Apple devices such as the iPhone, iPad and Mac have an Accessibility setting that allows for Background Sounds, essentially turning your device into a white noise machine, drowning out external noise that can help you sleep or concentrate.
How to turn your iPhone or iPad into a white noise machine? It’s simple and takes seconds to activate.
1. Navigate to Settings > Accessibility > Audio/Visual > Background Sounds > On
2. From here, once enabled, you can then select the sound you want to hear. You can choose from Balanced Noise, Bright Noise, Dark Noise, Ocean, Rain or Stream. There are also options to enable Background Sounds when media is playing and to stop sounds when your iPhone is locked. You can adjust the volume of these sounds as well.
“Plays background sound to mask unwanted environmental noise. These sounds can minimize distractions and help you focus, calm or rest,” says Apple.
You can also add a shortcut by enabling Hearing Devices in Control Center, to quickly toggle on Background Sounds, which requires iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 or later.
If you’re in a noisy environment or want to be able to sleep better at night due to outside noise, a white noise machine can help. Instead of buying one on Amazon, you can just use your iPhone which is likely by your bedside every night.
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I remember some 20 years ago me and some friends used to play USS Enterprise 1701-D ambient noise at our overnight gaming sleepovers. Eventually it got to the point where you could tell where the audio was looping and it became impossible to sleep, so we turned it off, lmao.