How to stop scrolling at night.
You get into bed meaning to sleep, open your phone for a minute, and look up an hour later. If that sounds familiar, you have company.
In a survey the American Academy of Sleep Medicine published in February 2026, half of US adults said they use a screen in bed every day, and more than a quarter (26%) said they put time on their phone ahead of getting the sleep they need.
The routine below works on your setup rather than your willpower: decide earlier, let your iPhone do the remembering, move the phone, and end the evening with something that ends. Start with whichever step is easiest tonight.
1. Decide how long before bed your phone goes down
Choose when your phone goes down, not only when you go to bed. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine suggests turning off electronics at least 30 to 60 minutes before bed. If an hour feels out of reach tonight, start with what you can keep, and move it earlier as it gets easier.
Then put that time in your iPhone, so you don’t have to remember it. In the Health app, tap Browse, then Sleep, and set up a sleep schedule. You can add a wind down period that starts anywhere from 15 minutes to 3 hours before bedtime, and your Sleep Focus begins when it does.
2. Set up your iPhone for bedtime
A few built-in settings carry the decision for you:
- Sleep Focus. In Settings, tap Focus, then Sleep. Choose which people and apps can still reach you, and how your Lock Screen and Home Screen look. It filters the notifications and calls that would pull you back in.
- An evening schedule. In iOS 27, go to Settings, then Screen Time, then Screen Time Schedule, and add an evening time window with only the kinds of apps you want available. In iOS 26 this is Downtime: Settings, then Screen Time, then Downtime.
- A budget for the apps that keep you up. In iOS 27, Time Allowances give a category such as Social Media a daily limit. In iOS 26, App Limits do this, though by default a limit can be ignored once you reach it.
3. Keep your phone away from your bed
The easiest scroll to skip is the one you can’t reach. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine suggests leaving your phone in another room at night and using a clock for your alarm.
If your phone needs to stay in the bedroom, put the charger across the room. A charging iPhone set on its side, kept still and locked shows StandBy: a bedside clock that turns red in a dark room when Night Mode is on, so you can check the time without opening anything. On iPhone Duo, StandBy works even when it isn’t charging.
4. What to do instead of scrolling in bed
A feed never runs out; a chapter, a crossword or a page of notes comes to an end on its own. Pick one thing for the time after your phone goes down, and keep it by the bed. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine suggests reading, journaling or a warm shower. Other easy ones:
- a few pages of a paper book or a magazine;
- tomorrow’s list, written on paper so it’s out of your head;
- laying out what you need for the morning;
- a slow stretch, or a talk with whoever is home.
5. Make putting the phone down a small ritual
It helps when putting the phone down is a moment of its own, rather than a test of resolve. That moment is what Foldy Pets, our app, is built around.
At your phone-down time, open Foldy and tuck your companion in: tap Tuck in, lock your iPhone or turn it face down. On iPhone Duo, close the fold. Your Foldy sleeps while you do. Rest 20 minutes or more and it dreams a constellation for your night sky; longer rests bring rarer dreams, and legendary ones come from six hours or more that begin at night. In the morning, open Foldy to see what it dreamed.
If you miss a night, nothing is lost. Your Foldy never gets sick or sad, and your moons never go down.
With Foldy Pro, a routine can remind you at your phone-down time and tuck your Foldy in with one tap, and Deep Nap can put the apps you choose to sleep for as long as you pick; waking your Foldy ends it at any time. During a rest, Nightstand turns a charging iPhone on its side, or a half-open iPhone Duo on its charger, into a dim clock with your sleeping friend.
Free to download for iPhone with iOS 26 or later.
On the nights it doesn’t work
Some nights you will scroll anyway. Instead of starting over, change one thing for tomorrow: move the charger, bring your phone-down time a little earlier, or tighten your evening schedule.
If late-night scrolling feels like the only part of the day that’s yours, it has a name: revenge bedtime procrastination. It may help to give that time a phone-free shape you look forward to, like the book, the stretch or the talk above.
This guide is about phone habits, not sleep problems. If you often have trouble sleeping, talk to a doctor.
Ready for a first night together? Download Foldy Pets from the App Store.
Sources
- American Academy of Sleep Medicine, “Americans are ‘doomscrolling’ at bedtime, prioritizing screen time over sleep”, 23 February 2026. Online survey of 2,007 US adults, 5–13 June 2025, by Atomik Research.
- Apple Support, iPhone User Guide: Set up sleep in Health, Set Screen Time Schedules and Time Allowances (iOS 27), Set schedules with Screen Time (iOS 26) and Use StandBy, read 17 October 2026.
- Apple, iPhone Duo: StandBy on iPhone Duo when it isn’t charging.