Normally, software updates are supposed to be exciting, right? And I know that is something Android users can relate to because anytime they update their phones, there’s something useful that gets added. I’ve been using Apple for the longest time, and just like most Apple users, anytime there’s a new iOS version, I don’t even bother because it’s always a disappointment.
But recently, there have been some sweet changes, and I wouldn’t have even known if I hadn’t changed my phone because I was living by the older iOS versions. I’m sure you’re wondering if you have to change phones to get new iOS versions. Absolutely not. My little sister wanted my phone, so I just had to get a new one.
So just yesterday, I was doing something on my control center, and I found background sounds. I curiously tapped on it because it was new to me, and it led me to a place full of sounds. From dark noise, ocean, rain, stream, and others. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?! In that moment I screamed, Apple is the best, because it felt like they knew I hadn’t been able to sleep for weeks.
For about 2 weeks now, I haven’t been able to sleep at night. My sleeping schedule has completely shifted from night to morning. I realized it was because of the environment I found myself in weeks ago with my dad. We went on a business trip, and the weather and time zone there were very different, so even after we returned, my body has just been living on that time zone. While my side of the world is asleep, my body is as awake as that side of the world we were.
Back to the feature, yeah? The background sound is a feature that allows you to play specific ambient sounds of your preference to set you in the mood for bed. I was thinking my favorite would be the ocean, but that sound rather made me happy and alert, probably because I love beaches. I don’t know. But my favorite? fire. It’s just very soothing and does magic.
The other feature I found that got me excited was another night feature on the podcast app. I have this sleeping routine, which includes listening to podcasts right before going to bed because that’s another easy way for me to fall asleep. But most times, I end up sleeping, and then the podcast will keep repeating itself over and over again till I wake up in the morning.
Thankfully, there’s this new feature on Apple Podcast called the sleep timer, which allows you to set a timer for the podcast to play before automatically stopping. And that means you estimate how long you think it will take for you to drift away into slumberland and just set the duration for the podcast to stop by that time.
As someone who always wakes up with a low battery after leaving my podcast playing all night, I think this is one of the best features Apple has to offer. Oh and before I forget, my iOS version is 18.2.1.
I’ve always thought that if our devices are able to keep us awake then they should also be able to put us to bed and now I feel like that’s exactly what Apple also thought. I mean great minds think alike but who cares? (I do, I do). I can’t even explain my excitement after finding these sleep-aiding features because I’ve never struggled to sleep like this in my life. This doesn’t change my love for the Google Pixel 9 Pro. The moment I get some overwhelming money, I’m just joining the Android gang because why not?
first image is mine, all others are screenshots from my phone