Sleep Sound Apps

The 7 best brown noise apps in 2026:
free and paid, compared

By Colin Shepard Hanson · Published September 2026 · Prices and features checked September 8, 2026 · 10 min read

For brown noise you can shape, Veil is the pick on iPhone and Android. Its brown noise is synthesized on your device, with no recorded track and no loops, and its Depth, Low-Pass Cutoff and Speed controls let you set it anywhere from heavy bass to a softer, textured rumble. A refined dark interface keeps your sound, precision volume and sleep timer easy to reach. Brown noise is free in Veil, with its controls, the timer and the bedside clock, and there are no ads.

The alternatives serve different needs. myNoise gives its brown preset ten frequency-band sliders and hearing calibration. Apple Background Sounds has a built-in low-pitched option it calls Dark Noise, free on Apple devices with nothing installed. White Noise Lite includes a free brown noise track with mixing, with ads. Dark Noise wraps its brown noise in Apple widgets and Shortcuts. ColorSleep is a noise-color app for Apple devices, and BetterSleep has brown noise inside a larger sleep suite. Below: how each one makes its brown noise, what you can change about it, whether brown noise is free, and what you pay.

What brown noise is, in one paragraph

Brown noise is broadband noise with its energy tilted toward the low end, falling off at about 6 dB per octave. Next to white noise it sounds deeper and softer, closer to a distant waterfall or a jet at cruising altitude than to static. That is why people who find white noise harsh reach for it. If you are choosing between colors, white vs pink vs brown covers the differences, brown noise and ADHD covers what the research does and does not show, and you can play brown noise in your browser right now.

Best brown noise apps at a glance

How the apps were compared

• How the brown noise is made. Synthesized on the device, a recorded track played on a loop, or a sample-based player. This shapes what the app can let you change.
• What you can change about it. Depth, cutoff, band-by-band shaping, pitch, or just volume.
• Whether brown noise itself is free, permanently, on a trial, or unconfirmed. A free download does not establish free brown noise.
• What it costs to keep, and on which platform.
• Platforms. Three of the seven are Apple-only.

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.

The seven apps, in detail

1. Veil iPhone, iPad, Android

Veil: best for brown noise you can shape

Veil's brown noise is synthesized on your phone while it plays, with no loops, and it comes with controls that reach inside the sound. Depth sets how deep it goes: lower it for heavier bass, raise it for more mid-range texture and body. Low-Pass Cutoff trims the upper frequencies for a darker, more enveloping sound. Speed removes the higher texture that can feel rushing. Level sets its intensity. Set them once and the app remembers them.

Brown noise is one of Veil's four free sounds, alongside white, pink and the slow fan, with the sleep timer and fade, the bedside clock and precision volume included, in a refined dark interface built for the nightstand. Premium adds the rest of the library (green, grey and blue noise, six more fans, mechanical sounds and rain), mixing up to three sounds, and saved mixes. Brown noise under a slow fan is a natural pairing: the fan adds movement, the brown noise adds floor.

Free: brown noise with its controls, plus white, pink and the slow fan, the timer and the 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: Veil is noise, fans, mechanical sounds and rain. No ocean, no music, no stories. If you want brown noise under a meditation, pick a content app below.

Try free on iPhoneTry free on Android

2. myNoise iPhone, iPad, Android, web

myNoise: best for shaping brown noise band by band

myNoise's White Noise and Co player includes a Brown preset and ten frequency-band sliders, letting you rebalance the low, middle and high frequencies until the noise is brown for your ears, and the app can calibrate those sliders to your hearing. Its layered playback and animation offer a different approach to evolving sound. On the web the player is sample-based; how the native apps produce the noise is not documented.

Free: a selection of generators; whether the brown preset is among them on mobile is not confirmed. Paid: Full Access for $19.99 once on iOS; the Android app and the website are sold separately.

