A change coming to your iPhone will help you sleep better (AAPL)
Florence Fu/Tech Insider
Can't sleep?
Buried in the dozens of new features coming to iOS 10 this fall is one that can help out.
The new clock app doesn't just have a new dark theme, it also has a section called Bedtime, a new take on the recurring alarm clock that goes the extra step by reminding you to go to sleep so you get all the rest you need.
The setup is pretty simple. Tap on the Bedtime tab, then tell the app what time you want to wake up each day and how many hours of sleep you need per night. You can also tweak it so it only works on certain days, like weekdays or weekends, to accommodate your schedule.
I've been testing the feature for the last week or so, and I found it helped me get consistent sleep every night. I often get distracted with extra work, a TV show, or the book I'm reading at night, and time kind of slips away. Before I know it, I'm at a point where I'm only going to get a few hours of sleep before I have to get up for work in the morning.
Bedtime definitely kept me on track, and there was a certain mental comfort knowing I was able to go a full week and get at least 6 hours of shut-eye a night. I can't remember the last time that happened.
If you're really obsessed with tracking your sleep, you can also link the Bedtime feature to the Health app and get stats on how well you sleep over time. However, unlike wearable trackers from FitBit or Jawbone, the feature can't tell if you get up in the middle of the night or toss and turn in a restless sleep. It just gives you a general picture of how long you were sleeping based on your Bedtime clock settings.
iOS 10 will be a free update for most iPhone users this fall. You can also try the beta version now, but you may encounter some bugs.