Play Blankie Alongside Music, Podcasts or Audiobooks

On iPhone and iPad, Blankie behaves like a music app. Starting it pauses whatever else was playing, and Blankie takes over the Lock Screen, Control Center and your headphone buttons. Want rain under an audiobook or podcast instead? Turn on Mix with Other Audio and Blankie plays alongside your other apps.

On iPhone and iPad: Mix with Other Audio

1. Open Settings (the gear button in your Library).
2. Under Playback & Sounds, turn on Mix with Other Audio.

With Mix with Other Audio turned on:

• Blankie plays alongside other apps. Starting a podcast, audiobook or song won't pause your mix, and starting Blankie won't interrupt your other app.
• The volume slider controls Blankie directly. Instead of changing your phone's system volume, the slider on Blankie's Now Playing screen sets Blankie's own volume so you can lower rain or static underneath a narrator's voice. Turning this on also turns on Blankie's Set Volume action in Shortcuts.

On Mac

macOS lets apps play audio at the same time by default, so there's no setting to toggle. To balance Blankie underneath another app on your Mac:

• Use the volume slider in the bottom control bar (or inside Blankie's menu bar popover) to lower Blankie's overall volume beneath your music or video app.
• Each sound tile keeps its own relative volume inside your mix.
• If you want your mix to start as soon as you launch the app, turn on Autoplay on Open in Settings → Playback & Sounds.

Continuous playback in Now Playing

On iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS 27, Blankie reports ambient loops to the system as continuous playback. That hides the looping progress bar in Now Playing and on the Lock Screen, while still showing a countdown bar whenever a sleep timer is running. To bring the looping progress bar back, turn off Show Playback as Continuous in Settings → Playback & Sounds.