Control Center has gotten so much better over the past year, with a fully customizable toolset that’s always expanding. And my most-used Control Center feature, Background Sounds, will get even better in iOS 19 per a recent Apple announcement.
iOS 19 will add three new Background Sounds features
Background Sounds is Apple’s own built-in white noise-style feature in iOS.
The feature has been around for years, but it got better last year in two main ways:
- New Fire and Night sounds were added
- and the upgraded Control Center toggle provided more utility than ever
Because of these iOS 18 changes, Background Sounds actually became my most-used Control Center feature in the last year.
Fortunately, it’s set to get even better in iOS 19.
Earlier this week, as part of Apple’s new accessibility feature announcements, we learned about three upgrades coming for Background Sounds.
The feature will gain:
- New EQ settings so you can personalize each sound
- Option to stop playback automatically after a set period of time (e.g., a sleep timer)
- More Shortcuts app actions to set up automations
Background Sounds already offer some nice features, like the ability to play them even while other audio’s playing, or choose whether playback stops or keeps going when your device is locked.
The three iOS 19 upgrades coming should make Background Sounds better for even more users, and likely means it will spend another year as my top Control Center option.
If you’ve never tried it out, search ‘Background Sounds’ in Control Center’s control library and give it a shot.
Do you use Background Sounds in Control Center? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments.
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