Youtube’s sleep timer previously reserved for paid users, is now available to everyone.
If you’re someone who sleeps in complete silence, it might seem odd that a service like YouTube is adding a sleep timer. After all, you watch YouTube videos when you’re awake, not asleep. But here’s the thing: some of us need background sounds to drift off, and YouTube is perfect for that. It offers an endless supply of long, monotonous videos designed to lull you to sleep. The issue is that some of these videos are so long that they’re still playing when you wake up.
A sleep timer on YouTube can be helpful. If you know it takes you about twenty minutes to fall asleep, you can set the timer for twenty minutes. Once the time is up, video playback will stop, your computer will go to sleep, and you won’t have to worry about wasting energy or waking up to the sound of ads.
Using YouTube’s built-in Sleep Timer
Until now, YouTube has tested this feature exclusively with premium subscribers. If you are a paid YouTube user, you can activate this option by visiting YouTube’s experimental features page and enjoying yet another perk of your subscription.
However, now everyone should see the sleep timer option in their YouTube app, regardless of their account status. Once the feature is available to you, you can use it by tapping the settings gear on any video. You can set the timer for 10, 15, 20, 30, 45, or 60 minutes, or for the entire length of the video.
This feature not only helps save energy while you sleep but also protects you from unexpected noise during the night. Additionally, it allows you to incorporate YouTube into your nightly routine, whether it’s soothing music, storytelling podcasts, or recordings of natural sounds.
This new addition to YouTube makes your viewing experience more personalized and comfortable, demonstrating how technology can help improve our daily routines.
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You can already use a sleep timer on your phone
You don’t have to rely on YouTube’s sleep timer. If you have an iPhone, there’s a built-in sleep timer you can use for any media playback. To use it, open the Clock app, then tap the Timers tab. Set your timer for any duration, then tap “When Timer Ends.” Scroll down and select “Stop Playing.”
Play a YouTube video while your timer is running. Once the timer ends, your iPhone will stop the playback and automatically lock itself, so you won’t waste extra battery when you wake up.
If you’re on Android, there isn’t the same built-in feature. Your best solution might be to use a third-party app designed for this purpose, such as “Sleep Timer” by Kuczera. Automation you can set up for a Samsung device to stop playback after some time is shown in this Reddit post:
- Open Modes and Routines.
- Choose Routines at the bottom right, then select the plus icon at the top.
- Then, select the “Start manually” command from the “If” section.
- You need to add a “Wait before next action” command in the “Then” section. Timer duration can be set here.
- Go back to the “Then” section and add the “Close an app” command, then select the app you want to close—in this case, it will be YouTube.
- Name the routine, then tap Save.
- Whenever you want to start the timer, tap Play.