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How to schedule a Minecraft server restart with warnings and a save

Make four Scheduled Commands in the RCON console, each set to Daily at: a say warning at 03:50 and 03:55, save-all at 03:58 and stop at 04:00. They only fire while that server's console is open and connected on the phone, so this works on a phone left awake on a charger, not one in your pocket with the screen off.

4 min read · Updated 2026-09-15

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Running this on an old iPhone propped against the router, plugged in, with Auto-Lock set to Never in iOS Settings, works reliably: every night at 04:00 the server gets its warnings, saves, and stops. If the phone is not plugged in and the battery runs out overnight, nothing happens at all.

Why: iOS will not let an app wake itself at a set time and open a network connection, and the list screen says so in plain words. No console open and connected, no command goes out.

Four commands for a nightly restart

A nightly restart built from four Daily at schedules
NameCommand to sendDaily atMinutes before stop
Warn 10say Restart in 10 minutes03:5010
Warn 5say Restart in 5 minutes03:555
Savesave-all03:582
Stopstop04:000

Each schedule holds one command, not a sequence. A restart with warnings is several schedules a few minutes apart, and the list shows each one with its time, a green dot while it is armed, and how many times it has been sent.

The app checks the clock every 5 seconds, so a command set for 04:00 actually lands somewhere between 04:00:00 and 04:00:05. For a warning nobody notices. Avoid putting two order-dependent commands in the same minute, though.

Setting one up

  1. Open the server's console and wait for the green status.
  2. Open the console menu and tap Scheduled Commands. The sheet is titled Scheduled.
  3. Tap the plus button. In New Schedule, fill Name and Command to send, without a leading slash.
  4. Under When, pick Daily at and set the Time. For a repeating save instead, pick Every and use the stepper.
  5. Leave Only on this server on, unless you want the command sent to whichever server you happen to be connected to.
  6. Tap Save, then repeat for the other three.

The stepper jumps in bigger steps as the number grows: one minute at a time up to 5, then 5, 15, 30 and 60. Going from the default 15 minutes to 120 takes 5 taps (30, 45, 60, 90, 120). The ceiling is 720 minutes, 12 hours.

What actually restarts the server

Vanilla Minecraft has no restart command. stop saves and shuts the server down, and something else has to start it again: your host's panel, a start script that loops, or a service manager on the Linux box. Without one, a server stopped on a schedule stays off until something else starts it again.

When the server goes down the console loses the connection, retries after 1, 2 and 4 seconds, then gives up. Minecraft takes longer than 7 seconds to come back, so after the restart the console sits disconnected. Back out and tap the server again once it is ready.

Phone time, not server time

Daily at uses the phone's clock and time zone. A server running on UTC with the phone set to Madrid time means 04:00 on the phone is 02:00 UTC before the clocks change, and 03:00 UTC after. Recheck the time after every clock change if the server's logs or another scheduler use UTC.

When the host already restarts it

Many hosts restart the server themselves on a timer, often with a drift of a few minutes. A save that lands in the middle of that restart can roll the world back. Turn on Skip a time window under Quiet window, set Starting at a little before the host's restart and give it 30 minutes: an Every 15-minute save-all then skips that stretch and carries on after.

Free or Premium

Scheduled Commands are Premium only. On the free version the editor opens, but tapping Save shows the upgrade screen and nothing is stored. The console, macros (up to 3) and everything else in this guide work free.

If you rent the server and the panel already schedules restarts, use that: it runs without your phone. This approach suits a bare VPS with no panel, particularly on nights the warnings are wanted.

Questions and answers

What is the Minecraft server restart command?
There isn't one in vanilla. stop saves and shuts the server down, and your host panel, a looping start script or a service manager starts it again. Some plugins add a restart command, but that comes from the plugin, not the game.
Does a Minecraft server auto save?
Yes, a vanilla server saves on its own at regular intervals and again when it stops. A scheduled save-all before a restart is a belt-and-braces step, not a fix for a server that never saves.
Can the app restart the server on a crash?
No. It only sends commands to a server that is up and answering RCON. Restarting after a crash is a job for the host or a script on the machine itself.
Will my scheduled restart run if my iPhone is locked?
No. Scheduled commands run only while that server's console is open and connected. Set Auto-Lock to Never and keep the phone on a charger if you rely on it overnight.

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