YouTube is testing a built-in sleep timer, only for Premium subscribers

If you've ever watched YouTube until 2 a.m., you've probably experienced waking up a few hours later to find that the video is still playing. This can be annoying to people around you late at night. Therefore, many people can immediately understand the value of sleep timers on YouTube.

In its latest test with Premium subscribers, that's exactly what YouTube is looking to do.

YouTube is currently testing a sleep timer with Premium subscribers, which is available and will be active in the mobile app and on desktop through September 2. Currently, TV is not a part of the program.

YouTube briefly explains this feature as follows:

Sleep Timer allows you to set a timer to automatically pause playback after a certain period of time.

This option appears in the desktop play menu and supports timer lengths of 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, and 60 minutes, as well as stopping at the end of the video. The options are identical on the mobile app but, at least on Android, it's hidden under "Additional settings" .

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This test is available to paid YouTube Premium subscribers through September 2, with it likely to eventually be rolled out much more widely (possibly even for free) in the near future.

Lesley Montoya

Update 11 August 2024