this decision ? You have simply stated this without ever explaining why this idea was rejected. I don't understand how changing a sound file on your own instance can be problematic.

[cknoll]

As I understand this issue will remain open quite a while. While I personally do not like the element sounds I can live with this becaus as a whole I really like the app.

Anyway it would be nice to have some collections of workarround in this issue. Some of the first messages discuss which files to change manually. I would like to do so but I use element via flatpak. If anyone knows how to exchange the media files inside a flatpak container, please let me know.

Update: At least I managed to get reading access to the actual media files:

• on the host system: flatpak run --filesystem=home --command=bash im.riot.Riot
• inside the flatpak bash: cp /app/Element/resources/webapp.asar /home/myuser
• on the host system in your homedir: npx asar extract webapp.asar webapp.asar.unpacked

Remaining steps:

• exchange media files (e.g. use /usr/share/sounds/Oxygen-Im-Phone-Ring.ogg from KDE (path might be debian specific))
• recreate compressed file webapp.asar
• copy that file to the correct location such that flatpak run im.riot.Riot will use it.

[daniellekirkwood]

@daniellekirkwood

We are not looking at allowing folks the ability to personalise the sounds of Element as a whole.

Please explain the reasoning behind this decision ? You have simply stated this without ever explaining why this idea was rejected. I don't understand how changing a sound file on your own instance can be problematic.

We will be reviewing sound as a holistic topic across our product set in the future. Until then, we are focussing our efforts on gnarly bugs, things such as stuck notifications and threads issues.

When we get to reviewing Sound and our notifications interactions as a whole we'll aboslutely consult folks here and take all of this feedback into consideration.

Please bear in mind: There are a lot of switches and customisations in our product and this makes Element harder to use for many people. We are trying to reduce the number of customisations in the product and re-introduce them purposefully with the right level of consideration and feedback.

[cknoll]

We will be reviewing sound as a holistic topic across our product set in the future.

I, personally understand this approach. After all I use element as a free product and I do not have any right to arrogate specific features or to decide how to prioritize development.

On the other hand the developers should keep in mind that sound is an emotional topic and sounds which are perceived as "bad" can alienate users much more than some (minor) bugs. I think the general problem is that people in this issue are probably not affected by other bugs and issues and see the sound problem as the one big thing. Therefore, they lack understanding why this takes so long (issue open since 2017).

I think, compiling some comunity-contributed tutorials for workarounds (like manually changing the sound files) would help here. Because people who are really passionate about this topic then would have another option then just wo wait (or abandon element).

[adamency]

Please bear in mind: There are a lot of switches and customisations in our product and this makes Element harder to use for many people. We are trying to reduce the number of customisations in the product and re-introduce them purposefully with the right level of consideration and feedback.

I can understand this. However, couldn't we set a default and then simply allow in settings to modify the sound if wanted ? This wouldn't add another necessary configuration option and still allow folks to change the sounds if they want to.

[Californian]

@daniellekirkwood
Please bear in mind: There are a lot of switches and customisations in our product and this makes Element harder to use for many people. We are trying to reduce the number of customisations in the product and re-introduce them purposefully with the right level of consideration and feedback.

I think this is the main point of tension, but I totally understand where you're coming from from a product perspective: 90%+ of users will never change a default notification sound, but all users might see the clutter that would come from adding a UI for the option!

"Customization reduction" is, however, is a terrifying thing for any power user to ponder and, depending on implementation, risks significant user churn among the most active users and advocators of the product.

There is, however, a very common UX pattern for dealing with this tension that I sincerely hope you're adopting (for this issue and in general): an "advanced"/"developer" mode. Let power users tinker and change stuff in a maximalist settings screen world, let normal users get their messages reliably without clutter. It's really the best of both worlds! It's already in use in some sections of the UI, but a global toggle (or settings-tab-level toggles, but not the current intra-tab, section-level toggles) would do wonders to reduce cluter while still allowing for the flexibility of contributions like the PRs enabling users to choose a different sound.

Just my 2 cents!

[ThiefMaster]

"Customization reduction" is, however, is a terrifying thing for any power user to ponder and, depending on implementation, risks significant user churn among the most active users and advocators of the product.

Yes. I had to restrain myself not to write a much more strongly-worded comment as a reply to this quote (which I hadn't seen before). Because I'm fucking sick of applications dumbing down their stuff all the time, and every time they do this I tend to use some feature/switch which I found very useful.

Just have a simple set of basic settings for "normal users". Good defaults, and easy to change those where the defaults may not be everyone's liking (ctrl+senter vs enter to send for example - all the messengers like Skype that removed this added it back ;))

And then as @Californian suggested hide the rest under some "advanced settings" toggle. Maybe not as crazy as about:config in Firefox, but just so power users can still customize things...

[KaKi87]

Concretely : what in the world do we have to do to get this feature now ?!

[eslerm]

Concretely : what in the world do we have to do to get this feature now ?!

Community requests for accessibility will likely continue not being a priority #5031.

If you work for an organization or government which is considering hiring or granting money to Element.io or Matrix developers, make sure their sales reps know that accessibility issues, like this, are important.

[Bugsbane]

Take a listen to the ringtone here:
https://freesound.org/people/Thoribass/sounds/254822/

The player has a "loop" option, just click the refresh-page-like, two arrows in a circle icon.

I think most people would prefer this to the current sound, and it's already permissively licensed (CC-BY). It's certainly much less stress-inducing!

[azymohliad]

I would really like an option to set a custom ringtone. I startle every time I get an unexpected call in Element. I would really want a ringtone that starts quietly and then ramps up in 10 seconds or so. On the phone I might prefer a faster ramp up time, but on desktop I'm often in my headphones. I guess there's no one size fits all here with a predefined ringtone, and a customizable one would be really really useful.

[ShadowJonathan]

Happy belated 6-year issue birthday, by the way.

[VermiumSifell]

I really think this feature should be implemented, will probably make more power users ask more friends to join the Matrix world too.