Apple’s Patented Mac Start-Up Chime is Dead

Max Buondonno October 31, 2016

With Apple’s new MacBook Pros, a lot is changing. A new, much thinner, metal design is here, there’s no full-sized USB ports, MagSafe has been ditched, the display is much thinner, the glowing Apple logo is gone, the keyboard is now based on a chicklet mechanism, the trackpad is twice as big, and let’s not forget about the addition of the Touch Bar and Touch ID. However, one feature of the Mac that’s been around for many years is now totally obliterated from these new laptops, and that’s the world-famous start-up chime.

As initially noted by Pingie.com, Apple’s F-sharp start-up chime, patented back in 2012 and tells users when their Macs boot successfully, is now gone on the new MacBook Pros. The motive behind the absence? Silence. Literally.

See, the new MacBook Pros automatically turn on if they’re turned off and the lid is opened. This both eliminates the need to press the power button and rationalizes the decision to remove the chime. If someone’s in a meeting or public area like a library and they open their laptop, they probably don’t want it to chime. Therefore, it only makes sense for the new Pros to make zero sound while turning on.

Of course, if Apple didn’t include the ability to automatically start up on the new MacBook Pros, the chime would still likely be present since you’d have to hit the power button. However, this isn’t the case. So technically, if you’re upset about the chime’s absence, blame the auto-boot feature.

Let’s raise one for that magical F-sharp that has been greeting us when we power on our Macs since 1994. For your listening pleasure, we’ve included the sound below.