Best White Noise Apps

Which White Noise App Should You Use?

Our pick for most people is BRW. After that, choose by the one thing that matters most to you:

• Our pick — BRW: white noise plus four more colours — brown, pink, blue and green — so you can switch to a softer sound in one tap. It plays with no internet connection, has a sleep timer that fades out, lets you mix noise with nature sounds, and shows no ads label on Google Play. Free on Android and iPhone.
• Free on Android and iPhone, no ads label, plays offline: BRW (the app from this site) or myNoise. Both listings name white noise, state offline play, and carry no "Contains ads" label on Google Play.
• You never want a subscription: myNoise, which unlocks everything with one purchase. On iPhone, TMSOFT sells White Noise for $0.99 and White Noise Pro for $2.99 as one-off purchases.
• The biggest classic sound list: White Noise Lite by TMSOFT, first released for the original iPhone in 2008. The free version shows ads.
• Nothing to install on an iPhone: Background Sounds in iOS Settings. Apple's support page names white noise among its sounds [1].
• For a baby's room: the app matters less than the volume and the distance. Read the volume section before you choose.

How This Comparison Was Checked

BRW is listed first as our pick. The other apps follow in alphabetical order. Every fact about every app, BRW included, comes from the app's own store listing, the “Contains ads” label on Google Play, or Apple's help pages. All of it was checked on 24 September 2026 in the US stores. When a listing does not mention a feature, the table says Not stated.

Nine White Noise Apps Compared

Ratings are the average star rating in each store, with the number of ratings in brackets, on the date in the caption. They change every day.

Not stated means the developer's own listing does not say it. It does not mean the feature is missing: the app may have it and not advertise it.

What Does the Research Say White Noise Can Do?

White noise is the most studied noise colour, so here we can quote the research directly. It does not back up the big claims many app listings make. You should know that before you pay for anything.

Sleep: the evidence is very low quality. A 2021 review in Sleep Medicine Reviews looked at 38 studies of steady white noise and similar sounds during sleep [2]. Some studies found better sleep, and some found worse sleep. The authors rated the evidence that steady noise improves sleep as very low quality. They said this “contradicts its widespread use”, and they warned that it may also harm sleep and hearing.

Focus: a small effect, and only for some people. A 2024 review in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry combined 13 studies of 335 children and young adults with ADHD or many ADHD symptoms [3]. White and pink noise helped them a little on attention tests done in a lab. In the groups without ADHD, the noise made results slightly worse. If you do not have attention problems, white noise may make tasks like these a little harder.

Covering speech: this is what white noise does best. A 2020 review in Indoor Air brought together 34 tests from 14 lab studies. In them, a steady noise played in the background to make nearby talking harder to understand [4]. People started to do worse at tasks with words once they could make out even a little of the talking. That is how it works: noise does not remove a voice, it makes it harder for your brain to pick out the words. This is called sound masking: covering one sound with a steadier one, so your brain stops noticing it. How sound masking works explains more.

Each App in One Paragraph

Our pick first, then the other apps in the same order as the table.

BRW — Brown Noise for Sleep — Our Pick

Despite the name, its listing names white noise along with brown, pink, blue and green, plus rain, ocean, fan and other sounds. It states offline play, a sleep timer that fades out, and mixing. The download is free. Premium unlocks the full library, unlimited mixing and unlimited timers. Google Play shows no ads label and a 4.51 rating from 541 ratings. The iPhone version launched in August 2026 and has no ratings yet.

Apple Background Sounds

A setting, not an app: Settings > Accessibility > Audio & Visual > Background Sounds. It needs iOS 15 or later, and it also works on Mac and Apple Vision Pro. Apple's help page lists white noise with ocean and rain sounds. Since iOS 26 and macOS Tahoe it also has a timer and an equalizer for changing the tone [1]. It is the right first thing to try for an iPhone owner. It does not exist on Android.

BetterSleep

A full sleep app — sleep tracker, sleep recorder, stories, guided meditations — with white noise as one of more than 300 sounds and music tracks. Its listing mentions timers, saved mixes and a Smart Mix feature that hides the point where a sound starts again. Premium features are a subscription that renews on its own.

Dark Noise

An Apple-only app with 50+ sounds, custom mixes, a timer that fades out, Siri Shortcuts and widgets. Its listing does not name white noise, so check the sound list in the free version first. The current version needs iOS 26 or later.

myNoise

Every soundscape has a set of sliders, so you can turn down the harsh, hissy part of white noise yourself. Its listing states offline listening, no ads and no subscription: one purchase unlocks everything, including future soundscapes. Creation Mode combines up to 10 sliders from different soundscapes. It does not mention a sleep timer.

Noisli

Well known as a website for focus. The official iPhone app costs $1.99, plays white, pink and brown noise offline, and has a timer that fades out. But its last update on the App Store was in April 2017. There is no official Android app: the Google Play app called “noisli” is from a different developer.

