How to Set Sleep Timer for Music on Android and iPhone

A lot of us cherish listening to our favorite music, audiobook or even a podcast on our smartphone to relax ourselves before going off to sleep. However, at times, this also results in us drifting to sleep while the audio is still playing. This can be an annoyance because the audio will disturb you later when you are in deep sleep, while draining your smartphone’s battery. So, if you have been wondering if you can set a sleep timer for music on your iPhone or Android smartphone, the answer is, yes you can! Here’s how you can set sleep timer on iOS and Android:

Set Sleep Timer on Android

If you happen to own an Android smartphone that does not run stock Android, chances are, your gadget manufacturer has implemented the sleep timer feature in their music player app. Yet, stock Android comes with Google Play Music, which does not pack in a sleep timer, unlike its iOS counterpart, which is a shame.

The great news is, there are a number of sleep timer apps on the Play Store that let you stop audio after a time from any app. You can simply search for “sleep timer apps” on the Play Store and you should discover numerous decent apps. Yet, the most popular out of the lot is Sleep Timer (Turn music off), which is accessible in a free version. So, here’s how to set up sleep timer for music on Android with the app:

• After you have installed the app on your device, you can just play audio from any music player app, audiobook app or podcast app and set the timerthrough the circular icon in the app. Then, you can tap the “Start” button to start the timer. Once you start the timer, you will get the options to put your device to “Sleep Now” or “Stop” the timer.

Start-Sleep-Timer-Android

• You can also choose toplay music directly from the app with the “Start & Player” button. Also, you can “Stop” or “Extend” the timer from the notification center as well.

Control-Sleep-Timer-notification-Android

When the  timer runs out, the app puts your gadget to sleep, stopping the music and it’s not abrupt, instead the audio just fades off smoothly, which is a great touch.

Other than that, you can hit three-dot menu button in the top-right of the app and head over to “Settings” to check out choices like shake to extend, set the default player to launch from the app and the extension length. Along with that, there are choices to perform a specific action once the audio is stopped, waiting time after fade out and more. Furthermore, the app includes integration with Tasker and if you have a rooted gadget, you can enable root functionality in “Advanced” to give it more control.

Sleep-Timer-Settings-Android

While the app works great, it will only mute some music players if you have a non-rooted gadget. However, we tested the app on various music players and it stopped the audio just well. Also, if you don’t need a separate sleep timer, you can simply install a third party music player with sleep timer support.

Set Sleep Timer on iPhone or iPad

Not a lot of people are aware of the fact that iOS natively packs-in the capability to set sleep timer on music. It’s pretty easy and here are the steps to turn it on:

• Just open theClock app on your iOS device and go to the “Timer” tab. Here, set the time, after which you want the music to stop playing. Then, hit the “When Timer Ends” option and scroll down below and select “Stop Playing“. Once done, tap on “Set“.

iOS-Clock-Sleep-Timer-Music

• Once done, hit theStart button in the timer and play the music from the Music app or any other music, podcast or audiobook app. When the timer hits zero, the audio should stop playing automatically.

iOS-start-sleep-timer-for-music

If you don’t like the native Clock app technique on iOS, you can install a third party music player app that provides the sleep timer feature in the app. Most feature-rich music (Google Play Music, Pandora) and audiobook (Audible) apps provide the sleep timer feature, so you can go for one of the third party apps.

Ready to set sleep timer on audios in iPhone and Android?

Try them out on your device, set a sleep timer on your music and sleep in peace, without worrying about music playing all night.