What you need to know
- YouTube Music could soon add a sleep timer feature.
- Google has been spotted working on a sleep timer for the app’s Android version.
- It was one of the Play Music features that Google ditched when users were migrated to YouTube Music.
Ever since Google Play Music retired, YouTube Music has lacked a bunch of old features we’ve come to rely on, including the ability to set a time when music stops playing. Google appears to acknowledge that it’s a highly requested option, and new evidence hints at the return of this capability.
The latest version of the YouTube Music app (v5.16) contains strings of code suggesting that Google is developing a sleep timer for the app’s Android version. As spotted by 9to5Google (opens in new tab), the sleep timer may show up within playback controls as a bottom sheet.
The sleep timer will presumably display the time left along with the options to extend the timer by five minutes or cancel it altogether. It’s one of the most useful features already available on many of the best music streaming services, including Spotify.
It was also available on Google Play Music before users transitioned to YouTube Music a few years ago. It’s odd that Google removed this option after the migration and has yet to reintroduce it.
A sleep timer comes in handy if you want to listen to music before bedtime but don’t want your phone to keep playing music until you wake up.
It remains unclear how users will be able to access the feature, assuming it rolls out to everyone. With Play Music, on the other hand, users could access the sleep timer option from the main settings menu.
However, like many unreleased features discovered through an APK teardown, this one has no guarantee of making it to a public release. But given its fundamental nature, there’s no reason for Google to scrap it.
