Getting a new phone may make you wonder what to do with an old phone. Trading it, especially with credits for new phones, is ideal to delight future refurbished shoppers. But if it's not worth the deal for you, and you've always wondered what else can you do with your retired pocket computer, we have some ideas. One suggestion is to turn it into a dedicated alarm clock. Yes, you can definitely use your new phone for this purpose – you probably already did it. However, there are obvious advantages to using retired equipment. Here is how to upgrade an old iPhone to an alarm clock.
What's the point?
There is nothing to do with tucking retired gadgets into a drawer – except that you want to do something with the drawer every time you open it. Recycling is an effective option, but even if your old phone isn't as fast as a new one, it can be nearly more powerful than any sleeping machine or smart alarm on the market. With the setup tips detailed here, it can actually perform more advanced features as well.
Also, using your current phone while you are trying to fall asleep is dangerous. I never picked up my phone without distraction. Finally, with one-off, out-of-time tariffs that make electronics harder to obtain at good prices, rethinking what existing devices can do is smart alchemy.
First, delete everything
OK, not everything. But the idea is to make your phone as attractive as possible – no Instagram, no Monument Valleyno photo memory of last year's road trip. Your iPhone won't let you delete certain apps like phones, messages, App Store, and others, but you can hide them on your home screen so they only pop up when searching for them.
You still need some apps to create an alarm, so don't delete or hide the following:
Set personalized alarm tone
If you'd rather wake up than the Clock App's call and stuff that's opened, choose a personalized sound.
1. Set up your sleep schedule. Apple requires you to set a sleep schedule in the health app before you can set an alert in the clock app.
2. Download a song. In theory, you can use any song you have downloaded to your phone as the sound of an alarm. But I can't use it with any song that supports Dolby Atmos or lossless audio (even if I turn off these options in Settings > Music > Audio).
But the standard quality songs work very well. If you are not a heavy sleeper like me, you might like singing bowls or meditating on flutes or something like that. If you need the thunder of the gods to wake you up, maybe you will look for something even more exciting.
3. Setting up an alarm. Open the Clock app and select the Alerts tab. Set the alarm as usual. Then click Sound > Select a Song > Download > and select the song you want (lossless!). Click Save.
4. Turn off vibration. If you don't want your phone to vibrate while the alarm is played, turn the haptic option to never play in Settings > Sounds & Haptics.
Make some (white) noise
My favorite thing about my sleeping machine is the ambient music that plays when I walk into a deep sleep. It's no surprise that your old iPhone is able to play tortuous music too. And if white noise can help you stay in Dreamland, you can program your phone to play those sounds. The combination of shortcuts and automation will automatically play your sleep routine so you don't have to touch the screen at all.
1. Create a sleepy playlist. Open Apple Music and create a playlist. (Unfortunately, the shortcut doesn't work with Spotify.) I combined Amy's sleepy hours with songs from Apple's surrounding chill and pure ambient playlists. I did it for about 30 minutes because it was a little longer than I had been floating away.
2. Turn off autoplay. It's shocking when you drift and your fantasy playlists become some kind of algorithm Oontz Oontz Banger. Turn off autoplay:
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Play any track in Apple Music.
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Click on the title of the song to expand the album cover and track controls.
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Click on the three lines at the bottom right. You will now see the upcoming track and three buttons at the top of the list: Cross arrow (shuffle), Loop arrow (repeat), and Infinite Symbol (auto play).
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Toggle autoplay to make it gray.
Note: Turn off autoplay all Your Apple device. If you like when Apple keeps music flowing after the playlist is over, you must complete a accompanying task that is detailed at the end of this article.
3. Select white noise sound. The accessibility feature lets you choose from eight different white noise sounds, including rain, ocean, fire, and night (more features are coming soon).
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Open the Settings app
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Click Accessibility
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Click on audio and visual
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Click background sound
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Switch background sound
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Then choose the sound you like
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Switch backward and switch backward
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Use toggle when playing media
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Switch to stop sound when locked
3. Create a shortcut. This will make your phone play your playlist with white noise under it (which will make the song transition change) and when the playlist ends, the white noise will continue.
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Open the shortcut and click all the shortcuts, then click + in the upper right corner
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Search for the term “volume”, click the set volume, and select a percentage, such as 25% or the level you need
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Search for “Background” and click to set background sound. Shortcuts should be read: [Turn] [Background Sounds] [On]
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Search for “play” and tap music
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Click Music > Library > Playlist > [Your sleepy time mix]. Then click on the small ⊕ in the upper right corner
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Click the arrow next to the shortcut title at the top to rename your shortcut, maybe like “Sleep” or “Night” night.
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Click Finish.
4. Use automation to trigger your shortcuts. To run the shortcut, you can ask Siri by saying “Hey Siri, Night Night” (or “Hey Siri, Sleep grounde” or you named the above shortcut). However, if you want routines to start at the same time every night, create an automation.
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In the shortcut app, click the Automation tab at the bottom
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Click + Create a new automation
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Click on the time of day to enter your favorite start time and number of days
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Make sure there is a check mark immediately near the run (and does not run after confirmation) and keep when to switch
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Click Next
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If you don't see the name of the shortcut created at the top, search for its name and click on it
5. Close background sound. Whether you want the white noise to play all the way to the alarm clock or an hour or two, create an automation wisely to turn it off so you don't have to do it manually.
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Create a new shortcut
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Search for “Background”
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Click to set background sound
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Tap [On] arrive [Off] So shortcut reading [Turn] [Background Sounds] [Off]
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Rename Shortcut: Background sounds
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Click to finish
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Create a new automation in the Automation tab
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Click on the time of day
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Set it to alarm time or several hours after normal sleep
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Click Run now and make sure when to switch to run
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Click Finish and select the shortcut you just made (background sound)
Stand up
Phones running iOS 17 or later have standby mode, which displays the stylized clock face of your choice when the phone is charged and horizontally. Enable backup:
If you put your phone in the stands, it looks a lot like an alarm clock (it's easier to see from a distance). Whether you're using a MagSafe wireless stand or a basic vertical combo, your new alarm clock (also known as an old phone) may be plugged in all the time. So you may need to change the battery settings to prevent it from reaching 100%. (Full-charged or completely empty is the largest battery battery). Do this:
Subsequent task: Let your sleep playlist stop without turning off autoplay
Some people love it when the algorithm tries to keep the party in the way of related songs after the playlist is over. However, playing random music all night may not be suitable for sleep. The good news is that you can set a timer to make your sleep music play within a specified period, so it ends up on its own without disabling autoplay on all devices.
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Pay attention to the length of the playlist
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Open the Clock app and click the Timer tab
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Click and scroll down at the end of the timer and stop playback
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Click set
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Open the shortcut and edit your night routine by tapping three points in the shortcut card (three points with playlist and background sound)
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Search for “Timer”
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Click to start the timer
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Enter the length of the playlist in the Duration field
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Click to finish
Since background sound is a setting, not a technically played media, your white noise selection will still play until it ends with automation.