Before you download: the controls are frequency-band sliders, where Veil's are sound-specific controls such as Depth and Low-Pass Cutoff; both get you to a deeper brown noise by different routes. If you want that level of control, or the same tool for hundreds of other soundscapes, this is the one. Full comparison: Veil vs myNoise.

mynoise.net noise player

3. Apple Background Sounds iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro

Apple Background Sounds: best built-in option, with Dark Noise

Apple calls its low-pitched option Dark Noise; its other two noises are Balanced and Bright. The linked support guide does not establish an exact brown-noise spectrum, but Dark Noise is the built-in sound closest to it. It is free on every recent Apple device, reachable from Control Center, and iOS 26 added an equalizer with a tone grid and a stop timer, so you can tilt it lower.

Free: everything, no ads. The equalizer and timer need iOS 26, iPadOS 26, visionOS 26 or macOS Tahoe.

Before you use it: no Android and no mixing. If Dark Noise covers you, there is nothing to install.

Apple Support guide

4. White Noise Lite iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows

White Noise Lite: best free brown noise with mixing, if you accept ads

TMSOFT's free edition includes a brown noise track among its 50 recorded sounds, and its Mix Pad lets you layer it under rain, a fan or anything else in the catalog, with pitch and speed controls per sound. The Market adds thousands more community recordings, brown noise variants included.

Free: all 50 sounds and the mixer, with ads, on iPhone, Android, Mac and Windows. Paid editions, sold separately: White Noise for $0.99 removes the ads; White Noise Pro for $2.99 adds HD sounds and generator tools.

Before you download: the brown noise is a recording played on a seamless loop, and the shaping is pitch and speed rather than depth. Full comparison: Veil vs White Noise Lite.

tmsoft.com

5. Dark Noise iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro

Dark Noise: best for brown noise from a widget or a Shortcut

Dark Noise includes brown noise in its library of fifty-plus recorded sounds and pairs it with Lock Screen and Home Screen widgets, Siri Shortcuts, custom mixes and Magic Mixes from a typed prompt. If "Hey Siri, brown noise" is the workflow you want on an iPhone, it is built for that.

Free: eight sounds with the timer, Shortcuts and widgets; whether brown noise is among the eight is not confirmed by the listing. Paid: Dark Noise Pro at $2.99 a month, $19.99 a year or $49.99 once, per the Dark Noise 3 announcement; the current App Store listing shows those amounts without periods.

Before you download: no Android, and the brown noise is a recorded track with volume as its control. Full comparison: Veil vs Dark Noise.

darknoise.app

6. ColorSleep iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro

ColorSleep: a noise-color app for Apple devices

ColorSleep offers white, pink, green, brown and red noise with a fade-out timer, lock screen controls and a one-tap start, plus curated rain, lo-fi and frequency tracks. Its listing says the noise plays "without any distracting digital looping" but does not say how it is produced, and it does not document shaping controls.

Free: a free tier exists; what it includes and any limits are not documented in the listing. Paid: a $9.99 monthly membership is listed, alongside other priced offers whose durations and entitlements are not stated.

Before you download: Apple devices only, and the pricing has many tiers, so read the offer before you tap.

App Store

7. BetterSleep iPhone, Android

BetterSleep: best for brown noise inside a full sleep suite

BetterSleep's library of more than 300 sounds includes brown, white, green and pink noise alongside nature sounds, music, binaural tracks, meditations and stories, and its Smart Mix feature is designed to hide loop joins in mixes. If you want brown noise under a guided wind-down and a sleep tracker in the same app, it is the fullest package here.

Free: a limited selection; whether brown noise is in it is not confirmed. Paid: monthly and annual plans, and a lifetime membership; the current price varies by offer and platform.

Before you download: the brown noise is one item in a large catalog, and you are paying for the whole catalog. Full comparison: Veil vs BetterSleep.

bettersleep.com

Free brown noise apps without ads

For free brown noise without ads on iPhone and Android, Veil includes the sound, all its tuning controls, a fading sleep timer and offline playback. Apple Background Sounds also offers its built-in Dark Noise free on supported Apple devices. White Noise Lite's brown noise is free with ads. The remaining apps have free tiers, but their listings do not confirm whether brown noise is in them or for how long.

