Sleep Sound Apps
The 8 best white noise apps in 2026:
free and paid, compared
For a modern white noise app with extensive sound customization, Veil is the pick for nightly use on iPhone and Android. It synthesizes every sound on your device, pairs a refined dark interface with precision volume, and lets you shape noise colors, fans, mechanical sounds and rain to your ear. Four customizable sounds are free without ads, and premium can be bought outright for $19.99.
The alternatives serve different needs. myNoise offers detailed soundscape controls, hearing calibration and hundreds of recorded environments. White Noise Lite includes free mixing and a community sound catalog, with ads. Apple Background Sounds is built into every recent iPhone. Dark Noise is the Apple automation option. BetterSleep and Calm bundle sounds with meditations and stories, and Noisli is built for work sessions in a browser. Below: what each app actually gives you, how much you can change the sound, and what you pay to keep using it.
Best white noise apps at a glance
| App | Sound source | Customization | Free, and ads | To keep it | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Veil Customizable noise machine | Synthesized on the device; no prerecorded tracks, no loops | Per-sound controls: cutoff, treble blend, depth, fan movement and width, rain density and texture; mix and save (premium) | 4 sounds with their controls, timer and clock; no ads | $1.99/mo, $9.99/yr, or $19.99 once | iPhone, iPad, Android |
| myNoise Detailed soundscapes | Recorded scenes, varied by generators | Ten sliders per soundscape, hearing calibration, Creation Mode | A selection of soundscapes; no ads | $19.99 once on iOS (Full Access); Android and web sold separately | iPhone, iPad, Android, web |
| White Noise Lite Free mixing, community sounds | Recorded tracks, looped | Mix Pad, pitch and speed per sound, record your own | 50 sounds, with ads | Separate paid editions: Full $0.99, Pro $2.99 | iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows; paid editions add Watch and TV |
| Apple Background Sounds Built in | Built-in system sounds | Volume; equalizer and timer on iOS 26 | Everything; no ads | Free | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro |
| Dark Noise Apple widgets and Shortcuts | Recorded tracks, looped | Custom mixes, Magic Mixes | 8 sounds, timer, Shortcuts; no ads | Pro subscription from $2.99/mo, or $49.99 once | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro |
| BetterSleep Sounds, stories, tracking | Recordings and music, with Smart Mix | Mixing and playlists | A limited selection | Premium subscription, $69.99/yr listed | iPhone, Android |
| Calm Guided meditation and stories | Recordings and music | Playlists | A sampler | $14.99/mo, $69.99/yr, or $499.99 lifetime on calm.com | iPhone, Android, web |
| Noisli Browser work sessions | Recorded tracks, looped | Mixing, saved combos | Web: 16 sounds, 1.5 hours a day | Web Pro $10/mo billed yearly; iOS app $1.99 separately | Web, iPhone, Android |
How the apps were compared
- How the sound is made. Synthesized on the device, recorded tracks played on a loop, or recorded scenes varied by a generator. This shapes what you can change and whether you can hear a repeat.
- How much you can change it. Not the number of named sounds, but the controls each one exposes, and whether you can mix and save the result.
- What is free, and whether there are ads. What you keep without paying, not the trial.
- What it costs to keep. Subscriptions, one-time purchases, and which platform each price applies to.
- Platforms. Two of the eight are not on Android.
Everything above comes from each app's own store page, help center or website on the date in the disclosure, with links in the sources at the end. It is a comparison of published features and prices, not an overnight listening test of all eight.
The eight apps, in detail
1. Veil iPhone, iPad, Android
Veil: best for customizable noise and modern bedtime controls
Veil combines the sound control of a noise machine with a premium modern interface. Its sounds are synthesized on your phone, with no prerecorded tracks and no loops, and each one has controls that change its character. Lower the cutoff on white noise until the hiss softens, blend more treble into pink, add depth to brown, or change a fan's oscillation speed, depth, tone and width until it moves the way the fan in your old bedroom did. Rain has its own controls for density, closeness, patter, puddles and rumble.
Choose from six noise colors, seven fan styles, eight mechanical sounds such as a window air conditioner, an airplane cabin and a clothes dryer, and two rains, then make them your own. Premium lets you layer up to three sounds, balance them and save the result for tomorrow night. Spacious sound cards, precision volume, a bedside clock and a fading sleep timer keep everyday use straightforward. Playback works offline, with no account and no ads.
Free: white, pink and brown noise and the slow fan, including their sound controls, the sleep timer and the bedside clock. Premium: the full collection, mixing and saved mixes, for $1.99 a month, $9.99 a year, or $19.99 once.
Before you download: mixing and saved mixes need premium. Veil focuses on adjustable noise, fans, mechanical sounds and rain; if narrated stories or guided meditations are essential to you, pair it with a content app or pick one below. You can preview the noise colors and fans in your browser first.
2. myNoise iPhone, iPad, Android, web
myNoise: best for detailed soundscapes and hearing calibration
More than 300 soundscapes built from field recordings and real instruments by an audio engineer, from rain and ocean to drones, chant and cathedrals. Each soundscape has ten sliders that control its frequency bands or its scene elements, the app can calibrate them to your own hearing, and Creation Mode combines sliders from different soundscapes into your own. The generators vary the recorded layers as they play rather than repeating a fixed track. No ads, and offline once a soundscape is downloaded.
