According to study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, listening to natural sounds may reduce stress, ease perceived pain, and promote a more cheerful outlook. According to other research, white noise may help people learn language, parents put their infants to sleep, and students study better in distracting circumstances. Additionally, your iPhone may serve as a white noise machine, saving you money on a new gadget if you’re wanting to purchase one for yourself or your kid.

Tech Advice Continue reading: Which Is Better for Sleeping, White Noise or Brown Noise?

In 2021, Apple launched iOS 15, which included a secret function called Background Sounds for your iPhone. You may use it to make your iPhone sound like a white noise generator. You can play these noises on their own or via any streaming music, movie, or podcast app.

Six ambient sounds—different frequencies of white noise—were available to play continuously when Apple initially announced the feature: rain, stream, ocean, bright, balanced, and dark noise. Two more sounds—night and fire—were introduced to the function when Apple launched iOS 18 last September. Additional background noises, including as rain on the roof and chatter, which resembles a busy café, are also included in developer beta versions of the next iOS 26. Therefore, utilize your iPhone instead of purchasing a white noise machine to save money.

How to configure your iPhone’s background music

1. Select Settings.
2. Select “Accessibility.”
Third, choose Audio & Visual.
4. Select “Background Sounds.”
5. To activate the function, tap the toggle next to Background Sounds at the menu’s top.

To hear the various noise settings, you may also choose Sound from this menu. It may take a while if you’re utilizing the function for the first time since the sounds need to download. This menu also has two additional toggles: Use when the media is playing, and when the lock is locked, stop the sounds. Background Sounds may continue to play as you view a video or listen to music by tapping the toggle next to Use When Media Is Playing. Additionally, when your device locks, Background Sounds will be turned off if you press the option next to Stop Sounds When Locked. The noises will keep playing when your device locks if you don’t have this enabled.

How to Use Control Center to Access Background Sounds

Here’s how to configure a toggle in the Control Center to activate Background Sounds on your iPhone, saving you the trouble of going through Settings every time you want to utilize the function.

The screen of a phone
I like rain, but I also enjoy fire and darkness.
1. The Control Center is open.
2. In the upper left corner of your screen, tap the plus (+) symbol.
3. At the bottom of your screen, tap Add a Control.
4. To add to Control Center, tap Hearing control (ear symbol).

Three choices will appear when you press the Hearing control icon in Control Center: Speaker, Background Sounds, and Live Listen. Then, to activate the function, press the musical notes next to Background Sounds. Additionally, tapping on the words Background Sounds will bring up a menu where you may choose a new background sound and change the volume.

Use Background Sound Accessibility Shortcuts

From your home screen or inside an application, you can also configure an accessibility shortcut to enable or disable background sounds. Here’s how to configure it.

1. Select Settings.
2. Select “Accessibility.”
3. Press the Shortcut for Accessibility.
4. Select “Background Sounds.”

Background Sounds will now activate when you tap the iPhone’s side button three times. To turn it off again, you may touch the button three times.