While some people like to work and sleep in silence, others prefer white noise in the background. Background sounds can mask unwanted ambient noise, minimize distractions, help you focus on what you’re doing, keep you calm, or support you while relaxing.
In the past, you had to rely on third-party white noise apps from the App Store or hours of Zen YouTube videos for soothing sounds if you needed them to help you fall asleep or focus on something. They worked great and still work.
But currently, your iPhone, iPad, and Mac have a built-in feature to play relaxing background sounds or white noise. In short, they can work as a white noise generator, and in this tutorial we will show you how to use it.
Play built-in background sounds on iPhone and iPad
- Open the Settings app and select Accessibility.
- Scroll down and tap Audio/Video.
- Tap “Background Sounds”and turn on the switch on the next screen.
- Now tap the Sound cell and select the desired tone: Balanced Noise, Bright Noise, Dark Noise, Ocean, Rain, or Flow.
Your iPhone or iPad will now play the selected background noise. To take full advantage of this, check out some of the related customization options.
Customize settings
On the settings screen, you have options to help you personalize your white noise experience even more.
They speak for themselves, but if you need help, here’s more about them:
[Sound Name] Volume: Use this slider to adjust the output level of white noise. You can also use your iPhone’s physical volume buttons or the speaker slider in Control Center to turn up or down the background audio level.
Use when playing media: If you enable this switch, background sounds will continue to play (weak by default) even when you are listening to songs or watching videos. For example, if I select “Rain”or “Balanced Noise”as the background sound and play a song, it looks like it’s raining outside and the music is playing from the window speaker. Try it and see if you like it or not.
Volume with Media: By default, white noise is set to play softly when playing media. But you can use this slider to change that. For example, if you set it to 100, the media output and background audio will be at the same level. As a result, you will not be able to fully enjoy the music.
Play Sample: This allows you to preview the overall output audio when both media and background sounds are played. You can click Play Sample and then use the Media Volume slider to adjust it to a level that suits you.
Stop Sounds When Locked: After enabling this switch, your iPhone will only play white noise until the device is unlocked. The moment you press the side lock button or your iPhone automatically locks, background sounds will automatically stop. If you want to continue listening for longer periods of time, leave this switch disabled or prevent your iPhone’s screen from turning off automatically (which will consume a lot of battery when the screen is active).
Stop background sounds
In my repeated testing, I found that when you play white noise on your iPhone or iPad, they don’t show up in the media control tile in Control Center or on the lock screen. So, to stop them, you need to go to the Settings app > Accessibility > Audio/Video > Background Sounds and turn off the Background Sounds toggle.
Quickly play or stop white noise
- Open the iPhone or iPad Settings app and tap Accessibility.
- Scroll down and select Accessibility shortcut.
- Touch Background Sounds to check it out.
- Now go back to the first screen of the Settings app and select Control Center.
- Click the green plus button for accessibility shortcuts.
- Now open the Control Center by swiping down from the top right corner, or swiping up from the bottom of the screen on an iPhone with a home button. Here you will see a shortcut button. Touch it and select “Background Sounds”to play or stop it.
- You can also triple-click the side button or home button to quickly turn background sounds on or off in the Accessibility Shortcuts menu.
Remove background sounds
Together, the six sound files take up about 204 MB of local storage. Of course, there are other ways to free up space on your iPhone, but if you want to go to extremes or don’t use them, you can uninstall the full version to free up storage space. Here’s how:
- Go to Settings > Accessibility > Audio/Video > Background Sounds.
- Tap Sound.
- Click Edit. Now you will see how much space each sound takes up. To delete it, press the red minus button and choose Delete > Delete.
Turn on relaxing built-in white noise on Mac
The basics of using your Mac to create background sounds are the same as in iOS.
Here’s a quick overview of your Mac running macOS Ventura or later:
- Click the Apple () icon in the upper left corner and select System Preferences.
- Select Accessibility from the left sidebar.
- Click “Audio”under the “Hearing”heading.
- Turn on the switch for background sounds.
- Click “Select”next to “Background Sound”and choose a tone: Balanced Noise, Bright Noise, Dark Noise, Ocean, Rain, or Flow.
If you see an arrow button next to a ringtone, it means it hasn’t been uploaded in high quality yet. Click the arrow button to download this high quality sound for offline use. Also, click on the trash can icon to delete tone and free up space on your Mac.
Just like on iOS devices, turning on the “Mute background sounds when your Mac is not in use”switch will automatically stop playing white noise if your Mac goes to sleep or its screen saver starts.
To stop white noise from playing on your Mac, go to System Preferences > Accessibility > Audio and turn off the Background Sounds toggle.
Can I play background sounds through AirPods or HomePod?
You can play background audio through AirPods or other headphones connected to your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. You can also play them via AirPlay from your Mac to HomePod or Bluetooth speakers.
However, in my repeated tests, I couldn’t play background sounds from my iPhone to HomePod. They would continue to play through the device’s speaker or connected AirPods.
Dedicated car
In addition to using Apple devices as a white noise generator, you can also buy a special machine that will do it for you, producing sounds of ocean waves, thunder, heavy rain, and other sounds of various types and frequencies.