How a dataminer traced the Epic Games Launcher "ba bing" to SocialChimes
The odd part of this story is that nothing on screen gave the source away. Several users have reported hearing random "ba bing" or similar sounds while using their PCs, even when they weren't actively doing anything inside Epic's launcher. PC Guide reports that the confusion went far enough that some users took drastic steps, including formatting their PC. Others, according to Techtroduce, initially suspect[ed] Windows, another application or even a hardware problem.
The source was found by FireMonkey, a Fortnite news and datamining account on X. FireMonkey traced the noises to six audio files used by the launcher's social and party features. In FireMonkey's words, the files sit in your Launcher folder at a place like: C:\Program Files\Epic Games\Launcher\Portal\Extras\SocialChimes. The six cues are Party User Left, Push to Talk Activated, Push to Talk Deactivated, Party Joinability Changed, Party Message Received and Party User Joined. TweakTown describes them as WAV files.
The finding also has some independent support. Techtroduce notes that users investigating the sound independently have also traced it to the launcher's PartyUserLeft audio file in the same SocialChimes folder. Keep in mind that the file-to-event list comes from community investigation. Epic's reply does not name or confirm it.
Why Epic Parties made the launcher a background noisemaker
The chimes arrived along with a larger change in what the launcher does. Techtroduce reports that their presence aligns with Epic's recent expansion of the launcher's social functionality, which now includes persistent Epic Parties, cross-platform voice chat and synced messaging. Epic's own help pages confirm the basics: a party can be started in the Epic Games Launcher and stay connected as a user moves between the launcher, Fortnite and Epic's mobile app. The joinability setting decides whether friends can drop straight into a party or need an invitation.
That design explains the "sound from nowhere" effect. Party events can fire while the launcher is minimized or sitting in the system tray. The launcher is also an app many people never close. Digital Citizen points out that it is the same app that handles the weekly Epic Games Store giveaways and Unreal Engine downloads. Many people leave it running for hours without opening it. A party member leaving or a joinability change can therefore produce a sound with no visible window and no toast notification to match it.
Epic did not announce the new sounds. TheGamer notes that Epic also didn't inform anyone of the sound effects, which is why so many people have been confused about what app could possibly be making so many random sounds. Nobody has pinned down exactly when the chimes started. According to Techtroduce, the reports came after a recent Epic Games Launcher update, and FireMonkey said the sounds had been a nuisance "for like a week" before the post. That timeline is FireMonkey's personal account, not a date Epic has confirmed.
What Fortnite Status actually committed to on September 19
Epic replied through the official Fortnite Status account, not in a launcher changelog. Thanking FireMonkey, it said "these party chimes are triggering more often than we intended". In the same reply, posted on Saturday, September 19, 2026, Epic said it is "updating the Epic Games Launcher to narrow which events play a sound while the launcher is in the background". The stated goal is that people "hear fewer of them" when they are not actively using it.
The wording is narrow, and the promise should be read that way. In Digital Citizen's reading, the company says it will cut down which background events trigger a sound, not that it will remove the chimes. Epic confirmed a fault (the chimes over-trigger) and the direction of the fix (fewer background events make a sound). It did not provide a timetable. No version number, build number or release date came with the reply. That single social post is the only official statement on the issue. When Digital Citizen checked on September 22, it found no shipped fix, no incident on Epic's status page and no Epic Games Store changelog entry mentioning the sounds.
The Epic Games Launcher mute toggle: reported, not confirmed
Whether Epic will let users turn the chimes off completely is where the coverage splits. TweakTown, whose report was the basis for early coverage, writes that Epic also said it plans to introduce a setting that lets users decide whether the chimes play at all, with additional notification controls expected later.
Other outlets that went back to Epic's words found no such commitment. Digital Citizen says that a settings toggle for the chimes has been reported as part of Epic's plans. Epic's own reply contains no such promise. The request came from a player instead. PC Guide likewise says that at the moment, Epic has only confirmed that it is narrowing down the events that trigger them. All Things How adds that there is currently no built-in setting to switch the chimes off completely.
The quoted Fortnite Status reply is about cutting background triggers, not a switch. Until Epic says otherwise on the record, treat a full mute option as something players want, not something Epic has promised. Many players are asking for it: TheGamer reports that many are replying to the comment asking for an option to just turn them off altogether, while expressing frustration with Epic not making this clear from the get-go.
Silencing the chimes now: three options, each with a catch
No official fix has shipped, and no single setting is confirmed to silence these sounds. Each option below trades precision against permanence.
