Use this hidden iOS timer to stop music when you sleep

iOS has a built-in timer to automatically stop playback. It is convenient if you are used to falling asleep to music.

Some rarely go to bed without listening to and/or watching something on their iPhone. Be it music or any video content. The problem is that you have to make sure the video is long enough to last while you fall asleep, but not too long. And you have to make sure autoplay is disabled otherwise YouTube will play new videos all night long. Fortunately, the iPhone has a hidden timer.

iOS has a built-in timer to automatically stop playback.

If you’re used to listening to music or watching videos to fall asleep, you’ve probably fallen asleep and woken up while the music was still playing. Many music and video players do not have timers. As a result of the operation, you are awakened in the middle of the night by the same content that put you to sleep. Podcast lovers are in luck, as the functionality is pretty standard for this content. Spotify offers it too.

While Apple Music and YouTube don’t have a timer on the iPhone, iOS does. Apple doesn’t emphasize this feature, but it works very well. Also, 9to5Google found a timer in the latest beta version of Apple Music for Android. Will we see this timer in iOS 16, or does the Cupertino company think that only Android users might need a timer with Apple Music?

Convenient if you are used to falling asleep to music

In any case, for now, we have to make do with this hidden timer on the iPhone. Fortunately, it works with any audio source on the device. In other words, this timer will stop playback as soon as the countdown ends, no matter what app you’re using.

To use it, go to the Clock app and select Timers as usual. Select When Timer Ends, scroll down and click Stop Playback. There you can choose the duration, activate the timer and you will be sure that the playback will stop after the time has elapsed.

And the best part is that iOS goes back to the lock screen the moment the sound stops playing. So your iPhone can go to sleep instead of staying active on any open app. This isn’t a problem for apps that offer background playback, like Apple Music, but since the free version of YouTube doesn’t, this built-in timer comes in handy.

Be careful, iOS remembers the last sound for the next timer. So if you don’t pay attention and set the timer without changing “Stop Playing”, the timer won’t sound. If you don’t have sound playing during this time, you may not realize that the time has elapsed. Which can be very sad.