Free: a selection of soundscapes. Paid: Full Access for $19.99 once on iOS; the Android app and the website are sold separately.
Before you download: the library is large and the controls are deep. If you want recorded environments and scene-level control, this is the one. Full comparison: Veil vs myNoise.
3. White Noise Lite iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows
White Noise Lite: best for free mixing and community recordings
TMSOFT's White Noise has been on the App Store since 2008, and Lite is its free, ad-supported edition: 50 recorded sounds, a Mix Pad for layering them, a recorder for your own, alarms with fade-in, a full-screen clock, a sleep log, and a companion Market with more than 50,000 community-uploaded sounds. The stock sounds are recordings played on a seamless loop.
Free: all 50 sounds and the mixer, with ads. Paid editions, sold separately: White Noise for $0.99 removes the ads; White Noise Pro for $2.99 adds HD sounds. Lite itself is free on iPhone, Android, Mac and Windows; TMSOFT's edition table assigns Apple Watch, Apple TV, Android TV and generator tools to the paid editions.
Before you download: Lite has ads, and the free sounds are stock recordings; the customization is mixing and pitch rather than reshaping a sound. If free layering and recording your own sounds matter most, it is the best free option on Android. Full comparison: Veil vs White Noise Lite.
4. Apple Background Sounds iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro
Apple Background Sounds: best built-in option for Apple devices
Built into iOS since version 15, and reachable from Control Center with a tap and hold. Balanced, bright and dark noise plus ocean, rain and stream, with more sounds, a stop timer and an equalizer (a balance slider and a tone grid with Broad and Focused presets) added in iOS 26. It plays underneath music and podcasts at its own level and costs nothing.
Free: everything, no ads. The equalizer and timer need iOS 26, iPadOS 26, visionOS 26 or macOS Tahoe.
Before you use it: three noise flavors and no fan, no mixing, and no Android. If basic playback covers you, start here; Veil adds a dedicated interface, adjustable fans and mechanical sounds, precision volume, and optional mixing with saved mixes.
5. Dark Noise iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro
Dark Noise: best for Apple widgets and automation
Fifty-plus recorded sounds with animated icons, custom mixes, Siri Shortcuts, Lock Screen and Home Screen widgets, a fade-out timer, and Magic Mixes that build a soundscape from a typed prompt. It is the most tightly integrated with iOS of anything on this list: if you automate your bedtime with Shortcuts or want a sound machine on your Lock Screen, this is the fit.
Free: eight sounds with the timer, Shortcuts and widgets; no ads. Paid: Dark Noise Pro by subscription from $2.99 a month, or $49.99 once, for the full library, custom mixes, icons and themes.
Before you download: no Android. The sounds are recordings played on a loop, and the lifetime price is $49.99. Its App Store listing showed a last update of November 2025 on the check date.
6. BetterSleep iPhone, Android
BetterSleep: best for sounds, stories and sleep tracking together
More than 300 sounds and music tracks, more than 250 meditations and hypnosis sessions, more than 100 sleep stories, a sleep tracker and a snore recorder, all in one app. Sounds can be layered into mixes and playlists, and a Smart Mix feature is designed to reduce noticeable repeats. It holds an App Store Editors' Choice.
Free: a limited selection. Paid: Premium by subscription, $69.99 a year at the listed annual price, with monthly and promotional tiers.
Before you download: the noise part is one section of a much broader product. If all you want is a noise machine, you would be paying for the stories, meditations and tracking too.
7. Calm iPhone, Android, web
Calm: best for guided meditation and narrated sleep stories
The best-known app on the list. Sleep stories read by well-known voices, guided meditations, music, and a set of soundscapes: ocean, heavy rain, campfire and the rest. Calm is a meditation and sleep-story product first; the soundscapes are there to fall asleep to after the story ends.
Free: a sampler. Paid: $14.99 a month or $69.99 a year, with a seven-day trial where offered, or $499.99 once for lifetime access through calm.com.
Before you download: white noise is a side dish here. Pick it for the guided content, not for noise.
8. Noisli Web, iPhone, Android
Noisli: best for browser-based work sessions
Sounds you mix on a clean grid, with a timer, saved combos and a focus workflow. It is web-first: the free plan is 16 sounds for 1.5 hours a day in the browser, and Pro is $10 a month billed yearly with 28 sounds. The iPhone and Android apps are separate products with offline playback; the iPhone app is $1.99 once.
Free: the web plan, 16 sounds, 1.5 hours a day. Paid: web Pro at $10 a month billed yearly; the iOS app at $1.99, separately.
Before you use it: the free web plan's daily cap suits a work session, not a night. The iPhone app's App Store listing showed a last update in 2017 on the check date.
How customizable are the sounds?
A list of sound names only tells you where you can start. What matters next is how closely you can adjust the result to your ears and your room.
In Veil, every sound is a starting point you can make your own. Turn a fan from a soft, steady hum into a broader, pulsing wash by adjusting its oscillation depth and tone width. Make brown noise deeper, or smooth the edge off pink noise by lowering its cutoff. Adjust rain from a distant patter to a fuller downpour with the density and closeness controls. Mechanical sounds have their own cycle speed, cycle depth, tone and motor warmth. With premium mixing and independent levels, those starting points open into virtually limitless variations for your room and your ears.
Other apps offer customization too, and it is worth comparing the actual controls. myNoise gives each soundscape ten sliders over its frequency bands or scene elements, and can calibrate them to your hearing. White Noise Lite mixes sounds and changes their pitch and speed. Apple's Background Sounds gained an equalizer in iOS 26. Veil's difference is that the shaping reaches inside the synthesis, so a fan's movement or a rain's texture changes, not just its balance, and it lives in a modern noise-machine interface that keeps bedtime simple.
Synthesized sound and repeating recordings
Veil creates its audio on your device. There are no prerecorded tracks or sound packs to download, playback is designed so you never hear a loop, and you can shape the sound while you listen and keep it playing offline.
Recorded sound is a different approach. A player can repeat a track and blend its ending into its beginning, or combine and vary several recorded layers, as myNoise and BetterSleep's Smart Mix do. These methods can sound continuous too. If repeating patterns bother you at 3am, listen to the sound you plan to use for a while, not just a count of the tracks in an app. Veil's browser previews let you do that before installing anything.
Free white noise apps without ads
Several of the eight give you something useful free, without ads. Veil's free tier is white, pink and brown noise and the slow fan, each with its sound controls, plus the sleep timer and bedside clock, on iPhone and Android. Apple Background Sounds is free on any recent Apple device. myNoise has a free selection of soundscapes. White Noise Lite's free tier is larger but ad-supported, and Dark Noise's eight free sounds are for Apple devices only.
Which white noise app should you pick?
- A modern, adjustable noise machine for nightly use, on iPhone or Android: Veil. Synthesized sound, no loops, per-sound shaping, precision volume, free without ads, and $19.99 to own.
- Recorded environments, scene-level control and hearing calibration: myNoise.
- Free mixing, recording your own sounds, or an alarm clock in the same app: White Noise Lite, with ads, or its $0.99 and $2.99 paid editions.
- Nothing to install on an iPhone: Apple Background Sounds.
- Shortcuts, widgets and Apple automation: Dark Noise.
- Sounds plus meditations, stories and sleep tracking: BetterSleep, or Calm if the narrated stories and voices matter most.
- Working with noise at a desk: Noisli's web player.
Your sound, shaped to your ear
Try white, pink and brown noise and the slow fan free, with their sound controls, precision volume and a fading sleep timer. No ads, no account. Premium unlocks the full collection, mixing and saved mixes: subscribe if you want, or pay $19.99 once.
Or preview Veil's sounds in your browser firstFrequently asked questions
What is the best free white noise app without ads?
Veil, if you want customizable white, pink or brown noise or a fan on iPhone or Android without ads. Its free sounds include their tone controls, the sleep timer and the bedside clock. Apple Background Sounds is a built-in alternative on recent Apple devices, and myNoise has a free selection of soundscapes.
Which white noise app does not loop?
Veil synthesizes its sounds on your device, with no prerecorded tracks, and its playback is designed so you never hear a loop. myNoise takes another approach, varying the recorded layers within each soundscape as it plays. A seamlessly looped recording can hide its join, but you may still recognize recurring details over a night.
Which white noise app is best for Android?
Veil is the pick for a modern, ad-free noise machine with extensive sound controls and an optional $19.99 lifetime unlock. Consider myNoise for detailed scene controls and recorded environments, or White Noise Lite for free mixing and community recordings with ads. Dark Noise and Apple Background Sounds are not available on Android.
Can I pay once instead of subscribing?
Yes, with several of these. Veil offers lifetime premium for $19.99. myNoise sells a $19.99 Full Access unlock on iOS. TMSOFT sells separate paid editions at $0.99 and $2.99. Dark Noise has a $49.99 lifetime option. Calm sells lifetime access for $499.99 on its website, and Noisli's iOS app is a $1.99 purchase separate from its web plans. Check each platform's current offer.
Do I need a separate white noise app on iPhone?
Not always. Apple Background Sounds covers basic noise, rain and ocean playback, and iOS 26 adds an equalizer and a stop timer. Veil adds a dedicated interface, adjustable fans and mechanical sounds, per-sound shaping, precision volume, and optional mixing with saved mixes.
Sources
Prices, free tiers and platforms were read from each app's own store page, help center or website on September 8, 2026. Prices are US figures, vary by storefront and change; the app's page is the source of record.
- Veil: White Noise Sleep Sounds, App Store
- myNoise: The Soundscape App, App Store and myNoise FAQ
- White Noise by TMSOFT, product and edition table and White Noise Lite, App Store
- Use Background Sounds to help with sleep, focus, and more, Apple Support
- Dark Noise: Ambient Sounds, App Store and darknoise.app
- BetterSleep: Relax and Sleep, App Store
- Calm, App Store and Calm Lifetime Membership FAQ
- Noisli pricing and Noisli, App Store