Using White Noise on Your iPhone for Better Sleep and Relaxation
Do you have trouble going to sleep? Are you traveling on a plane and need a quick power nap? Does your newborn baby wake up in the middle of the night? Even when you’re asleep, your brain is constantly scanning and listening for sounds.
If it’s too quiet, unwanted noises such as faucet drips or police sirens can interrupt your sleep. If you’re on the road and can’t sleep because you left your white noise machine at home, don’t worry. Here’s our guide on how to get white noise on your iPhone.
White Noise was created for the original iPhone in 2008 by TMSOFT and has been continuously updated with new features. White Noise has been featured by popular TV shows (Today Show, Dr. Oz Show, FOX&Friends, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon), major media outlets (NBC News Today, Health Magazine, The Washington Post, NY Times, CNET, Esquire, PC Magazine), and raved about by millions of satisfied customers.
Download the full version of White Noise to remove advertising and add additional features including Apple TV & Apple Watch support.
How to Use Your iPhone as a White Noise Machine
You can use your iPhone to lull yourself-or your baby- to sleep by tapping Background Sounds, a feature built into your iPhone. Just follow these simple steps to turn it on:
- Open Settings > Accessibility > Audio/Visual > Background Sounds.
- Slide the switch to turn on Background Sounds.
- Tap Sound, then tap to select one of the options: Rain, Stream, Ocean, Balanced Noise, Bright Noise, or Dark Noise.
When you’ve selected your sound, it will continue to play until you switch it off. Or, you can select Use When Media is Playing or Stop Sounds When Locked.
You can also check out white noise apps like myNoise or White Noise Deep Sleep Sounds, available in free or paid versions on the App Store.
Setting Up White Noise as an Accessibility Shortcut
If you set up Background Sounds as your Accessibility Shortcut on your iPhone, you can open it with just a triple click. To set it up:
- Open Settings > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut, then select Background Sounds.
To open it:
Triple-click the Home button. If your device doesn’t have a Home button, triple-click the side or top button.
Playing White Noise Using Voice Commands
Depending on the apps you use, you can turn on white noise with a voice command. Say, “Siri, turn on white noise,” and your voice assistant will give you options like white noise from Spotify or from your iTunes®.
Setting Up Sleep Sounds
Here’s what to do:
- Open the Clock App.
- Tap Bedtime at the bottom right corner of your screen. If you don’t see Bedtime, tap Settings (three dots) > Set bedtime and wake-up time > Next.
- When prompted to set your sleep schedule, you may do so if you like. Tap the time you want to wake up and go to sleep. Then tap Next.
- Scroll down to the Sleep Sounds section and tap Choose another sound.
- Select one of the sounds like Waves, Deep Space, and Contemplation or you can select Spotify® or other options like Record New to record your own sound.
- When you’re ready for sleep, open the Clock app and tap Bedtime.
- Tap Play, then select how long to play the sound (10 - 60 minutes).
- Tap Play again.
Using Voice Commands to Play Ambient Noise
“Say Hey Google, play ambient noise,” and Google will choose soothing sounds to play. Many apps have both free and paid versions with more features.
Relaxing Sleep Sounds App
- Price: $0.99
- In-App Purchases: Yes
- Compatibility:
- iPhone: Requires iOS 13.0 or later
- iPad: Requires iPadOS 13.0 or later
- iPod touch: Requires iOS 13.0 or later
- Mac: Requires macOS 11.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later
- Apple Vision: Requires visionOS 1.0 or later
- Apple TV: Requires tvOS 9.0 or later
- Apple Watch: Requires watchOS 4.0 or later
- Developer: TMSOFT
- Size: 78.9 MB
- Category: Health & Fitness