Lights Off

  • Used to track your time to fall asleep, lights off helps with sleep efficiency calculations.

  • This feature is designed for people that wear their Watch when sleeping. Because AutoSleep can't automatically know of your intention to decide to go to sleep you need to tell the app. What this does is send a timestamped event to the AutoSleep app. This is then used to calculate the time between this event and when the app detected that you fell asleep.

  • It is designed to be used once per day, prior to your main sleep. Using this feature also tells the app to ignore any sleep prior to this point.

  • You can also manually add your lights off time as well as Add to Siri.

  • Additionally, Lights Off supports HomeKit by using a scene called "AS Off" and "AS Done". Refer to the HomeKit page to see how to setup if you own smart devices.

Activating Lights Off

There are multiple ways to activate the Lights Off feature:

  1. The best and easiest method is to use the AutoSleep Watch app (refer to 'Using the Watch' section below for instructions).

  2. If you have an iPhone 6s or higher, you can 3D touch the AutoSleep app icon. This will display the Lights off widget (refer to 'Using the Widget' section below).

  3. You can add the Lights off widget to your Today View.

  4. Add to Siri in the Today tab.

  5. Create a Shortcut in the Shortcuts app that uses the AutoSleep Lights Off action.

  6. You can also edit and retrospectively add lights off in the Today tab, Lights Off tile.

Using the Watch

The Watch app is the best way to activate Lights Off. If you have a Watch running WatchOS 6 or higher, you can now do this in conjunction with enabling your smart alarm. Otherwise, here's how to enable lights off in the Watch app.

Either select Lights Off from the Watch app menu or scroll through the screens with the digital crown then use the big "Lights Off" button. When you do this it also starts a timer on the Watch to let you know how long you've been in bed. This timer is also displayed on the AutoSleep complication on your Watch face.

In the Watch app it then displays your sleep progress. This will show you how much of the time you have actually been asleep versus in bed. Both the time asleep and time in bed are drawn on a progress ring based on your required sleep hours setting. It even has muted colours that are good for night time viewing.

If you scroll the crown, you can even see your "live" stats. Quality sleep time, average heart rate and amount of deep sleep. Of course, it's much better to do this in the morning otherwise you could end up waking yourself up. Ask me how I know this!

Pressing the done button will return you to the main AutoSleep view and turn off the timer. The Lights Off button on the main view now has some smarts that will let you resume your lights off session if you need to.

IMPORTANT: The done button is not an end sleeping button. Everything is still automatic. So don't worry that you have to remember to do this.

Using the Lights Off Widget

The Lights Off widget can still be used on iOS 14.2 or higher by adding to the Apple Today screen on your iPhone.

To add the widget, go to your iPhone home screen, scroll to the bottom then press Edit on the Today view. A Customise link will appear at the bottom of the main window, click on this and you can then select 'Lights Off' as a new Widget. You will something like the below where you can re-order your Widgets. Note, if on an iPhone 6s or 7, you can also add quickly by 3D touching the AutoSleep app widget.

This then presents a simple widget on the Apple Today screen as follows:

When you turn your lights off to go to sleep, simply touch the switch. Note: You do not need to unlock your iPhone to do this.

This will then change the widget as follows:

You then do not need to do anything else. From here, everything is automatic and the AutoSleep app will reset your switch for you in the background once you are awake after you unlock your iPhone.

The Lights Off time will then show on your sleep clock as a vertical yellow bar and the time that you took to fall asleep will be displayed in your sleep quality analysis.

Ending Lights Off

To end this mode on your Watch, there are three methods:

  1. Open the AutoSleep iPhone app.

  2. Unlock your iPhone any time after the notification time that you have setup in the AutoSleep wizard tab in the AutoSleep iPhone app. This will automatically turn off the timer in the Watch without you having to open the AutoSleep iPhone app.

  3. Done button on the Watch will end the timer and show the main Watch screen (see below).

IMPORTANT: As mentioned above, the done button is not an end sleeping button. Everything is still automatic. So don't worry that you have to remember to do this.

Editing Lights Off

In the AutoSleep iPhone app, if you need to correct or remove the Lights Off entry, you can either touch the vertical yellow bar on the clock, or go into the Today View and press the lamp button.

Tap on 'Change' and you will see the edit screen if you wish to update the time. You can also elect not to use lights off for this sleep session if required by tapping the toggle called 'use lights off for this day'. Click OK once you are happy with the updates.

HomeKit Support

Lights Off supports HomeKit by using a scene called "AS Off" and "AS Done". When enabled on the Watch app, you will see the HomeKit buttons that can assist with Lights Off.

For detailed instructions on using AutoSleep with HomeKit, refer to the HomeKit page to see how to setup if you own smart devices.