Call our helpline
0300 180 0028Short guide
- Open the Control Centre.
- Tap the Hearing button (the ear icon).
- Tap the Background Sounds button.
- To change the sound, tap the current sound and choose a new sound from the card.
- Tap outside the card to go back.
Before and after
This section gives you step by step instructions on how to enable Background Sounds in iOS 16, with pictures of the screens to help.
Open the Control Centre
1. Open the Control Centre by swiping down from the top-right corner of your device. On devices with a physical Home button, swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
Open the Hearing options
2. To open the hearing options, tap the Hearing button (the ear icon).
Note: If the Hearing button isn’t visible, you’ll need to add it to the Control Centre. To do so, open the Settings app, then tap Control Panel. Tap the + (plus) button next to Hearing to add it to the control panel
Turn on Background Sounds
3. Tap the Background Sounds button.
Change the background sound
4. To change the sound, tap the current sound and choose a new sound from the card. Tap outside of the card to go back.
Return to the Home screen
8. Tap outside of the card to go back to the Control Panel. To return to the Home screen, tap outside of the buttons in the Control Panel.
Access other Background Sounds settings
You can access the full range of settings for Background Sounds in the Settings app. These settings include stopping Background Sounds when the device is locked and playing sounds at the same time as other media. Open the Settings app 
, then Accessibility > Audio/Visual > Background Sounds.
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