With poor eating habits, erratic working hours, our sleep schedules have been messed up. To make matters worse, the COVID-19 pandemic has limited us within the four walls of our house. This has made it easier to lose track of time. Sleep-related searches like “can’t sleep”, “insomnia” dominated Google in the last two months or so. To help address these issues, Google is releasing new “bedtime tools” that will help you manage your sleep better.
Bedtime Mode
Previously known as Wind Down, the new Bedtime Mode will remind you when it’s time to sleep. It will make use of grayscale and set your phone to DND mode automatically. Bedtime Mode makes it easier to customize how and when you turn it on. You can either choose to turn it on when your phone is put to charge or set it to switch on automatically in line with your bedtime schedule.
You can also add a dedicated tile in the quick settings panel to turn on bedtime mode instantly instead of going to the settings and then turn it on.
Bedtime Mode is available on devices with parental controls and Digital Wellbeing settings.
New Clock Application
The Clock Application also is updated with a few new tricks. It comes with a new Bedtime tab that allows you to set daily wake up and sleep times. Additionally, it integrates with Google Calendar and gives you a preview of the next day that can help you tweak your bedtime accordingly.
The clock application will send you a reminder when you approach your bedtime and provide you with an option to play calming sounds from YouTube Music, Calm, Spotify, etc. You can pair Bedtime Mode with digital wellbeing to limit interruptions.
(Image Credit- Google)
Additionally, there is a new ‘Sunrise Alarm’ that lets you select the audio you’d like to wake up with and gives you visual cues 15 minutes prior to your alarm. Currently, the new Clock app is available only for Pixel devices but will be soon released for Android devices later.
Family Link
(Image Credit- Google)
The family link will help you keep a tab on the bedtime schedule of your kids. It is a standalone application (also available on iOS) that lets you control what your children can do on their Android smartphones. This link will help you manage their application downloads, screen time activity, in-app purchases, and set their bedtime schedules.
You can customize the bedtime schedules to be different for weekdays and weekends. Although your children’s device will be locked during their bedtime, they will still be able to call you in case they need to get in touch with you.
Google is also launching bedtime reminders within the YouTube application that will remind you when it’s bedtime. You can set this reminder to pop up either when it is your bedtime or when the video you’re watching ends.