Setting

The Doctor's sonic screwdriver had a multitude of settings and different versions of settings. The Tenth Doctor told Rose to use "setting 15B" to triangulate the source of the ghost shift (TV: Army of Ghosts) and used 34-H to sink a ship. (COMIC: Second Wave) It had a setting 85 that undid security codes to unlock doors. (TV: The Lazarus Experiment) The Ninth Doctor told Rose to use setting 2428D to re-attach barbed wire. (TV: The Doctor Dances) Sarah Jane used the Theta Omega setting to melt plastic vines. (TV: The Android Invasion) The Twelfth Doctor told Clara to use setting 41 to send out random bursts of helicon energy to distract the Skovox Blitzer. (TV: The Caretaker) The Twelfth Doctor himself used setting 61 to knock out a cybernetically augmented dinosaur with a "sonic brainstorm". (COMIC: Spirits of the Jungle) However, at least one version of the screwdriver was able to use thoughts as well as settings. (TV: The Big Bang, Amy's Choice, Let's Kill Hitler, Death in Heaven) The same version could also be activated using the Doctor's voice. (TV: Deep Breath)

A gift from the Twelfth Doctor, (TV: The Husbands of River Song) River Song's sonic screwdriver had a "red setting" that allowed it to work without interference from the Doctor Moon. Upon encountering it, the Tenth Doctor noted that his own sonic screwdriver did not have a red setting. (TV: Forest of the Dead)

In one reality, the Thirteenth Doctor observed that her sonic screwdriver had three settings as it vibrated. (TV: The Curse of Fatal Death)