Use phone features for better sleep

• Use built-in phone features to create a digital wind-down routine
• Set focus modes, grayscale displays, and app timers to reduce stimuli
• Automate sleep schedules to help users disconnect and improve rest

Let's be realistic: telling you to put your phone away an hour before bed isn't always going to happen. But your phone doesn't have to be the enemy of sleep. By using its own built-in features, you can turn it into a tool for winding down.

Schedule a Digital Curfew with Focus Modes

The constant stream of notifications is designed to keep your brain alert and engaged. To counter this, both iPhone and Android devices have powerful features to create digital boundaries. On an iPhone, you can set up a 'Sleep Focus' mode that automatically silences non-essential notifications at a scheduled time. You can customize it to allow calls from specific people in case of an emergency while blocking everything else. Android's 'Bedtime Mode' (also called 'Sleep Mode' on Samsung devices) does something similar, activating 'Do Not Disturb' to silence calls, texts, and app alerts during your designated sleep hours. Setting this to turn on automatically an hour before you plan to sleep helps your mind start to disconnect without you having to rely on willpower alone.

Make Your Screen Less Appealing with Grayscale

The vibrant, enticing colours of your phone screen can be highly stimulating. A simple but surprisingly effective trick is to switch your display to grayscale. This feature, available within Android's Bedtime Mode and as an accessibility shortcut on iPhones, strips away the colour, making endless scrolling significantly less engaging. The idea is to reduce the visual stimulus that keeps your attention glued to the device. When your social media feed or favourite game is just a sea of black, white, and grey, you're much more likely to lose interest and decide it's time to sleep.

Warm Up Your Display with Night Mode

You've likely heard about blue light's disruptive effect on sleep. Exposure to blue light in the evening can suppress the production of melatonin, the hormone that tells your body it's time to rest. While a recent comprehensive review questioned the effectiveness of blue-light filtering glasses for improving sleep quality, reducing your exposure is still recommended. Your phone's built-in 'Night Shift' (iOS) or 'Eye Comfort Shield' (Android) features can help. These modes adjust the screen's colour temperature to warmer, amber tones, which may be less disruptive to your circadian rhythm than the standard cool blue light. Scheduling this to turn on automatically every evening is a simple step toward a better pre-sleep routine.

Set Boundaries with App Timers

If you find yourself losing track of time on specific apps before bed, app timers can be your best friend. Available through 'Screen Time' on iOS and 'Digital Wellbeing' on Android, this feature allows you to set daily limits for app categories or individual apps. For example, you could give yourself 20 minutes for social media after 10 p.m. Once the time is up, the app will be blocked. This forces a hard stop and helps you become more aware of how much time you're truly spending on your device. It’s a practical way to enforce the 'digital curfew' you set for yourself.

Automate Your Wind-Down Routine

Many phones now allow you to create a 'wind down' period as part of your bedtime schedule. In the Android Clock app's 'Bedtime' tab, you can set a reminder before your scheduled bedtime and have your phone automatically play calming sounds from apps like Spotify or Calm. On iPhones, you can create a 'Wind Down Shortcut' that triggers when your Sleep Focus begins. This could, for instance, automatically launch a meditation app, start a relaxing playlist, or open a journaling app. By automating these actions, you create a consistent, tech-assisted ritual that signals to your brain that the day is ending and it's time to prepare for rest.