Where Dark Noise shines
Dark Noise is one of the best Apple citizens in the category. Deep Shortcuts and Siri support, proper widgets, delightful animated icons, and it adopts new OS design fast. Pro brings the library past 50 sounds with custom mixes. The developer also handled the move to subscriptions about as fairly as possible: everyone who bought the app before 3.0 kept what they paid for.
Where Foyer differs
Foyer's mixer is spatial. Dark Noise gives you a list of sounds and sliders; Foyer gives you a black canvas where each sound is an orb you place around yourself. The fire is not "at 40% volume", it is close by on your left, rendered binaurally, holding still when you turn your head with AirPods. On the Mac, Foyer lives in the menu bar rather than a window. And pricing is one number: $9.99 once for everything, on both platforms.
Side by side
| Foyer | Dark Noise | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 once, everything | Pro: $2.99/month, $19.99/year or $49.99 lifetime |
| Free tier | Full library, 3 sounds at once | 8 sounds, timer, Shortcuts |
| Mixing | Spatial canvas: distance = volume, angle = pan | Sound list with sliders and mixes |
| Sounds | Curated set, grows monthly | 50+ with Pro (larger) |
| Platforms | Mac (menu bar), iPhone | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro (broader) |
| Account | None | None (iCloud sync) |
| Privacy label | Data Not Collected | Usage & diagnostics, not linked to identity |
Prices and free-tier limits checked July 2026 against official sites and App Store listings. Tell us if something changed: [email protected].
Honest bottom line
If you automate your phone with Shortcuts, want an iPad or Vision Pro version, or care about a bigger catalog, Dark Noise earns its place, and its $49.99 lifetime option keeps it subscription-optional. If the thing you want is a room, sounds arranged around you that stay where you put them, Foyer is the only one of the two that does it, and the whole app costs less than Dark Noise's lifetime unlock.
Try the Foyer sounds free first: