iPhones Have A Built-In White Noise Feature

iPhones Have A Built-In White Noise Feature, And I Can't Believe I'm Just Now Learning About It

You can choose from a range of sounds: rain, stream, ocean, balanced noise, bright noise, and dark noise.

While many folks shop online to find a white noise machine, which can range from $20 to more than $100, there may be no need. You’re probably already in possession of one ― you may even be holding it in your hand right now.

iPhones running on iOS 15 or later all have a white noise feature built-in, so long as it’s an iPhone 6S or later and the software is up to date. (For reference, iPhone 6S models were first available in 2015, so more recent iPhones will have this feature.)

Here’s how to use your iPhone’s white noise sounds.

The setting is not labeled as “white noise,” but is instead called “background sounds” on your iPhone. 

To get to this feature, go to Settings > Accessibility > Audio/Visual > Background Sounds.

Once here, toggle on background sounds and you’ll be greeted with a relaxing sound to help you sleep or focus.

You can choose from a range of sounds: rain, stream, ocean, balanced noise, bright noise, and dark noise. You can also adjust the sound’s volume.

That’s all you have to do to select your preferred background sound and volume level. 

Keep in mind that you won’t be able to set a timer for this background sound to turn off after a set number of hours, but you can turn on a setting that will stop the background sounds when your phone is locked.

Here’s a video for a visual, step-by-step explanation for turning on your phone’s white noise feature.

You can add a shortcut to reach this feature quickly.

If you want to use this feature frequently but don’t want to follow the steps above every time, you can set up an accessibility shortcut.

By creating an accessibility shortcut for background sounds, you’ll be able to turn on and off your preferred background sound by triple clicking your iPhone’s side power button. 

To set up an accessibility shortcut, go to Settings > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut and select Background Sounds. From there, you’ll be able to use the triple-tap trick to turn on the white noise.

Background sound for sleep can be helpful for several reasons.

There’s a reason why many people — from parents of infants to folks who live in busy neighborhoods — swear by these white noise sounds.

These noises can include honking horns, barking dogs, or loud neighbors — all things that have probably woken you up at one point in your life. 

In other words, you won’t find yourself listening for bumps in the night as your sound machine blocks noise and lulls you to sleep, but you will still be able to hear important noises like a home alarm.

This post originally appeared on HuffPost.