How to Add and Use Sleep Timer on YouTube Music

If you often sleep with music, the sleep timer turns out to be one of the most useful features. As you may already know, these timers mute the music or video on your phone after a stipulated period. All you have to do is set the timer and fall asleep. The music will stop automatically. While that’s a cool feature, YouTube Music doesn’t have a built-in sleep timer at the moment, and that’s a huge disappointment. Fortunately, there are some nifty workarounds for Android and iPhone users.

The operation of these timers is similar to the built-in timers of other music apps. In the case of iOS, you don’t need to install any third-party app, while if you’re using an Android phone, you’ll need the help of third-party apps like Sleep Timer.

Regardless of the method, the implementation is simple and the sleep timer on YouTube Music works wonderfully.

Now that that’s set, let’s see how to add sleep timer to YouTube Music.

How to Add and Use Sleep Timer for YouTube Music on iOS

As stated before, adding a sleep timer on iPhones is very easy.

Step 1: Listen to the music you want on YouTube Music. Next, head to the Clock app on your iPhone.

Press Timer.

2nd step: Press the button when the timer ends. Here you will see a multitude of options.

Scroll down and select the Stop reading option from the menu. That’s it.

With the option selected, play your favorite song and start a little 2 minute timer and see the magic happen after 2 minutes.

Quite naturally, it’s a task to find and open the Clock app every time. Fortunately, this small task can be easily automated via shortcuts.

For those who don’t know, iOS Shortcuts is a workflow app that lets you create dozens of custom workflows and shortcuts to automate daily redundant tasks. For example, you can configure it to open the music app of your choice when it detects the Bluetooth pairing. Or, you can create a shortcut to add the currently playing song to your playlist. And yes, you can automate the YouTube Music workflow as well.

Step 1: Open the Shortcuts app and tap the More button in the top right corner.

Then select Add action> Open app> YouTube Music from the menu.

2nd step: When done, display the menu as shown in the screenshot below and select Add action.

Select Start Timer from the list and add the time. That’s it!

Now save the shortcut and hit the play button at the bottom to test it. The song will end in exactly 2 minutes. Yes, you can thank me later!

This method has some limitations. For example, you cannot play with the timer time. Once set and engaged, it will stop playing music when the time is up.

However, you are free to add additional If-Else statements in between, if you want to further customize the shortcut.

How to Add and Use Sleep Timer for YouTube Music on Android

When it comes to Android, you’ll have to rely on a third-party app like Sleep Timer. Yes, that’s the name. This aptly named app works as advertised and stops the music within the allotted time.

Get sleep timer

Step 1: Open Sleep Timer and tap the three-dot button in the upper right corner. Select Settings> Player to start on launch, then select YouTube Music from the list.

2nd step: Go back, set the timer, and hit the Start Player button. This will open YouTube Music. Select the song (or playlist you want), and that’s about it.

Sleep Timer gives you a buffer time of about 25 seconds to select music. Once the timer has elapsed, it will slowly lower the volume and attenuate the music. That’s a major plus, over the steep end on iOS.

At the same time, Sleep Timer gives you plenty of music apps to choose from. You can also extend the timer if you don’t want to use the default sync. There are a few more quirks, such as Shake to Extend, that you can explore further.

If you are using a long timer, be sure to remove the app from the battery optimization list. This is especially true if your smartphone uses aggressive battery saving techniques.

The sleep timer app is free. Upgrading to the paid version unlocks features like widgets and a tile for the Quick Settings menu.

Sleep well

Sleep timers are essential for all of us who enjoy listening to our favorite songs while we are falling asleep. And it’s a shame that popular apps like YouTube Music don’t have this basic functionality. The good thing is that there are apps and built-in methods that help achieve this.