Sleep Stop

Fall asleep to a podcast, an audiobook or music without it playing all night. Sleep Stop notices when you've drifted off, gently fades your audio and pauses it.

No account, no sign-up, no ads and no internet access at all.

THREE WAYS TO USE IT

• Auto — set the hours you listen in bed, and Sleep Stop starts watching by itself whenever something starts playing inside them.

• Manual — press Start and it watches for sleep instead of counting down.

• Timer — a plain sleep timer. Turn the dial, press Start.

IT NEVER JUST CUTS YOU OFF

When Sleep Stop thinks you're asleep, it fades the volume down slowly before pausing. Still awake? Shake the phone, press a volume key or tap the notification, and it keeps playing. Only if nothing answers does it pause — and then it puts your volume back where it was for next time.

It works with the apps you already use — podcast apps, audiobook apps and music apps — through your phone's own media controls, whether you're listening on the speaker, headphones or Bluetooth.

SEE WHAT HAPPENED EACH NIGHT

The History tab keeps a record of every night: what time your audio was paused, what was playing, and how it ended — Sleep stopped audio, Audio stopped externally, Audio fade interrupted, and more. You can download it as a spreadsheet any time.

HOW IT KNOWS

Sleep Stop looks at how still your phone is, how long the screen has been off and the time of night, and combines them into a sleep likelihood. It waits until that stays high before doing anything, so a quiet moment while you're still listening doesn't stop your audio.

PRIVATE BY DESIGN

Nothing leaves your phone. Sleep Stop has no internet permission, no analytics, no advertising and no accounts, so it couldn't send your data anywhere if it wanted to. Your history stays on the device, and uninstalling removes all of it.

GOOD TO KNOW

• Auto mode needs Sleep Stop to be exempt from battery optimisation, so Android lets it start watching on its own. Manual and Timer work without it.

• Audio cast to a smart speaker (for example Spotify Connect to an Echo) plays from the speaker rather than the phone, so Sleep Stop can't pause it.

Sleep Stop is free, with every feature included. If it's helped you, there's an optional tip jar under About & Help (the i at the top).