This secret iPhone feature works better than melatonin

My family is close, so we don’t have any qualms about piling into a hotel room and having a mega sleepover. But there are snorers hiding among us, and the morning after usually begins with fingers pointed at culprits who ruined the group’s beauty rest. One night, my sister had had enough — and with just a couple taps, our room was suddenly filled with ocean sounds.

The white noise drowned out the resident snorers, and everyone was happy. But my sister wasn’t playing a YouTube track or even streaming the calm sounds from Apple Music or Spotify — she had discovered a random feature on her iPhone, hiding right in the Control Center. From there on out, our slumber parties were peaceful.

So when I went on a group trip to the mountains a few weeks ago, I wanted to be prepared for any rogue snorers in my bunk room. Here’s where I found the Ambient Music feature — and how I made it more accessible than any streaming ambiance.

What is Background Sounds on iOS?

Plus Ambient Music

There are two different settings in your Control Center worth checking out: Background Sounds and Ambient Music. Background Sounds has been around since iOS 15, released back in 2021, while Ambient Music was introduced with the iOS 18.4 update. Both can be added to your Control Center — the menu that appears when you swipe down from the upper-right corner of the screen.

Background Sounds is what came to the rescue in those crowded sleeping spaces. It’s an accessibility feature that does it exactly what it sounds like, plays ambient noise of your choice without overpowering your thoughts. With eight new additions from iOS 26, there are now 16 options to choose from:

• Balanced Noise
• Bright Noise
• Dark Noise
• Ocean
• Rain
• Stream
• Night
• Fire
• Babble
• Steam
• Airplane
• Boat
• Bus
• Train
• Rain on Roof
• Quiet Night

Ambient Music, on the other hand, is a collection of four soundscapes: Chill, Productivity, Sleep, and Wellbeing. Each one is a playlist curated by Apple that plays background music for that category. Personally, I love using Productivity as a substitute for my favorite Lo-Fi Beats YouTube videos — but I’m not a fan of the other playlists, especially for sleep. That’s where Background Sounds really steps up to the plate.

How to access Background Sounds and Ambient Music

It’s the same process for both

You can add both of these accessibility features to your Control Center. To get started, open Control Center by swiping down from the upper right corner and follow these steps:

1. In Control Center, tap and hold the empty space (usually near the bottom).
2. At the bottom, tap Add a Control.
3. To add Ambient Music, tap whichever categories you want quick access to — each will get its own icon.
4. To add Background Sounds, scroll all the way down to Hearing Accessibility. Tap Background Sounds to add it to your Control Center. Background Sounds only gets a single icon.

Now, when you tap any of these options, your device will begin to play whatever sound you chose. For Background Sounds, since there’s just one icon, you’ll need to tap and hold it to switch between sound options.

Background Sounds settings

Customize your ambiance

Let’s hone in on Background Sounds a little more. To access more settings, tap and hold the Background Sounds icon > scroll down and select Background Sounds Settings. In this menu, you can play with a few settings:

• Adjust the volume
• Let the sound continue when you’re playing other media
• Personalize the equalizer
• Set a timer for your sounds
• Turn off the sounds when your device is locked

I like to set a timer for my Background Sounds to stop around 2AM — by then, I’m definitely asleep, and my phone gets to have its beauty rest too.