Facebook users reported hearing a bizarre chirping sound while using the social media platform on mobile devices on Tuesday. In fact, many people thought it was something they did wrong or a setting they accidentally changed. But it’s not your fault, according to the company.
“Hearing a chirping noise while scrolling through your Facebook Feed on your iPhone? It’s not you, it’s us! And it’s an unfortunate technical error that we’re in the process of fixing,” Facebook’s head of communications Andy Stone tweeted on Tuesday.
When reached over email, Stone didn’t elaborate on what might be behind the tech glitch or when it might be fixed.
It appears the noise may have started for some users as early as Sunday, based on chatter from X over the weekend.
“Is anyone else Facebook making a noise like the refresh sound?? It happens to me when scrolling or not even touching the phone,” one user on X asked on Sunday.
There are even some reports, including one from USA Today that make it sound like the change was intentional on Facebook’s part. The news outlet called it a new “feature” though it appears users are more annoyed with the change than anything.
How can you make the chirping noise go away? As the website Dataconomy was first to explain, all you need to do is open the Facebook app on mobile, go to “Settings & Privacy” and select Settings. Scroll to “Media” and under “Sounds” turn off “In-App Sounds.”
Was this an intentional change on Facebook’s part that users simply dislike or is it really a technical glitch of some sort? We don’t know for sure. But it wouldn’t be the first time a tech change was met with disgust by its most dedicated users.
Update, 6:15 p.m. ET: Facebook just emailed to confirm the technical error should now be fixed. Further information on what caused the “error” wasn’t provided.