How to Set Up YouTube Music Sleep Timer on iPhone, Android, Windows, or Mac

Quick Tips

• On the YouTube Music app on iPhone or Android, tap the three-dot icon → Sleep Timer → choose duration.
• For more custom timing, go to the Clock app on iPhone → Timer tab → set desired time → When Timer Ends → Stop Playing → Set.
• On an Android device, go to Settings → Digital Wellbeing & parental controls → Apps → search and select YouTube Music → App Timer → set the time → Done.

Put a Timer on YouTube Music App for iPhone or Android

Notably, the sleep mode on YouTube Music is only available on the app. So, you can only set a sleep timer natively on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Android devices. Follow the steps to learn how.

Step 1: Open the YouTube Music app. Play the song or playlist you want to drift off to.

Step 2: Tap the three dots at the top-right corner. Select Sleep timer from the menu.

Step 3: Next, choose the duration or End of track.

Note: Even when listening to a playlist, the YouTube sleep timer will say End of track. However, that means the music will stop when the last song of the playlist ends.

Once the timer is up, the music will stop playing automatically. The only downside to this feature is that it does not let you set a custom timing; it maxes out at 1 hour or the end of the track/playlist. It’s in unison with Spotify’s sleep timer.

Tip: Why limit yourself to sleeping with your favorite music when you can wake up with it as well? Set YouTube Music as an alarm to wake up with the right vibe daily.

Set Custom Sleep Timer for YouTube Music App

If you’re unhappy with YouTube’s offerings, you can set a custom sleep timer using your iPhone or Android’s native settings.

On iPhone and iPad

Step 1: Play the music of your choice on YouTube Music.

Step 2: Now, go to the Clock app → Timer tab.

Step 3: Set the custom time. Next, tap the When Timer Ends button.

Step 4: Here, select Stop Playing and tap Set.

And that’s it. Your device will stop playing music when the timer ends. However, this is a one-time setting, so you must set a timer every time (or shall we say every night?).

On Android Devices

While you can set a timer for an app on Android devices using the Digital Wellbeing app, it sets a timer for the whole day. In a nutshell, it accounts for the total hours spent on the app rather than the sleep timer. So, you must be mindful of that when using this workaround.

Step 1: Go to Settings > Digital Wellbeing & parental controls.

Step 2: Tap on Apps from the top-right corner. Find and select the YouTube Music app from the list.

Step 3: Here, tap on App Timer.

Step 4: Set the custom time and tap on Done.

How to Set Sleep Mode for YouTube Music on Mac or Windows

YouTube Music doesn’t offer a native app for Mac or Windows, so you have to rely on your web browser to play music. Moreover, YouTube Music’s web version does not support sleep mode. So, to set a YouTube Music Sleep Timer on your laptop or desktop, you must use some workarounds.

Use the Shortcuts App to Set YouTube Music Sleep Timer on Mac

Step 1: Open the Shortcuts app > click on the + icon at the top bar to create a new shortcut.

Step 2: Here, search and select Wait.

Step 3: Enter the time to stop the music. Notably, it’s in seconds, so you’ll have to do some math.

Step 4: Next, search and select Quit App.

Step 5: Here, select the browser running the YouTube Music. Also, click on Show More > uncheck Ask to Save Changes.

Now, when you run the shortcut, Mac will close the browser, i.e., YouTube Music website, once the wait time is over. Notably, if you have some other websites running in the background, use a browser other than your default one.

Once you’ve set the sleep timer, you can also schedule a shutdown timer for your Mac to sleep as soundly as you.

Put a Timer on YouTube Music on Windows via Task Scheduler

While the process is complicated, you can use Windows Task Scheduler as a sleep mode alternative. Basically, you create or schedule a task to exit the browser playing YouTube Music at a certain time.

The great thing is that it can be a recurring task, so you don’t have to manually set it every day.

Step 1: Firstly, create a batch script. To do so, open Notepad.

Step 2: In the Notepad, copy and paste the following command

TASKKILL /F /IM app.exe 

Note: Replace the app.exe with the browser name, say Chrome.exe or Firefox.exe.

Step 3: Save this file with a BAT extension.

Step 4: Now, open Task Scheduler > click on Create Task.

Step 5: Give the task an appropriate name and go to the Triggers tab.

Step 6: Click New. Select the schedule at which you want the task to run and click OK.

Step 7: Go to the Actions tab and click on New. Here, select Start a program from the Action bar.

Step 8: Click on Browse and select the batch script we created earlier. Select OK to continue.

Step 9: Now, press OK again to confirm the task creation.

Once done, the task will auto-trigger at the specified time and close YouTube Music (i.e., the browser). Notably, try not to set the action for your default browser, instead, use an alternative browser to play YouTube Music.

Set up a Sleep Timer for Chrome or Firefox Tabs

If you find setting up a shortcut for Mac and a task on Windows an unruly task, we have an easier workaround. You can use a Chrome or Firefox extension to set a timer to close a tab (YouTube Music) after a specified time.

Get Sleep Timer extension for Chrome

Get Tab Sleep Timer Fix extension for Firefox

Both extensions work similarly; we will use the Chrome Extension to illustrate.

Step 1: Go to the Chrome tab with YouTube Music playing.

Step 2: Click on the extension menu > select Sleep Timer.

Step 3: Set the timing as desired and click on Start timer.

Step 4: Now, move away from the tab. Once the timer is up, the tab will auto-close.

What other helpful features do you think YouTube Music should consider adding to its app or web version? Share your thoughts in the comments below.