On iPhone and iPad, one of several accessibility features that Apple includes is Background Sounds. The sounds are designed to help you stay focused, stay calm, and help you minimize distractions while you are busy with something.

Background Sounds Water Feature
The Background Sounds on offer include balanced, bright, and dark noise, as well as natural sounds like ocean, rain, and stream. All of the sounds can be set to play in the background to mask unwanted environmental or external noise, and the sounds mix into or duck under other audio and system sounds.

Enabling Background Sounds on iPhone and iPad

The following steps explain how to enable Background Sounds on iPhones and iPads running iOS 15/iPadOS 15 and later.

  1. Launch the Settings app on your ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌.
  2. Tap Accessibility.
  3. Under "Hearing," tap Audio/Visual.
    settings

  4. Tap Background Sounds.
  5. Tap the switch to turn on Background Sounds.
  6. Tap Sound to choose a sound effect.
  7. Choose from Balanced Noise, Bright Noise, Dark Noise, Ocean, Rain, and Stream.
    settings

Your device will need to download individual sound effects when you play them for the first time, so make sure you have an internet connection, but after that you can play the background sound whether or not you're online.

Control Center Access

Once you have downloaded the background sounds, you can get fast access them from the Control Center. To do this, you need to have the Hearing item added to Control Center (go to Settings -> Control Center and add Hearing to the included list), then follow these steps.

  1. Open Control Center by dragging down diagonally from the top-right of your device's screen.
  2. Tap the Hearing button, then choose Background Sounds.
  3. Tap the Background Sounds button to start playing.
  4. Tap the name of the current sound to view other sounds, then tap a sound name to listen to a preview. After you choose a sound, tap Background Sounds to go back.
  5. Tap the background to go back to Control Center.

control center

Background sounds are also available on Macs running macOS Ventura or later. Check out our dedicated how-to article for all the details.

Top Rated Comments

yahlover Avatar
48 months ago
It’s actually much simpler to access if you add the ‘Hearing’ shortcut to Control Center. From there, you can access it from within any app.

Attachment Image
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
EmotionalSnow Avatar
48 months ago
I'm pretty sure it's under Accessibility for a good reason.


I don’t see the point in it
Then you can count yourself lucky. Not everybody can say of themselves that they do not need the Accessibility settings. To be honest, I find your comment a bit tone deaf.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ghanwani Avatar
48 months ago


In iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, one of several new accessibility features that Apple has introduced is Background Sounds, which is designed to minimize distractions and help you stay focused, stay calm, and minimize distractions with the help of your iPhone or iPad.
You're definitely going to need this feature when you see the pricing for the new iPhones in September.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iDento Avatar
48 months ago
I like this, but I don’t see as an accessibility feature. Dark noise helps me sleep.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple_Robert Avatar
48 months ago
MR is one big daily distraction. :P
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
fivenotrump Avatar
48 months ago

I like this, but I don’t see as an accessibility feature. Dark noise helps me sleep.
filing under Accessibility is odd
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

cook trump

Trump Responds to Apple Keeping Diversity Policies

Wednesday February 26, 2025 6:32 am PST by
In an all-caps post on Truth Social today, U.S. President Donald Trump said Apple should fully end its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. Tim Cook meeting with President Trump in 2017 "APPLE SHOULD GET RID OF DEI RULES, NOT JUST MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO THEM," he wrote. Trump's post comes one day after Apple held its annual shareholders meeting, during which a majority of...
apple watch ultra snow

6 Features Coming to the Apple Watch Ultra 3

Tuesday February 25, 2025 9:00 am PST by
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to launch later this year, arriving two years after the previous model with a series of improvements. While no noticeable design changes are expected for the third generation since the company tends to stick with the same Apple Watch design through three generations before changing it, there are a series of internal upgrades on the way. By the time the ...
iOS 18

Apple Says iOS 18.4 Will Be Released in April With These New Features

Wednesday February 26, 2025 7:15 am PST by
In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 18.4 will be released in April. From the Apple News+ Food announcement:Coming with iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 in April, Apple News+ subscribers will have access to Apple News+ Food, a new section that will feature tens of thousands of recipes — as well as stories about restaurants, healthy eating, kitchen essentials, and more — from the...
iPhone Fold Vertical Feature

Apple's 2026 Foldable iPhone Has No Visible Display Crease – Report

Tuesday February 25, 2025 2:58 am PST by
Apple is making significant headway on its long-rumored foldable iPhone, with a new report suggesting the company has achieved a major breakthrough by effectively eliminating the screen crease that plagues current foldable devices. According to Korean publication ETNews, Apple is finalizing its component suppliers for the foldable iPhone, with the selection process expected to be completed...
trump iphone dictation issue

Apple Fixing 'Trump' Dictation Processing Bug

Tuesday February 25, 2025 1:18 pm PST by
Multiple iPhone owners today noticed a pronunciation processing issue that causes the word "Trump" to momentarily show up when using dictation to send a message with the word "racist." In some cases, when speaking the word racist through the iPhone's built-in dictation feature, the iPhone briefly interprets the spoken word as "Trump" and "Trump" text shows up in the Messages app before being ...
airtag orange

AirTag 2 Rumored to Launch in May or June With These New Features

Monday February 24, 2025 6:11 am PST by
Apple plans to launch a second-generation AirTag in May or June this year, according to a post today from a leaker known as Kosutami. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman previously reported that a new AirTag would be released in mid-2025. May or June would align with that timeframe. Below, we recap three new features rumored for the AirTag 2: With a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, the...
airpods pro purple

Here's When AirPods Pro 3 Are Rumored to Launch

Monday February 24, 2025 9:14 am PST by
According to a post on X today from a leaker known as Kosutami, Apple plans to launch AirPods Pro 3 in May or June this year. The leaker also claimed that an AirTag 2 will launch around the same time. Kosutami is best known as a collector of prototype Apple hardware, but they have occasionally shared accurate information about Apple's future product plans. For example, they accurately...
ios 18 4 carplay

iOS 18.4 Includes a Small But Useful Change for CarPlay

Sunday February 23, 2025 2:23 pm PST by
The first beta of iOS 18.4 is now available, and it includes a small but useful change for CarPlay. As we noted in our list of iOS 18.4 features, CarPlay now shows a third row of icons, up from two rows previously. However, this change is only visible in vehicles with a larger center display. For example, a MacRumors Forums member noticed the change in a Toyota Tundra, which can be equipped...