Frequently asked questions

That is the idea behind the application: the timer arms itself with every playback, 30 minutes by default. For one night only, tap the moon in the player and pick a duration from 5 minutes to 2 hours, or "At the end of this episode". The same menu offers "Cancel the timer".

To change the duration for every night, go to Settings → Sleep Timer → Default duration. The "Start automatically with playback" switch on the same card turns it off, if you prefer to set it by hand.

On purpose: an abrupt stop wakes you up. The volume lowers gradually over the last 30 seconds of the timer, then stops. On start and on resume, it rises the same way over 3 seconds. During a fade, the moon in the player "breathes" to show the volume is changing deliberately.

Prefer a clean stop? Turn off Settings → Sleep Timer → Start and end fades.

Just resume playback. After the timer stops it, the application rewinds by itself, by as long as the pause lasted, up to 5 minutes by default. The maximum is set in Settings → Sleep Timer → Rewind on wake (5, 10 or 15 minutes, or off).

On resume, a soft voice confirms the length of the new timer, so you can restart without looking at the screen. Turn it off with "Spoken announcement on resume" on the same card. Playback positions are remembered episode by episode: the next day, each episode picks up where you left it.

Yes. During playback, the countdown shows on the lock screen and in the Dynamic Island, with two buttons: +15 min and Stop. It also appears in StandBy, dimmed at night so it does not light up the bedroom.

Don't see it? Check that Settings → Sleep Timer → Timer on lock screen is on, and that Live Activities are allowed for the application in iOS Settings.

"Tonight" is an editorial selection, hand-picked and refreshed regularly: calm voices, nature sounds, soothing stories. Under each recommendation, a note explains why it helps you fall asleep.

Know a podcast that belongs there? Suggest it from the Support page by choosing "Suggest a podcast". The best suggestions join the selection.

Search covers two catalogs, Apple Podcasts and Podcast Index, but some podcasts are not listed, especially private or subscriber-only feeds. Add them by their RSS feed address: the Podcasts tab, the "…" button, then Add by URL. Paste the address, tap "Check", then "Add".

The feed address is usually on the podcast's website, often behind an "RSS" link.

Because this setting filters search results, and nothing else. It lives in Settings → Search → Hide explicit content. Once on, podcasts marked explicit by their publisher disappear from the results of both catalogs.

It does not affect:

• podcasts you already subscribe to, or their episodes;
• the "Tonight" selection, hand-picked and sleep-oriented;
• a feed added by its RSS address or through an OPML import.

In those cases, the "E" badge stays visible: the application passes on the publisher's information without removing from your library what you put there yourself. And the marking comes from the publisher: one who leaves it blank slips through the filter.

With an OPML file, the exchange format most podcast applications can produce. Export it from your previous application (often in its settings, under "Export" or "OPML"), save it to Files, then open Settings → Subscriptions → Import an OPML file. The same option sits behind the "…" button in the Podcasts tab.

The other way round, "Export my subscriptions" creates an OPML file: a handy backup, or a way to move to another application.

They are deleted from the device, along with that podcast's playback positions, played and unplayed statuses, download rules and place in your folders. The confirmation says so before you tap "Unsubscribe". If one of its episodes is playing, it stops.

Two things to know. If iCloud sync "Your podcasts" is on, the unsubscribe applies to your other devices too. And episodes archived on iCloud are not deleted: they stay in Settings → Downloads → iCloud archive, where you can remove them if you no longer want them.

Long-press in the text, adjust the selection with the handles as anywhere else on iOS, then tap "Copy".

Because its publisher no longer lists it. A podcast's list is its feed, not your device: when a publisher removes an episode, it leaves the list even if your copy is still there. Where to find it depends on what you had done with it.

• Still downloaded on the device: it stays in the Downloads tab, under the podcast, with a cloud marked by an exclamation point. Your file is the only copy left.
• Archived on iCloud ("Archive episodes leaving the feed", in the podcast's download settings): a copy was put aside when it left the feed. It appears in the Downloads tab, under the podcast, at the end of the list, and streams from iCloud.
• Neither: the episode can no longer be recovered. The application only keeps what you asked it to keep.

