How to turn your old iPhone into an alarm clock

Getting a caller telephone mightiness permission you wondering what to bash with your aged one. Trading it in, peculiarly for recognition towards your caller handset, is perfect and could marque a aboriginal refurbished shopper happy. But if the trade-in worth isn’t worthwhile to you and you’ve been wondering what other your retired pouch machine tin do, we person a fewer ideas. One proposition is to crook it into a dedicated alarm clock. Yes, you tin perfectly usage your caller telephone for that intent — you astir apt already do. But determination are wide advantages to utilizing your decommissioned instrumentality instead. Here’s however to upcycle your aged iPhone into an alarm clock.

What’s the point?

Stuffing a retired gadget successful a drawer does thing — but marque you half-heartedly contemplate doing thing with it each clip you unfastened said drawer. Recycling is simply a valid option, but adjacent if your aged handset isn’t arsenic speedy arsenic your caller one, it’s astir assuredly much almighty than immoderate slumber instrumentality oregon astute alarm timepiece connected the market. And with the setup tips elaborate here, it tin really execute much precocious functions, too.

Plus, utilizing your existent telephone erstwhile you’re trying to slumber is perilous. I’ve ne'er picked up my telephone without getting distracted. Finally, with on-again, off-again tariffs making physics gadgets harder to travel by for a bully price, rethinking what an existing instrumentality tin bash is intelligent alchemy.

First, delete everything

OK, not everything. But the thought is to marque your telephone arsenic unexciting arsenic imaginable — nary Instagram, nary Monument Valley, nary Photos memories from past year’s roadworthy trip. Your iPhone won’t fto you delete definite apps, specified arsenic Phone, Messages, the App Store and others — but you tin fell them from your location surface truthful they’ll lone popular up if you hunt for them.

You’ll inactive request a fewer apps to make your alarm clock, truthful don’t delete oregon fell the following:

• Clock

• Music (and iTunes store if you don’t wage for Apple Music)

• Shortcuts

• Health

• Settings

Set a personalized alarm tone

If you’d alternatively aftermath up to thing much pleasant than the Clock app’s chirps and bleeps, prime a personalized dependable instead.

1. Set your slumber docket successful Health. Apple requires you to acceptable your Sleep Schedule successful the Health app earlier you tin acceptable an alarm successful the Clock app.

2. Download a song. Theoretically, you tin usage immoderate opus you person downloaded to your telephone arsenic a dependable for your alarm. But I couldn’t get it to work with immoderate opus that supported Dolby Atmos oregon Lossless audio (even if I turned those options disconnected successful Settings > Music > Audio).

But modular prime songs worked great. If, similar me, you’re not a dense sleeper, you mightiness similar thing similar singing bowls oregon a meditative flute. If you request the thunder of the gods to aftermath you, possibly spell for thing more rousing.

3. Set your alarm. Open the Clock app and prime the Alarms tab. Set your alarm arsenic usual. Then pat Sound > Pick a opus > Downloaded > and prime the (non Lossless!) opus you desire. Hit Save.

4. Turn disconnected vibrate. If you don’t privation your telephone to vibrate erstwhile it plays your alarm, crook the Haptics enactment to Never Play successful Settings > Sounds & Haptics.

Make immoderate (white) noise

My favourite happening astir my slumber instrumentality is the ambient euphony it plays arsenic I drift disconnected into slumber. Unsurprisingly, your aged iPhone is susceptible of playing lulling tunes arsenic well. And if achromatic sound helps you enactment successful dreamland, you tin programme your telephone to play those sounds, too. A operation of Shortcuts and Automations volition marque your slumber regular play automatically truthful you don’t person to interaction your surface astatine all.

1. Build a sleepytime playlist. Open Apple Music and marque a playlist. (Unfortunately, Shortcuts doesn’t enactment with Spotify.) I populated Amy’s Sleepytime Mix with songs from Apple’s Ambient Chill and Pure Ambient playlists. I made the acceptable astir 30 minutes agelong due to the fact that that’s a small longer than it takes maine to drift off.

2. Turn disconnected Autoplay. It’s beauteous jarring erstwhile you’re drifting disconnected and your dreamy playlist morphs into immoderate algorithmically selected oontz oontz banger. To crook Autoplay off:

• Play immoderate way successful Apple Music.

• Tap the sanction of the opus to enlarge the medium screen and way controls.

• Tap the 3 lines astatine the bottommost right. You’ll present spot upcoming tracks and 3 buttons astatine the apical of the list: crossed arrows (shuffle), looped arrows (repeat) and an infinity awesome (Autoplay).

• Toggle Autoplay disconnected truthful it’s greyed out.

Note: Turning Autoplay disconnected turns it disconnected crossed ALL your Apple devices. If you similar it erstwhile Apple keeps the tunes flowing aft a playlist ends, you’ll person to implicit a broadside quest, which is elaborate astatine the extremity of this post.

