How to Play White Noise Over Spotify on iPhone (Without Pausing Your Music)

You have a focus playlist you love, but your neighbors are drilling. Or you want rain under a podcast at night. You open a white noise app, and Spotify stops. Here is why that happens, and how to get both at once.

Why iPhone apps pause each other

iOS manages audio through an “audio session”. By default, when a new app starts playing sound, it takes over, and whatever was playing before pauses. That is usually what you want: a video call shouldn’t play over your music.

Some apps can instead tell iOS they want to mix with others. When they do, they play alongside whatever is already playing. Most noise apps don’t do this by default, which is why your music stops.

How to play noise under Spotify in Solbox

Solbox Pro has Backdrop mode, which keeps Solbox playing alongside other apps:

1. Open Solbox and turn on Backdrop mode in the sound panel.
2. Start a noise, like brown or pink noise, and set it low.
3. Open Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or your podcast app and press play.
4. Adjust the balance: music in the other app, noise in Solbox.

Both keep playing in the background and with the screen locked.

Tips for a good mix

• Go deeper. Brown and pink noise sit under music nicely. White noise competes with cymbals and vocals.
• Keep noise quieter than music. It should fill the gaps between songs, not sit on top.
• Use rain for podcasts. Soft rain or forest ambience feels natural under speech.
• Mind the total volume. Two sources add up. Keep the overall level comfortable to protect your hearing.

When to use noise without music

Music with lyrics can pull your attention, especially for reading and writing. If you notice yourself singing along, switch to noise alone, or to body doubling sounds like a coffee shop, and save the playlist for routine tasks.

Try it

Backdrop mode is part of Solbox Pro, along with the full library of 15 noise colors and 16 soundscapes. See everything on the features page.