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

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.

“I think there are two ways that sound devices are helpful. Most obviously, they can block out other sudden noises that might awaken us during complete silence at night,” Neubauer said.

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. 

The devices also “create a sound cocoon that might provide a sense of security,” Neubauer said. “Sometimes, absolute silence can have people listening intently and inhibiting drifting off to sleep.”

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.

These machines often emit calming sounds like rainfall or the buzz of a fan, or calming static noises that are officially known as brown noise or pink noise. (While “white noise” is often used as a blanket term, true white noise can be pretty harsh — these alternatives are much more conducive to sleep, Neubauer said.)

While a recent systematic review of sound devices did not find proof of their benefits, Neubauer said that is because there isn’t much serious research on the topic. He said sound devices are still worth trying ― he uses them himself. 

And, if you have a recent iPhone, you can try out sleeping with relaxing background sounds without even purchasing a sound machine.

CORRECTION: Apple previously stated that the white noise feature is available only on iPhone X or later; it is available on iPhone 6S or later. This article has been updated to reflect the correct information.

This post originally appeared on HuffPost.