How to turn your iPhone into a white noise machine when you’re out of the house or your portable one dies.
A Note on White Noise
The consistent background sound of white noise helps babies and toddlers fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. The sound can also be soothing for babies because it mimics the sounds they heard in the womb. Many parents use white noise during naps and nighttime sleep. When using white noise, I keep the volume low and the source of the noise away from my child’s head.
I keep a wired sound machine in my child’s room, and turn it on for nights and naps, but my child doesn’t exclusively sleep in their bedroom. There are many times when we are travelling and I forget to bring my portable sound machine or it dies (those batteries always seem to get used up quickly!). There are also times when my child has taken a nap while we’re on-the-go. In these situations, I turn to my iPhone, which has built-in white noise functionality. This feature even works when I don’t have service. Below are a few use cases where this native iPhone feature can come in handy
- You’re traveling and sharing a room with your young child
- You’re at a friend’s place for dinner and want to put your child down at their home so you can stay later into the evening
- You’re running an errand in a loud location and your child has fallen asleep
- You’re on a long car ride and need help soothing your child while remaining in your seat
- You’re outside on a walk or in the park and your baby falls asleep
How to Set It Up
- For iPhones, open the “Settings” app and scroll down to “Accessibility”.
- Within “Accessibility” find the “HEARING” section and tap “Audio & Visual”.
- Tap on “Background Sounds” and toggle on “Background Sounds”. There are a variety of sounds to choose from including Balanced Noise, Bright Noise, Ocean, Rain, and more.
- Control the volume with the standard volume controls.
Bonus: If you use this feature a lot, you can add it to the control center for easier access.
- Swipe down from the top right of your lock screen.
- Tap the “+” icon in the top left followed by “Add a Control” at the bottom
- Scroll down to or search for “Hearing & Accessibility”
- Tap “Background Sounds”
This adds the background sound you selected to the control center to easily turn the white noise on and off.
How to Turn It Off
- Navigate back to the “Audio & Visual” section within the settings app
- Tap on “Background Sounds” and toggle the option off.
- If you set this up in the control center, simply tap the icon to turn off the white noise.
Watch a Quick Tutorial
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