Buzz
Your iPhone's sleep mode offers a variety of features to enhance your sleep experience, including muting notifications and syncing with your Apple Watch for sleep tracking. Here's a guide to turning it on and off, and making the most of its functions.
The Reason Behind iPhone's Sleep Mode
The iPhone’s sleep mode is actually a form of focus mode, incorporating standard focus features along with unique settings tailored to your sleep routine.
Any focus mode can be used to:
Mute notifications
Optionally send a reply to anyone trying to text you (“Beth has notifications silenced.”)
Allow specific notifications to come through
Permit calls from repeat callers to get through
Modify your home screen and lock screen settings
Focus modes have numerous practical uses, and we have a guide here to their best features. For instance, by customizing your home screen, you can hide work apps but keep your music and meditation apps visible. When it’s time for bed, your phone will automatically switch to a sleep-friendly home screen. In the morning, your regular home screen will return.
In addition to these capabilities, sleep focus also:
Activates sleep detection on your Apple Watch if you fall asleep during this period
Sets an alarm (optional) to sound when sleep focus concludes
For more information on sleep tracking, check out our guide to tracking your sleep with your Apple Watch.
How to Personalize Sleep Focus on Your iPhone
To adjust the screens and notifications visible during sleep focus, navigate to Settings, then Focus. Tap on Sleep (or tap the + icon to create a Sleep focus if none exists). From there, customize your notification preferences, home screen, and any other settings you'd like to personalize.
How to Create a Sleep Focus Schedule on Your iPhone
Sleep focus is designed to work on a schedule. Based on this schedule, sleep focus will automatically activate and deactivate.
To set up your schedule, open the Health app, tap on Sleep, and scroll to the bottom where you’ll find “Your Schedule.” Under Full Schedule & Options, you can edit your sleep times. Set different bedtimes and wake-up times for each day of the week.
On this screen, you can also toggle the “use schedule for sleep focus” option, which instructs your phone to activate sleep focus during the times you’ve designated for sleep. While here, you can also set a bedtime reminder, track your sleep results, and establish a sleep goal (if desired).
How to Enable Sleep Focus on Your iPhone
After setting up sleep mode, you can activate it anytime—whether or not you’ve created a sleep schedule. Simply swipe down from the top right corner to access Control Center and tap Focus. If no focus is active, you’ll see a moon icon.
You can now select a focus mode to activate. Sleep should be listed. Tap it, and you’ll enter sleep mode.
How to Disable Sleep Focus
Woke up early? You can turn off sleep focus anytime. Simply open Control Center (swipe down from the top right of your phone) and you’ll see the button labeled “Sleep: on.” From here, you can switch to another focus, like Do Not Disturb, or any other focus mode you’ve set up. To turn off Sleep focus without activating another mode, just tap the Sleep focus button and it will deactivate.
To disable or adjust your sleep schedule for the future, tap the three dots on the Sleep mode button. Tap Settings, and your iPhone will direct you to the settings screen where you can modify or turn off your sleep schedule.