A rarer case: a publisher who moves their files without changing the catalog. The episode then stays listed under the same title and downloads normally.

It was a bug, now fixed. The cause was an iOS setting: in Settings → Cellular → Cellular Data Options → Data Mode, the option "Allow More Data on 5G" makes 5G look like an unmetered connection, and the application believed it.

Now "Download over Wi-Fi only" means Wi-Fi, whatever the data mode: as soon as the connection goes through the mobile network, automatic downloads wait. A download started on Wi-Fi no longer carries on over mobile data if Wi-Fi drops.

• iPad or Mac on Ethernet: downloads go ahead.
• Hotspot from a phone: they wait. It looks like Wi-Fi, but it is a mobile plan.
• An episode you download yourself ("Download" button): it starts right away, mobile data included. The setting only covers automatic downloads.

One is an exception, the other a setting. "Download now" starts the waiting downloads over mobile data right away, without changing any setting. The permission ends by itself as soon as you are back on Wi-Fi or fully close the application.

"Always allow" turns off "Download over Wi-Fi only", after confirmation: your automatic downloads will use mobile data from then on. You can switch back in Settings → Downloads. This setting stays specific to each device, even with iCloud sync: an iPad that never leaves home and an iPhone on the move have different needs.

Nowhere, and nothing is lost. Downloads progress while the application is on screen, or while an episode is playing, even with the screen off. If you put the phone away without listening to anything, iOS suspends the application and transfers stop: their progress rows disappear.

The episodes are still due. The next time you open the application, or when Wi-Fi returns, they resume on their own. An episode already fully downloaded stays on the device no matter what.

There are three syncs, off by default, in Settings → iCloud. They go through your private iCloud account and nothing else.

• Your podcasts: subscriptions, folders, playback positions, played and unplayed statuses, queue order and the inventory of archived episodes. Start an episode on one device and finish it on another.
• Your download rules, which requires the previous one. It is separate because restoring these rules on a new device restarts downloads, sometimes several gigabytes. The restore is offered in the Downloads tab.
• My Night journal: the journal's listening times, once collection is turned on in the My Night tab.

Not synced: downloaded episodes, which each device fetches itself, and the "Download over Wi-Fi only" setting, specific to each device.

Worth knowing before switching devices: your rules will download again what is still published, but not an episode that has left its podcast's feed. The Downloads tab flags these only copies, marked with a cloud and an exclamation point, and offers to copy them to iCloud in one tap.

iCloud archiving preserves downloaded episodes that disappear from their podcast's feed. These copies live in your iCloud and use your storage.

From the application, open Settings → Downloads → iCloud archive: the screen shows the space used, podcast by podcast, and the red trash can on each row deletes its archived episodes on all your devices, after a confirmation stating the space freed. More precisely:

• A single episode: in the Downloads tab, open the podcast, "Archived on iCloud" section, swipe the row left and tap "Remove from archive". The "•••" menu of an archived episode also offers "Delete permanently" or "Copy back locally".
• Over time: each podcast has its "Keep on iCloud" duration, one year by default, up to "Forever". Older archives are removed automatically.
• Stop creating them: turn off "Archive episodes leaving the feed" in the podcast's download settings. Existing archives remain.

If the application is uninstalled, use iOS Settings: Settings → [your name] → iCloud → Manage Account Storage → Podcast Sleep Aid → Delete Data. It is immediate and permanent: episodes no longer published will be lost.

Uninstalling the application does not delete the archive, on purpose. After a reinstall or on a new iPhone, the application finds it again on its own.

iPhone and iPad with iOS 17 or later, and Mac computers with Apple silicon. On iPhone Duo, the application follows the device: open, the list and the player sit side by side; half-folded, the controls stay within reach. It is available in English, French and Simplified Chinese, and follows your device's language.

Yes, free: no in-app purchase, no subscription, no ads. No account to create, no ad tracker.

Your subscriptions, positions and settings stay on the device, or go through your private iCloud if you turn on sync. The details are in the privacy policy.