3. Pick your achromatic sound sound. An accessibility diagnostic gives you the enactment of 8 antithetic achromatic sound sounds, including Rain, Ocean, Fire and Night (with much functions coming soon).

• Open the Settings app

• Tap Accessibility

• Tap Audio & Visual

• Tap Background Sounds

• Toggle Background Sounds on

• Tap Sound past prime your favorite

• Press backmost and toggle Background Sounds backmost off

• Toggle connected Use When Media Is Playing

• Toggle disconnected Stop Sounds When Locked

3. Create a Shortcut. This volition marque your telephone play your playlist with achromatic sound beneath it (which softens opus transitions) and erstwhile the playlist ends, the achromatic sound continues.

• Open Shortcuts and pat All Shortcuts, past pat + successful the precocious right

• Search for the word “volume,” pat Set Volume and take a percentage, specified arsenic 25-percent oregon your desired level

• Search for “background,” pat Set Background Sounds. The shortcut should read: [Turn] [Background Sounds] [On]

• Search for “play” and pat Play Music

• Tap Music > Library > Playlist > [Your sleepy clip mix]. Then pat the tiny ⊕ successful the precocious right

• Tap the arrow adjacent to the Shortcut rubric astatine the precise apical to rename your shortcut, possibly thing similar Sleep Routine oregon Night Night.

• Tap Done.

4. Trigger your Shortcut with an Automation. To tally your Shortcut, you tin conscionable inquire Siri by saying “Hey Siri, Night Night” (or “Hey Siri, Sleep Routine” oregon immoderate you named the supra shortcut). But if you privation your regular to commencement astatine the aforesaid clip each night, make an automation.

• In the Shortcut app, pat the Automation tab astatine the bottom

• Tap + to make a caller Automation

• Tap Time of Day and participate your preferred commencement clip and days

• Make definite there’s a checkmark adjacent Run Immediately (and not Run After Confirmation) and support Notify When Run toggled off

• Tap Next

• If you don’t spot the sanction of the Shortcut you created astatine the top, hunt for its sanction and pat connected it

5. Turn disconnected Background Sounds. Whether you privation your achromatic sound to play each the mode up to your alarm oregon conscionable for an hr oregon two, it’s omniscient to make an automation to crook it disconnected truthful you don’t person to bash it manually.

• Create a caller Shortcut

• Search for “background”

• Tap Set Background Sound

• Tap [On] to [Off] truthful the Shortcut reads [Turn] [Background Sounds] [Off]

• Rename the Shortcut: Background Sounds Off

• Hit done

• Create a caller Automation successful the Automation tab

• Tap Time of Day

• Set it for your alarm clip oregon a mates hours aft you’re usually asleep

• Tap Run Immediately and marque definite Notify When Run is toggled off

• Hit done and take the shortcut you conscionable made (Background Sounds Off)

Stand it up

Phones moving iOS 17 oregon aboriginal person StandBy mode, which displays your prime of stylized timepiece faces erstwhile the handset is charging and oriented horizontally. To alteration StandBy:

• Open Settings

• Tap StandBy and toggle it on

• Toggle connected Night Mode (This makes the timepiece dimmer erstwhile it’s acheronian successful the room)

If you enactment your telephone successful a stand, it'll look a batch similar an alarm timepiece (and beryllium easier to spot from afar). Whether you usage a MagSafe wireless basal oregon a basal stand-and-cord combo, your caller alarm timepiece (aka aged phone) volition apt beryllium plugged successful each the time. So you whitethorn privation to alteration your artillery settings to support it from reaching 100 percent. (Being afloat charged oregon afloat bare is what strains batteries the most). To bash that:

• Open Settings

• Tap Battery

• Tap Charging

• Set Charge Limit to 80 percent

Side quest: Make your slumber playlist halt without turning disconnected Autoplay

Some radical similar it erstwhile the algorithm tries to support the enactment going with related songs aft a playlist ends. But, playing random euphony each nighttime astir apt isn’t large for sleep. The bully quality is, you tin acceptable a timer to person your slumber tunes play for a specified period, truthful it ends connected its ain without you having to disable Autoplay crossed each your devices.

• Note the magnitude of your playlist

• Open the Clock app and pat the Timers tab

• Tap When Timer Ends and scroll down to and pat Stop Playing

• Tap Set

• Open Shortcuts and edit your nighttime clip regular by tapping the 3 dots successful the Shortcut paper (the 1 with your playlist and Background sounds)

• Search for “timer”

• Tap Start Timer

• Enter the magnitude of your playlist successful the Duration field

• Tap Done

Because the Background Sounds are a mounting and not technically media that’s playing, your achromatic sound enactment volition inactive play until the automation that ends it runs.