YouTube Music's sleep timer is finally ready for prime time - here's how it works
YouTube Music is evolving into a hot virtual destination for music streaming lovers on Android. Tied into Google’s ecosystem, the app sees all the beautiful Material You changes, and with Google Podcasts being backburnered, YouTube Music is a drop-in replacement. The streaming app is now making it easier to end playback after preset durations with the addition of a new sleep timer.
A sleep timer is an essential feature of a music streaming app, especially if you prefer background music while relaxing, working, or doing a specific timed activity. Sleep timers are also great if you want to doze off to soothing music (or heavy metal, if that’s your jam). We spotted Google coding sleep timer features into YouTube Music back in July last year, and they are even more important now that the app hosts podcast content.
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Recently, podcasts began rolling out widely on YouTube Music, and along the sidelines, 9to5Google mentions we can now use sleep timers as well.
While listening to music, just hit the overflow menu button and tap the new Sleep timer option at the bottom. You can choose to stop playback automatically after 5, 15, 30, or 60 minutes. Another thoughtful addition to the menu allows stopping playback at the end of the current track — ideal for episode-style podcasts and when you can’t stop doomscrolling for good music. We had spotted references to this option when the sleep timer code was discovered, and it is nice to see it in action.
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Running timers replace the option to create a new one in the overflow menu — instead, the menu entry will show how many minutes are left on your timer. If you foresee the need to defer the automatic playback shutdown, just tap the running timer to open a new menu that lets you delay shutdown in five-minute increments or cancel the timer altogether. However, for obvious reasons, you cannot extend a sleep timer set to end with the current track or podcast.
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Playback stops after the timer ends, and the timer itself simply disappears without a trace, leaving your headspace and notification shade area clear for more pressing matters. The new sleep timer can be a boon if you’re an avid podcast listener, or if you just want a little bit of convenience-centric automation in your life without the hassle of dedicated device automation apps like IFTTT and Tasker.
Source: Android Police
