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Updated
How to Get an Hourly Chime on Mac
With Dato
- Open the settings of Dato, and click “Extras”.
- Turn on “Hourly chime”. The first time, its settings open. Later, click “Customize…” to open them.
- Choose the sound in “Sound”, and set how loud it is with the slider below it. The volume is relative to the volume of the Mac.
- In “Time range”, choose the hours in which the chime plays. At first, it is from 9:00 to 22:00, so it is silent at night.
The chime plays on the hour, by the clock of the Mac.
The “Set Hourly Chime State” action of Dato in the Shortcuts app turns the chime on or off, like from an automation.
Get Dato
Menu bar calendar and world clocks, plus fullscreen meeting notifications
$18, one-time purchase
- Platform
- macOS
- Requires
- macOS 26 or later
- Category
- Productivity
- Released
- July 2019
- Privacy
- No personal data collected
- Family Sharing
- Yes
- Updated
- November 2026
- Version
- 5.8.4
- Size
- 18 MB
- Setapp rating
- 99% positive (878 ratings)
Without an app
macOS can say the time with a voice:
- Open “System Settings › Menu Bar”.
- Go to “Menu Bar Controls”, and click “Clock Options”.
- Turn on “Announce the time”, and choose when in “Interval”: on the hour, on the half hour, or on the quarter hour.
- Choose a voice in “Voice”.
Apple’s instructions. This is free, and it tells you the time without a look at the screen. It is a voice, not a chime. Dato is for a short sound that does not speak, only in the hours that you choose.