White noise all night, and a gentle alarm in the morning.

When white noise helps

White noise is every pitch you can hear, played at once and at equal strength. It sounds like a steady hiss, close to a fan on high.

It works by masking. A steady sound raises the background, so a car door, a voice in the hall or a partner's snoring has less to stand out against. In a small sleep-lab study, adding white noise to a night of loud, irregular noise cut the times sleepers woke from 48 an hour to 16.

So reach for it when there's something to cover: traffic, thin walls, a snorer, a hotel corridor. In a room that's already quiet, overnight studies haven't found that noise deepens sleep, and sound that plays just until you drift off may suit you better.

For focus, it depends on you. In trials with children and teens, white or pink noise helped those with attention problems on lab tasks and slightly hurt everyone else.

White, pink or brown?

Pink turns the high end down a little, brown turns it down a lot. No trial has compared them head to head for sleep or focus, so pick by ear and by what you need to cover.

What to look for in a white noise app

• It plays all night. Noise made on the device has no recording to reach the end of, so nothing restarts at 3 a.m.
• You choose when it stops. All night for a noisy street, or just until you're asleep in a quiet room.
• The alarm is in the same app. Start the night once, and the sound and the morning are both set.
• You can layer it. Rain over brown noise, or white noise under your own music, each at its own volume.
• It keeps playing with the screen locked, so your phone can sit on the nightstand like a sound machine.
• It's comfortable quiet. The sleep studies played noise softer than everyday conversation.

Everything in Lissa for white noise

Sound until morning, or until you drift off. Choose All Night and the noise plays straight through to your alarm. Choose Fall Asleep for thirty minutes of sound before the room goes quiet. Or choose Fall Asleep & Ease Awake: it settles you down, goes quiet through the night, and rises softly before your alarm.

A gentle way to wake up. Your Wake Alarm rings even with your phone on silent.

Noise in every color, mixed your way. White, Pink, Brown, Grey, Green, Velvet, Blue and Violet. Put rain over one, add Lissa's ever-evolving music, or play your own playlist alongside it, and set each layer's volume by ear.

A slow beat for falling asleep. Add a Delta Range beat under the noise as you settle in.

Focus with the noise on. Start a work session with white noise, let an alarm mark each break, and Block Distracting Apps keeps the apps you pick from opening until you're done.

Care for your ears. When you listen in headphones, Lissa shows how much listening your ears have had this week, so you know when to turn it down.

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Before you start.

Is it safe to play white noise all night?

Keep it low. Overnight sleep studies played noise at 40 to 55 decibels, softer than everyday conversation, and the sound-masking research advises against going above 45. From a speaker or in sleep headphones, turn it down until the sounds you're covering just blend in.

Is it good to sleep with white noise all night?

It helps most when something keeps waking you, like traffic, a snorer or noisy neighbors. If your room is quiet and you just like a sound to fall asleep to, Fall Asleep plays for thirty minutes and then lets the room go quiet.

Does the iPhone have a built-in white noise app?

Yes. Background Sounds, under Settings > Accessibility > Audio & Visual, plays balanced, bright or dark noise, ocean, rain and more, and can stop on a timer. Lissa adds more colors of noise, layers you mix yourself, sound that plays to your alarm, and the alarm itself.

Can I use my phone as a white noise machine?

Yes. Plug it in, leave it on the nightstand and play from the speaker. Lissa keeps playing with the screen locked and rings the Wake Alarm in the morning, so one device does both jobs.

Is there a free white noise app?

Yes. Preview white, pink and brown noise at the top of this page, then sign up free and pick one as your free soundscape. Lissa is coming soon. Join the waitlist and learn how to get Lissa Premium free at launch.

Is white noise or brown noise better for sleep?

No trial has compared them. Brown covers low sounds like traffic and snoring; white covers high, sharp ones. Play each for a minute and keep the one you'd happily fall asleep to.

Is white noise good for focus?

For some people. In the trials, it helped young people whose attention drifts and slightly hurt those whose doesn't. Try a few work sessions with it and a few without.