These pre-installed apps can turn your iPhone into a bedtime speaker

Your iPhone has a built-in sleep timer for playing media that works with Apple Music and Shortcuts automations to create the perfect bedtime noise machine. Here's how to set it up.

If you've ever used a third-party app like Dark Noise or another noise machine, a welcome feature is the sleep timer. Users may want to stop streaming after a specific interval, much like setting a sleep timer for the TV so it doesn't play TV ads all night long.

Anyone who uses ambient noise, music, or ocean sounds to fall asleep may not want these sounds playing all night long. You can do this by setting a sleep timer, but as some of you may have discovered, there's no obvious sleep option in Apple Music.

Apple has hidden an option to stop media playback in the Clock app. We also found that it's possible to automate this function using a shortcut so that you can create an automatic sleep timer.

How to manually set a sleep timer for Apple Music (and other media on iOS):

1. Open the clock application.
2. Select "Timer" in the lower right corner.
3. Set the desired duration.
4. Click on the "When timer ends" block.
5. Scroll all the way down.
6. Select "Stop Playing".
7. Click "Start" to start the sleep timer.

If done correctly, any audio played directly from the iPhone will stop playing when the timer ends. No alert is raised and the user does not have to take action.

In our example, we're using it for Apple Music, but it works with any media as long as it comes from your device. This means you can't use this feature if the HomePod mini or Apple TV is playing its own audio.

This gets tricky in AirPlay 2 because the source device can use Handoff to turn the HomePod into its own audio source. If you want the sleep timer to work, you must set it on the device that provides audio. To avoid this issue, use Bluetooth speakers or AirPlay 2 non-HomePod speakers for bedtime audio.

If you want to use HomePod for bedtime audio, you can do the same sleep timer trick, but it must be done on the device. Just tell Siri on HomePod "Set sleep timer for one hour" to stop audio playing in one hour.

Automation tools make it even easier, and iOS comes with an easy-to-use built-in tool called Shortcuts.

Use Shortcuts to Automate Sleep Sounds on iOS

We're using these examples to set up a bedtime sound machine, but you can set up a shortcut for sleep-timed music for anything. For example, you can create a shortcut that plays exactly one hour of music from your favorite playlist every time you press it.

First, you should build a shortcut that contains the actions required to play the desired playlist and set the timer. And then we'll use that shortcut to set up the automation later.

Apple Music Sleep Timer Shortcuts

You can play audio from your iPhone to achieve this automation, but we recommend that you Have at least an inexpensive Bluetooth speaker or audio system. We set up this automation using a bedroom Sonos system with AirPlay 2 capabilities.

1. Open the Shortcuts app and tap " " at the top to start.
2. Use the text block at the top to name your shortcut.
3. Search for the term "AirPlay".
4. Select the "Change Playback Destination" action and change your device to the desired speaker that is not HomePod.
5. Search for the "Set Volume" action and select the desired volume level.
6. Search for Apple Music and select the action group.
7. Select the "Play Music" action, and then click on the blank "Music" text box.
8. Select your favorite playlist or search "sleep" to find curated sleep playlists made in Apple Music.
9. We recommend setting the action details to shuffle songs instead of repeating tracks.
10. Finally, search for "Timer" and add the "Start Timer" action.
11. Set the timer to the desired length.

If set up correctly, the shortcut should look similar to our picture above. If you click the play button on the shortcut, it will perform these steps in sequence. You can do this manually every day when you're getting ready for bed, but shortcuts take you a step further.

Automate Sleep Sounds Shortcut

This step requires more setup, but takes advantage of the built-in system on your iPhone for better control . Before you create an automation, you need to verify that you have a bedtime routine in the Health app.

Open the Health app, tap the Browse tab, and select Sleep. Here you can review your sleep schedule and click "Edit" to make sure your bedtime and wake-up time alarms are correct. Once you have these set up, you'll have access to some neat automation tools in Shortcuts.

Here's how to make your sleep sound shortcut happen automatically every day at your set bedtime.

1. 1. Click the Automation tab in the Shortcuts app.
   2. Click " " at the top and select "Create Personal Automation".
   3. Select Sleep, then Bedtime Start, then Next.
   4. Click "Add Action" and search for "Run Shortcut".
   5. Add your sleep sound shortcut to the block.

If you want to turn off the lights or perform other actions at bedtime, add those actions now.

1. Click "Next" and then turn off "Ask before running" to automate without user input.

If set up correctly, your iPhone will connect to your desired speakers, set the specified volume, start playing a playlist from Apple Music, and then stop after an hour each day before bed. Add any steps you want to create a more complex bedtime automation, such as changing your Apple Watch face to a custom face for sleep.

Please note that you need to make sure the timer in the Clock app has "Stop Playing" selected for it to work properly. Automation won't do this step for you, so if you use the timer on your iPhone during the day, make sure you set it back.

Be sure to explore a variety of sleep sounds and ambient noises in Apple Music. We use the curator " Apple Music Sleep " to automate this.

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