Can you make brown noise deeper?

Yes. In Veil, lower the Depth setting for heavier bass, or raise it for more mid-range texture. Lower the Low-Pass Cutoff to soften the upper frequencies. Speed also softens higher-frequency texture, making the sound feel less rushing. These controls are free, and Veil remembers your latest settings. Premium lets you layer your brown noise with a fan or rain and save the mix.

Other apps reach some of this a different way. myNoise's ten band sliders can push the low end up and the top end down. Apple's iOS 26 equalizer tilts Dark Noise lower. TMSOFT's pitch control drops a recording's register. The distinction is which controls each app puts in front of you: Veil's are named for what they do to the sound, and they open one brown noise into virtually endless variations.

Synthesized brown noise and recorded brown noise

Veil synthesizes brown noise on your device, with no loops and sound controls you can adjust while it plays, and it plays offline from the first launch. White Noise Lite, Dark Noise and BetterSleep play recorded tracks, looped without a gap; BetterSleep's Smart Mix and White Noise's crossfade exist to hide the join. myNoise's web player is sample-based with layered, evolving playback. Apple's Dark Noise is a system sound, and ColorSleep does not document how its noise is produced. If repeats bother you, listen to the sound you plan to use for a while before deciding. Veil's browser preview lets you do that before installing anything.

Which brown noise app should you pick?

• Brown noise you can shape, free, without ads, on iPhone or Android: Veil.
• Band-by-band control and hearing calibration: myNoise.
• Nothing to install on an Apple device: Apple Background Sounds, on its Dark Noise setting.
• Free brown noise under a mixer, with ads: White Noise Lite.
• Brown noise from a widget or a Siri Shortcut: Dark Noise.
• A noise-color app on Apple devices only: ColorSleep.
• Brown noise inside meditations, stories and tracking: BetterSleep.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best free brown noise app?

Veil, if you want brown noise you can shape, without ads, on iPhone or Android: brown noise is one of its four free sounds, with its Depth, Low-Pass Cutoff and Speed controls, the sleep timer and the bedside clock, and it plays offline. Apple Background Sounds is free on Apple devices with its Dark Noise setting, and White Noise Lite has a free brown noise track with ads.

Is there a brown noise app for Android?

Yes. Veil, myNoise, White Noise Lite and BetterSleep all run on Android. Dark Noise, ColorSleep and Apple Background Sounds are Apple-only. Veil is the pick on Android for brown noise that is synthesized on the device, shapeable, and free without ads.

Can I make brown noise deeper in an app?

Yes. In Veil, lower the Depth setting for heavier bass, or raise it for more mid-range texture, and lower the Low-Pass Cutoff to soften the upper frequencies. These controls are free, and Veil remembers your settings. myNoise's band sliders and Apple's iOS 26 equalizer can also tilt brown noise lower; apps that play a recorded track usually offer volume, and sometimes pitch.

Does brown noise help with ADHD or focus?

Brown noise has not been established as an ADHD treatment. The 2024 systematic review discussed in our brown noise and ADHD article found evidence about white and pink noise; those findings do not establish the same benefit for brown noise. Veil lets you adjust brown noise to your listening preference and remembers the settings you choose.

Is Apple's Dark Noise the same as brown noise?

Apple calls its low-pitched Background Sounds option Dark Noise, alongside Balanced and Bright. Its support guide does not establish an exact brown-noise spectrum, so treat it as the built-in sound closest to brown rather than a labeled brown noise. iOS 26 adds an equalizer that can tilt it lower.

Does a brown noise app work offline?

Veil does: every sound is synthesized on the device, so nothing streams or downloads and it plays with no connection from the first launch. Other apps vary; check whether the sound you want has to be downloaded first and whether the free tier allows it.