iPhones can transform into soothing white noise machines with this little-known feature

The calming sound of the ocean or a steady rainfall can be easily accessed on Apple iPhones with a white noise feature that some users initially never knew existed.

For interested iPhone owners, they can go to settings, then accessibly and then audio/visual before finally clicking on background sounds, Apple instructs.

From there, users can choose from six options: balanced noise, bright noise, dark noise, ocean, rain or stream while also adjusting the volume.  

The background sound can also play while an iPhone user watches a video or plays music on their phone, Apple Support explains.

If iPhone users want a quicker way to reach those soothing sounds, it can set up a shortcut by clicking accessibility in settings and accessibility shortcut where background sound is an option. Then the user can triple-click the home button or side button to start playing the background noise.

The existence of the feature seems to have caught a number of iPhone owners off guard.