Can you make your iPod nano automatically shut down (turn off)? The answer is "yes": thanks to the built-in "Sleep Timer" functionality, your iPod nano can go to sleep by itself after a configurable number of minutes. In this tutorial, you will learn how to set a sleep timer, prolong it (ideal when you don't go to sleep yourself as soon as you thought), and how to turn off a sleep timer altogether. All this is done right from your iPod (no need to go through iTunes), and only takes a few clicks.
- In this iPod nano tutorial:
- Start a sleep timer countdown
- Add minutes, reset, or restart a new sleep timer
- Cancel / stop the current sleep timer
Start a sleep timer to make your iPod nano go to sleep
To launch a sleep timer, and make your iPod nano automatically turn off after a certain time:
- First, go to the Main Menu (home screen)
- Scroll down to Extras (if it is not visible, see how you can customize the Main Menu)
- Inside the Extras menu, select "Alarms"
- Then select "Sleep Timer", (which by default reads "Sleep Timer - Inactive", indicating that no timer is currently set), and your iPod nano loads 6 choices.
- Select the duration of your sleep timer: 15 Minutes, 30 Minutes, 60 Minutes, or 120 Minutes. (Unfortunately, at this point, your iPod nano does not let you enter a custom number of minutes.)
- Your iPod nano brings you back to the Alarms menu: notice that Sleep Timer has been updated to reflect the amount of time, in minutes, remaining before your iPod goes to sleep (e.g., "Sleep Timer - 15 Min Remaining").
- Optionally go back to the Main Menu to show the currently playing music track or audiobook.
After the number of minutes you selected has elapsed (and the timer expires), your iPod nano will automatically go to sleep. As you know from the tutorial, turning off, shutting down, and going to sleep are all the same thing for the nano, and will conserve your battery life when the timer has come to an end.
See how much time is left (minutes left) in your current sleep timer
Tip: Your nano's Sleep Timer menu item is updated in real time (live) as minutes pass. To see how many minutes are left for the current timer, go Main Menu > Extras > Alarms: the Sleep Timer item is up-to-date, and shows the number of minutes left for the current timer, until your iPod goes to sleep.
Add minutes to your sleep timer (Reset or restart a new timer)
If you cannot fall asleep (or need to keep your iPod turned on longer, whatever your activity), simply go back to Main Menu > Extras > Alarms > Sleep Timer, and chose a new amount of minutes to extend your initial timer duration. Your current timer's countdown is "canceled", and your iPod nano starts over with the number of minutes you entered for the new sleep timer.
Cancel / Stop a sleep timer in progress
To turn off the current timer, simply access the sleep timer as before: Main Menu > Extras > Alarms > Sleep Timer, and scroll to the first item ("Off") and click on it. Your iPod nano brings you back to the Alarms menu, and has stopped your sleep timer: the corresponding menu item now reads "Sleep Timer - Inactive" (no timer countdown in progress).
Note: you cannot pause a sleep timer in your iPod nano: it is either On, counting down minutes, or Off (not started or canceled).