Schedule Your Sleep Focus
Your phone should sleep when you do — not buzz about a sale at 1 a.m. Sleep Focus dims the lock screen, hushes notifications, and can run your wind-down routine on a schedule you set once. It is the difference between a phone that respects bedtime and one that treats midnight like noon.
TL;DR / Quick Fix
Quick fix: open Settings > Focus > Sleep, set your bedtime and wake time, and choose which people and apps can break through. Your lock screen dims, notifications hush, and the Sleep schedule can trigger your wind-down routine. Adjust the times seasonally — winter you is not summer you.
Follow these steps
- Open the Sleep Focus settings. Go to Settings > Focus > Sleep. The schedule, allowed people, and allowed apps each get their own section.
- Set bedtime and wake time. Pick realistic times — the schedule you keep beats the aspirational one. Different weekends versus weekdays is fine.
- Choose who can break through. Family and close friends stay allowed; everything else waits until morning. Alarms always sound regardless.
- Pick the allowed apps. Keep the alarm, the baby monitor, the smart home — silence the stores, the games, the news. Ruthlessness pays off here.
- Let it trigger wind-down. Sleep Focus can start Wind Down before bed — dimming the screen and opening your reading app instead of the feed.
- Review it seasonally. Bedtimes drift with daylight and life. A two-minute seasonal tune keeps the schedule honest instead of ignored.
What NOT to do
- Do not set an aspirational 10 p.m. bedtime you never keep. A schedule you ignore trains you to ignore all schedules.
- Do not allow 'just one' social app through. One exception becomes five — the apps you silence are the point.
- Do not confuse Sleep with Do Not Disturb. Sleep adds the dimmed lock screen and health tracking; DND is just silence.
- Do not forget it on travel. Time zones shift — update the schedule or disable it for the trip, then restore.
Frequently asked questions
Will my alarm still ring in Sleep Focus?
Yes — alarms always break through every Focus mode. Sleep Focus never silences the wake-up.
What's Wind Down?
The pre-bed period where the screen dims and distractions fade — a runway into sleep instead of a cliff edge.
Can I have different weekend times?
Yes — the schedule supports separate weekday and weekend bedtimes. Set both honestly.