Clocks change Nov 1 — a good time to test your alarms. New Home checkup tracks replace-by dates, batteries and monthly tests, then shares a PDF safety report.
That chirp is real — ChirpHound helps you work out which alarm it is. Version 13.0 adds a Home checkup that keeps every alarm in your home tested and up to date.
NEW IN 13.0: HOME CHECKUP
• A new Home tab turns your alarm list into a to-do list: what to do now (past its replace-by date, battery due, didn't sound when tested), what is coming up, and questions worth checking — a smoke alarm in or outside each bedroom, one on every floor, a CO alarm.
• Guided monthly test: go alarm by alarm, press its test button and tap Sounded or Didn't sound. Results go into a test log, and an alarm that didn't sound links to the Fix it guides. Optional reminder on the 1st of each month.
• Home safety report: share a PDF of your alarms, their dates and the test log with a landlord, tenant file or insurer, or export CSV spreadsheets.
• Backup and restore: save your alarms and test log as a file wherever you like. Restoring adds alarms and never changes the ones you have.
• Widgets for the Home Screen and Lock Screen: Find the chirp and Test my alarms. Siri: "Test my alarms with ChirpHound".
JUST FIND IT
• One Start listening button and one plain status card: how long it has listened, how many chirps it heard, how often they come and when the next one is due. Silence is called normal, not frozen.
• Listens across 2.4–4.5 kHz by default, so a chirp off the usual smoke-alarm pitch is not filtered out.
• After each chirp: louder or quieter at your phone than at your last spot.
• Which alarm is it? Stand under each alarm for one chirp and see them ranked by level at your phone. It checks the leader again before calling it "loudest at your phone".
• Keep listening with the screen locked; a Live Activity counts down to the next chirp.
ONLY CHIRPS AT NIGHT?
The overnight chirp catcher counts chirps while you sleep and shows a morning report: how many, when and how often. Times and relative levels only — never audio.
MY ALARMS
Each alarm's room, floor, brand, model, power type and label dates. ChirpHound works out the replace-by date (smoke alarms 10 years from manufacture; CO alarms per the label) and reminds you in daylight. Scan the label to fill in the model and date.
IS IT EVEN A SMOKE ALARM?
UPS units, garage door openers, internet backup units, leak sensors and security keypads chirp too. See which published patterns your chirp fits, where to look, and the source for each.
GET THE ANSWER, THEN FIX IT
• What does this chirp mean? A few plain questions plus the measured cadence give one answer — low battery, still chirping after a new battery, end of life or a hardwired chain — with sourced steps.
• Fix it guides: battery swap (with a 20-second drain timer), sealed 10-year alarms, hardwired chains, CO alarms and the 3 a.m. case, each ending with a 3-minute listen to check.
• A three-beep or four-beep emergency pattern is never softened: leave and follow the alarm's instructions.
FIELD TOOLS WHEN YOU WANT THEM
The five-stage investigation, the 3·3·3 room comparison, live spectrogram, Auto Discover, 15 presets, HoundMap, EchoMap, ChirpMesh, Hearing Assist, CSV and PDF reports, 19 Signal Lab scenes, 48 checklist entries and 24 field guides.
EVERYTHING INCLUDED
One purchase. No subscription, no account, no ads.
MEANINGFUL LIMITS
ChirpHound compares chirp levels at your phone. It does not measure direction or distance or pinpoint a device, and echoes can make the wrong room sound louder — confirm with the alarm's light, label or test button. Test results are what you report. The label and manual govern, and the app never states that an alarm is safe.
PRIVATE BY DESIGN
Audio is analyzed live on the device and never recorded or sent. The camera is used only when you tap Scan the label. Reminders are local notifications. No analytics or tracking.
ChirpHound is a locating and reference aid, not a smoke alarm, CO alarm or monitoring service. If a real alarm is sounding, leave and follow its instructions.
Evidently not user friendly Call a friend that can hear good and save $2.99
Developer Response
Thank you for being honest. Version 12.0 is built around that complaint. "Which alarm is it?" has you stand under each alarm and ranks them by how loud the chirp is at your phone, so you check the most likely one first. It can't point in a direction or measure distance, because a phone's microphone can't do that reliably indoors, and we say so plainly. For people who have trouble hearing high chirps, it shows a visual and vibration cue on every chirp.
Doesn’t work
lilybird99
Don’t waste your money. Complicated interface, doesn’t detect obvious beep every 47-48 seconds. No way to get help or support.
Developer Response
Thank you, this review directly shaped version 12.0. It opens to one Start listening button and a plain status card. The advanced tools are still there under Field tools. Detection now covers a wider pitch range by default, and a chirp every 47–48 seconds is one of the cases we test against. Off-pitch alarms that the old settings missed are now caught in our tests. There is also an Email support button in the app now. I'm sorry the earlier version let you down.
App doesn’t work
callmemybymymiddlename
Opens to a frozen page
Developer Response
Thank you for reporting this, and sorry it happened. Waiting for a chirp could look like a frozen screen in that early version. Since then, the listening screen shows a live status card: how long it has listened, how many chirps it heard, and when the next one is due. Chirps can be a minute apart, so the app now says when quiet is normal. If anything still looks stuck in 12.0, please use Email support in the app and I will look into it personally.
ChirpHound 13.0 adds a Home checkup for every alarm in your home.
• Home tab: a to-do list built from your alarms — replace-by dates, batteries due, alarms that didn't sound, and coverage questions (bedrooms, every floor, CO).
• Guided monthly test with a test log, plus an optional reminder on the 1st of each month.
• Home safety report (PDF) and CSV exports for a landlord, tenant file or insurer.
• Backup and restore your alarms and test log as a file.
• New Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets: Find the chirp and Test my alarms. Siri: "Test my alarms with ChirpHound".
• Add each alarm's floor and whether it covers a bedroom.
• The sound preset library is now in About.
Version 13.0
The developer, Robert Corbin, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
Seller
Robert Corbin
Size
45.8 MB
Category
Utilities
Compatibility
Requires iOS 17.0 or later.
iPhone Requires iOS 17.0 or later.
iPad Requires iPadOS 17.0 or later.
Mac Requires macOS 14.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.