How to set a sleep timer for Spotify on your phone

Welcome to TNW Basics, a collection of tips, guides, and advice on how to easily get the most out of your gadgets, apps, and other stuff.

I got into the habit of listening to soothing music to help me sleep a few months ago. My playlist varies from post-rock tracks to low-fi instrumentals.

When I started this habit, I often woke up after some hours to find the music is still playing. Thankfully, I found a handy sleep timer option in the Spotify app that helps me save my phone’s battery, and prevents it from playing songs all night long.

The procedure to set up this timer is similar for both Android and iOS. Here’s how you can do it:

• Open the Spotify app on your phone, and start playing your playlist.
• Once you’re on the Now Playing screen, tap on the three-dot menu on the upper-right corner.
• Scroll down and tap on Sleep Timer.
• Select a duration such as 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes, up to 1 hour.

The music will automatically stop playing after the defined duration.

If you’re using an iPhone, and using Spotify Connect to listen to music through your WiFi-enabled speaker, the app’s inbuilt timer won’t work. Instead, you can use iOS’ own timer that allows you to set “stop playing” an option. Happy listening.