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How to turn on your iPhone’s hidden Background Noise feature

Turning on your iPhone’s background noise feature takes just a few taps on your phone’s screen. You’ll need to have an iPhone running iOS 15 or newer – no other special equipment is required. 

Is there any way to put the iPhone’s background sounds on a timer? 

You probably noticed in the Settings app there isn’t an option to play the sound for a set amount of time. Instead, your chosen sound will continue to play until you you manually stop it. That is, unless, you turn on the option to stop playing the sound when your phone locks.  There’s also an option here to continue playing the background sound even when you’re watching a video or listening to music.  At the bottom is a toggle that will tell your iPhone to stop playing background sounds as soon as your iPhone locks. So, if you want to listen to background sounds for a set amount of time, what do you do? Well, one workaround is to use your iPhone’s auto-lock feature as a makeshift timer. 
Also: The 5 best white noise apps  Go back to the Settings app and then select Display & Brightness then select Auto-Lock. You’ll have options ranging from 30 seconds up to 5 minutes. 
The options don’t offer the longest amount of time, and it may not be enough to help you fall asleep – but it’s better than having the background noise play all night; unless, of course, that’s what you prefer.   

Is there an easier way to access and manage background sounds? 

You don’t have to dive deep into the Settings app each time you want to control your background sounds. Instead, use Control Center by swiping down from the top-right corner of your screen and then tap on the hearing icon (it’s the one with the ear on it). 
You can then play or pause, switch between the various sounds and control the volume of your background sounds via the small popup. Much easier. 
Also: How to sound better on iPhone calls If the hearing icon isn’t available in your Control Center, you’ll need to manually add it by going to Settings > Control Center and tap on the green “+” icon next to the Hearing icon.

What about background sounds on smart speakers? 

Also: The 5 best sound machines: Fall asleep faster