In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to set up and use sleep mode on your iPhone to automatically dim your display, set an alarm, track your sleep, and more.
Getting good sleep is essential for a healthy body and a fresh mind. When you prepare for bedtime, you may do certain things with your iPhone, like turn on Do Not Disturb to cut down distractions, set your morning alarm, and even dim your bright display. iPhone’s sleep mode is a combination of Sleep Schedule and Sleep Focus that takes care of these same nightly things for you.
Also see: 15 built-in wellness features to keep track of your health on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch
What sleep mode does
iPhone sleep mode can do the following:
- Reduce or block all distractions from text, call, and app notifications.
- Notify you to wind up your work so you can sleep on time.
- Darken your phone and Apple Watch screens.
- Play a nice alarm sound to wake you up.
- Show you the day’s weather when you wake up.
- Save your sleep data to the Health app for future reference.
- Alert you if you are not getting enough sleep and falling behind your sleep goal.
- Tell others your notifications are silenced. For instance, when someone tries to text you, they will see a banner with this information.
Set up Sleep Schedule on iPhone
1) Open the Health app on your iPhone and tap Browse > Sleep.
2) You’ll likely see No Data in the graph at the top because you haven’t set up Sleep yet. Tap Full Schedule & Options to customize your sleep schedule. You can also tap Add under the Your Schedule section.
3) Tap Set Your First Schedule and adjust the following.
- Bedtime and Wake Up: Slide each side of the dial to set these times. You’ll see the exact times change as you move the dial and the number of hours you’re planning to sleep will display at the bottom. Make sure the times you select meet your sleep goal (mentioned below).
- Days Active: Now, tap the days under the Days Active section to select when you’d like to use this sleep schedule. Those highlighted in blue are the active ones. Since I’m creating a schedule for my weekdays, I have unchecked Saturday and Sunday. I will create another schedule for my weekends later.
- Alarm Options: If you use your iPhone as an alarm clock, you can enable the Alarm switch and then adjust the Sounds & Haptics, Volume, and enable Snooze.
4) Finally, tap Add.
After creating my weekday schedule, I will tap Add Schedule and create another schedule for my weekends (Saturday and Sunday). I will set my bedtime and wake-up times accordingly.
Create a Sleep Goal
It’s important to set up a sleep goal. This lets Health suggest a bedtime and wake-up time for you. And, of course, it will track the amount of time you’re in bed. Tap Sleep Goal under the Additional Details section and adjust it accordingly. At least 6 hours of sleep is recommended, but remember that more is better.
Set Wind Down
Imagine you set your bedtime to 10 PM. Now, it isn’t possible that the minute it’s 10 PM, you will magically stop everything and fall asleep. So, to ensure you wrap up your work and help you sleep on time, there is a handy Wind Down feature. You can set it to something between 15 minutes to 3 hours.
Wind Down will alert you when it starts, provided the Sleep Reminders option is turned on. Your Sleep Focus mode (more on it below) will turn on when Wind Down starts.
If you have an Apple Watch
Your Apple Watch can track how long you sleep and can wake you with a haptic alarm on your wrist. The watch display dims and is locked during Sleep Focus, so you’re not disturbed by its light.
Turn on the Sleep Results option if you use your Apple Watch or another sleep-tracking app. Next, tap Manage Sleep in the Apple Watch App and turn on Track Sleep with Apple Watch. You can also choose to get reminded to charge your watch before you wear it to sleep.
Set up Sleep Focus
Sleep Focus cuts down distractions when you are sleeping (Sleep Schedule times) or trying to fall asleep (Wind Down period). Like other Focus modes, you can customize Sleep and choose which people and apps can send you texts, calls, and notifications when you’re sleeping.
1) Open the Settings app and tap Focus.
2) Select Sleep and adjust its options accordingly. If you don’t see Sleep, tap the plus button first.
- I have set Sleep Focus to only Allow Notifications From my immediate family members. Next, I have allowed a few of my essential apps, like Phone, to alert me, but you can choose what works best for you.
- You can also choose a specific Lock Screen, Home Screen, and watch face that auto-activates during Sleep Focus. For instance, I have chosen one with a dark appearance so it’s comfortable on the eyes.
- The Schedule section should have your Bedtime and Wake Up times. So, you can leave it as it is.
- Furthermore, you can use the Focus Filters to activate during Sleep. For instance, I have set it to activate Dark Mode and enable Low Power Mode. If you leave your device on charging during bed, you can choose not to enable Low Power Mode.
Turn on Sleep Mode from Control Center
There may be times when you want to turn on Sleep Focus outside of the schedule you set up. Maybe you worked a night shift and need to sleep during the day, or perhaps you just need a long power nap. You can go to Control Center, tap Focus, and hit Sleep to activate it.
When you wake up in the morning
After you have set up your Sleep Schedule, your iPhone will automatically play a soothing wake-up alarm provided you enabled it when setting it up. It will also display a full-screen showing you the day’s weather.
See your sleep data
Go to the iPhone Health app > Browse > Sleep to see your sleep data. Of course, you should do this after a few days of enabling Sleep Schedule. You can also scroll to the bottom of the Health app’s Sleep section and tap Show All Data to see everything.
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