Help & Support

A quiet clock should be easy to live with. Here are the essentials.

How do I start?

Choose a display end time and tap Start night clock. The next occurrence of that local time is the deadline. Turn your iPhone on its side; the clock supports both landscape directions. Keep the phone plugged in for longer nights.

How do I adjust the light?

1. Hold still on the clock for about a second, until adjustments unlock.
2. Release your finger.
3. Swipe sideways for color, or up/down for brightness.

Five quiet seconds lock adjustments again. Swiping while locked does not change your settings. A short tap reveals End night clock for five seconds. With VoiceOver, use the clock’s Unlock adjustments action, then the native color and brightness sliders.

Can I change the end time or AM/PM format?

Unlock adjustments, then tap Settings or the Until time. Edit the display end time or 12/24-hour preference and tap Save. Cancel or dismiss the sheet to discard edits. Settings pauses the lock timer. Saving a time updates the active session to the next occurrence of that time and remembers it for future nights.

Is the end time an alarm?

No. It ends the clock display immediately, leaving a black screen. Night Clock does not ring, play sound, schedule an alarm, or change your existing alarm. Set your wake-up alarm separately in the iPhone Clock app. Tap the black screen to return to setup, or tap End night clock to finish manually.

What does optional Focus ending do?

1. Open iPhone Settings → Focus → your chosen Focus, such as Sleep → Focus Filters → Add Filter.
2. Choose Night Clock and turn Night clock active on for that filter.
3. In Night Clock’s night settings, enable End with configured Focus.

The app must observe that configured filter active, then inactive, before its end can turn off the display. An initial inactive/default state never ends a session. The earlier of the chosen display deadline or an observed Focus end wins.

Night Clock cannot read your Focus name or Sleep schedule. Background delivery is limited: a Focus that starts and ends entirely while the app is suspended may be missed. If active was already observed, the app can refresh the current filter on foreground return. The chosen display deadline remains in effect.

What happens if I leave the app?

The app restores the captured brightness and auto-lock settings when it becomes inactive or the session ends. Return before the deadline to resume the session; return after it to see black. Sessions do not survive app termination. iOS cannot guarantee a cleanup callback after a crash or force-quit, so check brightness in Control Center if necessary.

How can I save battery or stop movement?

Use a lower brightness and plug in the phone. Night Clock is a foreground screen, not a system always-on display. Reduce Motion in iPhone accessibility settings stops the slow color-field drift. Rendering pauses while the app is inactive.

Where are my settings stored?

On your device in the app’s private preferences. There is no account, advertising, analytics, or automatic app-data upload. Read the Privacy Policy for local storage, optional Focus history, website hosting, and support-email details.