Option 1: Epic's Desktop Notifications settings
Epic's support documentation offers the only first-party control. Epic's support documentation says party and chat notifications can be managed under Desktop Notifications, allowing individual notification categories to be disabled. In the launcher, open Settings, find the Desktop Notifications section and clear the party and chat categories you don't want.
Try this first, because it changes no files and is easy to undo. The limitation is real, though. Digital Citizen notes that the support article's text never mentions sound or chimes, so it cannot be called a confirmed fix for the audio. If the chimes continue after you clear those boxes, move to one of the options below.
Option 2: Remove the SocialChimes WAV files (unofficial)
This is FireMonkey's workaround. Several outlets have repeated it, but Epic has not endorsed it. Users can temporarily remove the WAV files from the launcher's SocialChimes folder if they are really becoming bothersome, although this is an unofficial workaround and any future launcher update may automatically restore them.
- Fully quit the Epic Games Launcher, including the copy running in the system tray, so no files are in use.
- Open File Explorer and go to
Program Files\Epic Games\Launcher\Portal\Extras\SocialChimes. On some systems the folder is underProgram Files (x86)instead. If you installed the launcher to another drive or folder, look there. - Move the six WAV files to a backup folder outside the launcher directory. Moving them is a precaution we recommend over deleting, so you can put them back later. Leave the folder itself where it is.
- Restart the launcher.
All Things How gives a sensible success check: you will know the chimes are gone when party members join or leave, messages arrive, or push-to-talk toggles without any accompanying sound. To undo the change, copy the files back. A launcher update may also restore them for you, and that is the main catch. A future launcher update can replace the deleted files and bring the chimes back, so you may need to repeat the step after the launcher updates itself. You may need administrator rights to change files under Program Files.
Community members have also swapped the files for silent or custom audio instead of deleting them. Techtroduce notes that removing or replacing the individual SocialChimes audio files could silence specific sounds, though launcher updates may restore those files and Epic has not presented that method as an official fix. Replacing files lets you keep some cues, such as a message alert, and silence others. The same caveat about updates applies.
Option 3: Mute the launcher in Windows' Volume Mixer
The Windows-level option is dependable but blunt. Some affected users have also muted the launcher through Windows' Volume Mixer as a temporary workaround, although doing so disables all launcher audio rather than only the unwanted party chimes. The mute also cuts every other sound the launcher makes, including voice from Epic Parties if you use them.
The Windows notification settings (Settings > System > Notifications) are a less likely fix. The chimes play without a Windows toast notification, so toggling Epic's notification sound there probably won't affect them. That is our inference, and nobody has tested it. Muting all Windows notifications with Do Not Disturb to deal with one app's sound also means missing alerts from everything else.
Quitting the launcher when you're not using it stops the sounds too. TweakTown lists quitting the launcher as an option, though you give up background downloads and presence features while it is closed.
What this means for you
If you've been hearing short, unexplained chimes on a Windows PC with the Epic Games Launcher running, the practical step is to confirm that's the source and pick the least disruptive fix you can live with until Epic's update arrives. This is an annoyance, not a security problem. The sounds are tied to background social activity in the launcher, not to a system fault, malware, or a hardware problem. Nobody should be reinstalling Windows over it. IT admins supporting gaming-adjacent users or shared family PCs can use the SocialChimes folder to answer "what is that noise?" tickets quickly.
- The chimes come from six WAV files in the launcher's
Portal\Extras\SocialChimesfolder, tied to party joins, leaves, messages, joinability changes and push-to-talk. - On September 19, 2026, Epic confirmed through Fortnite Status that the chimes over-trigger and said an update will narrow which background events play a sound, with no date or version given.
- A setting to turn the chimes off completely has been reported but is not in Epic's quoted statement, so don't count on one yet.
- Try the launcher's Desktop Notifications settings first because the change is easy to undo, but don't assume they cover the audio.
- If you remove the WAV files, move them rather than deleting them, and expect a launcher update to restore them.
- Muting the launcher in Volume Mixer works reliably, but it silences everything the launcher plays, including party voice chat.
Epic has admitted the fault and chosen a fix that reduces the sounds without removing them. Users who want silence will have to keep removing files by hand until Epic's reduced-trigger update ships and, possibly, a real toggle follows. The next useful sign will be a launcher release note that mentions the chimes. Once it appears, anyone who deleted or swapped the SocialChimes files should check whether an update has put them back.