Rain Rain Sleep Sounds

A rain-first app with a mixer, a timer that fades out, and two unusual tools. The Oscillator slowly raises and lowers the volume of each sound. Soften turns down the high, hissy part of a sound, which helps if white noise hiss bothers you. Its listing names pink noise but not white. The free version has a small banner ad; a Premium subscription removes it.

White Noise Deep Sleep Sounds (Slumber Studios)

A large library aimed at adults and babies, with white, brown and pink noise free and green and blue noise in premium. Read the terms: the free version plays for eight hours, and continuous play needs the $49.99-a-year subscription. The Android listing carries the “Contains ads” label.

White Noise Lite (TMSOFT)

The oldest app here: TMSOFT made White Noise for the original iPhone in 2008. It has 50+ sounds that repeat on a loop, a Mix Pad that sets the position, pitch and volume of each sound, recording, and an alarm clock. The Lite version shows ads. On iOS, the paid White Noise ($0.99) and White Noise Pro ($2.99) remove them.

How Loud Is Safe for White Noise?

Keep it soft, and keep the phone away from the pillow or cot. A 2014 study in Pediatrics tested 14 baby sleep machines at full volume [5]. Measured 30 cm away (about one foot), every one was louder than 50 decibels, the noise limit recommended for hospital baby units. That is about as loud as a quiet office. Three were louder than 85 decibels, about as loud as heavy traffic. Played for more than 8 hours, that level is above the limit for adults at work. A phone speaker is not a sleep machine, but the lesson is the same: distance and a low setting matter more than which app you use.

For your own ears, the WHO-ITU safe listening standard sets a weekly limit of 80 decibels for 40 hours for adults, and 75 decibels for 40 hours for children [6]. Listening all night on earbuds adds up fast. Use a speaker across the room, or the lowest earbud volume that still covers the noise you want gone.

Turn the volume down until the sound you want to cover is just no longer clear, then stop. More volume after that point adds risk to your ears and gives you nothing.

White Noise or Another Colour?

Most people who find white noise too hissy really want a deeper sound. Pink noise turns down the high, hissy sounds, and brown noise turns them down even more. The white noise page explains the difference and has a free player, and brown vs white noise compares the two side by side. Every app in the table with more than one colour lets you switch in a tap, so test them before you pay.

Try It Before You Install Anything

The player at the top of this page plays white noise in your browser, free, with no account. If you want it offline, on a timer, with the screen locked, BRW is the app from the same maker, free on both stores.

References

Every source below was opened and checked on 24 September 2026. The numbers match the markers in the text.

1. Use Background Sounds on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Apple Support, article 109346. support.apple.com/en-us/109346
2. Riedy SM, Smith MG, Rocha S, Basner M. Noise as a sleep aid: A systematic review. Sleep Medicine Reviews. 2021;55:101385. doi:10.1016/j.smrv.2020.101385 · PubMed 33007706
3. Nigg JT, Bruton A, Kozlowski MB, Johnstone JM, Karalunas SL. Systematic review and meta-analysis: Do white noise or pink noise help with task performance in youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or with elevated attention problems? Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 2024;63(8):778–788. doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2023.12.014 · PubMed 38428577
4. Haapakangas A, Hongisto V, Liebl A. The relation between the intelligibility of irrelevant speech and cognitive performance — A revised model based on laboratory studies. Indoor Air. 2020;30(6):1130–1146. doi:10.1111/ina.12726 · PubMed 32735743
5. Hugh SC, Wolter NE, Propst EJ, Gordon KA, Cushing SL, Papsin BC. Infant sleep machines and hazardous sound pressure levels. Pediatrics. 2014;133(4):677–681. doi:10.1542/peds.2013-3617 · PubMed 24590753
6. World Health Organization and International Telecommunication Union. Safe listening devices and systems: a WHO-ITU standard. 18 September 2019. who.int

Frequently Asked Questions

Related pages

• White Noise — The flat, bright colour, and the best of the five at making speech impossible to follow.
• Best Brown Noise Apps — Seven brown noise apps compared on facts from their own store listings.
• Best Sound Mixing Apps — Eight sound mixer apps compared on layers, volume for each sound, saved mixes, ads and price.
• Best Tinnitus Masking Apps — Nine tinnitus apps compared on their store listings, next to what medical guidelines and a large review say about sound therapy.
• Brown vs White Noise — The two colours furthest apart: what each one can and cannot cover, and why your speaker may decide for you.
• Pink Noise — The balanced, natural-sounding colour: a good default, and the sound engineers use to test speakers.
• Sound Masking — Masking does not block sound. It raises the background so the noise stops standing out, and the colour has to match the noise.
• Brown Noise App — Which brown noise app to install, whether it is really free, and what an app can do that a browser tab cannot.