TDLR: Apple Watch sleeping tracking app is one of the best of smart watches. 😳
Last edited:
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apps Interesting Apple Watch sleep tracking review..
- Thread starter matrix07
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
TDLR: Apple Watch sleeping tracking app is one of the best of smart watches. 😳
Thanks for posting that. Good timing as I’m doing my evaluation for my next watch.
Yep. They're taking the time to do it right, leaving it bland for a year & now reaping a reward beating Fitbit & Garmin & everyone else. Good job.
Ok. I have tested it a few nights now & it performs pretty great.
One criticism though, it won't track your sleep beyond your schedule. Last night it noticed that I struggled to get to sleep, which was true. And then I notice the graphic is kinda fall short to the right (yellow rectangle). It doesn't fill the whole area.
Last night I slept way beyond my alarm (5.30 AM), woke up at 7.40 AM. The watch didn't include this extra data even though it knows when you actually wake up (that's why there is a blank area).
So I checked the day before - I woke up at 4.30 AM that night, 1 hour before my alarm - and the graphic fills the whole area.
So any data beyond your sleep schedule will not be included & that means your 'Time Asleep' (including REM, Core, Deep) - in red circle in 1st photo - will be incorrect unlike the previous iOS which always counted it & was correct.
I work from home 😅 so it's super easy to adjust wake up alarm to compensate for this. I suspect many people wouldn't be able to. Hope Apple fix this.
One criticism though, it won't track your sleep beyond your schedule. Last night it noticed that I struggled to get to sleep, which was true. And then I notice the graphic is kinda fall short to the right (yellow rectangle). It doesn't fill the whole area.
Last night I slept way beyond my alarm (5.30 AM), woke up at 7.40 AM. The watch didn't include this extra data even though it knows when you actually wake up (that's why there is a blank area).
So I checked the day before - I woke up at 4.30 AM that night, 1 hour before my alarm - and the graphic fills the whole area.
So any data beyond your sleep schedule will not be included & that means your 'Time Asleep' (including REM, Core, Deep) - in red circle in 1st photo - will be incorrect unlike the previous iOS which always counted it & was correct.
I work from home 😅 so it's super easy to adjust wake up alarm to compensate for this. I suspect many people wouldn't be able to. Hope Apple fix this.
Last edited:
I have my schedule extended artificially for precisely this reason. I have a separate alarm that is what gets me up. The schedule isn't associated with an alarm. It's worked pretty well for me for the past couple of years.
A warning to those who gets up before your wake up schedule.
Do not turn off Sleep on your watch! You will lose sleep data.
Turn off Sleep on your iPhone. It will ask you to turn off alarm. Once you do that you're good.
Do not turn off Sleep on your watch! You will lose sleep data.
Turn off Sleep on your iPhone. It will ask you to turn off alarm. Once you do that you're good.
I put do not disturb mode when I go to bed (night sleep or nap) just because I don’t want feel/hear notifications.
My sleep schedule is 00:00 to 08:00. But I work in different shifts, so that schedule is something totally random. For example, today I got up at 5 am.
With WatchOS 9 there’s only one change. Until now, the watch register the sleep without problems or alarms or anything lile so many people say…
Now, if I look my sleep data before the end (8 am in my case) of my random sleep schedule… only old data (time in bed and that) is shown. But a couple of minutes before end of that random schedule (8 am), the watch ask me if I am awake. I respond “yes” and voilá… all sleep stages are now detailed.
My sleep schedule is 00:00 to 08:00. But I work in different shifts, so that schedule is something totally random. For example, today I got up at 5 am.
With WatchOS 9 there’s only one change. Until now, the watch register the sleep without problems or alarms or anything lile so many people say…
Now, if I look my sleep data before the end (8 am in my case) of my random sleep schedule… only old data (time in bed and that) is shown. But a couple of minutes before end of that random schedule (8 am), the watch ask me if I am awake. I respond “yes” and voilá… all sleep stages are now detailed.
Like I said above, for now if you wake up early you have to turn off Sleep on iPhone, not on the watch. Guess this is a bug that Apple have to take care of.
I’ve never used sleep mode. I always use do not disturb mode.
Today I try to disabled do not disturb mode on the iPhone, but with this focus mode you have the same result. You don’t have sleep stages until the watch ask you if you are awake right before sleep schedule ends.
Maybe I’ll try to put a 00:00 to 05:00 sleep schedule and that’s fix it for me on that days that I wake at 5 am.
When you schedule sleep you already set sleep focus automatically, unless you check it off yourself.
You have to add sleep schedule/plan or what it was were you tell watch that you should go to sleep at time x and wakeup at y and then you should get that data.
Now I can finally stop wearing my Fitbit along with my Apple Watch. Until now Fitbit has been better at sleep tracking. I've been comparing the results of both for the past few days and they are nearly identical.
My only complaint is that I have to tell the Apple Watch when I'm sleeping while the Fitbit can automatically detect it (since 2015). My sleep schedule is unfortunately not consistent day to day so I can't set a schedule and instead have to manually turn the Sleep focus mode on and off.
My only complaint is that I have to tell the Apple Watch when I'm sleeping while the Fitbit can automatically detect it (since 2015). My sleep schedule is unfortunately not consistent day to day so I can't set a schedule and instead have to manually turn the Sleep focus mode on and off.
I really hope apple reserve this for watchOS10 update & not just leave it like this for years.
I disabled that option.
As I said, I don’t have a regular schedule because some days I have to wake at 5am and other days I can wake up at 8-9am. Some days I go to bed at 10pm and some days at 1am.
So not an option for me to have a sleep schedule. But it’s ok for me, not a problem.
I just enable do not disturb mode when I want stop receiving notifications at night and disable that mode when I wake up.
And just to be clear…
One thing is that you enable do not disturb mode and other thing is that mean the watch doesn’t register sleep automatically…
I can enable now do not disturb mode and until the watch doesn’t detect that I’m sleeping… there’s no be sleep data at all… And I can wake up and don’t disable do not disturb mode… the sleep record will be over when I get up.
I mean… This is very very basic. But seems that many people don’t understand it very well.
One thing is that you enable do not disturb mode and other thing is that mean the watch doesn’t register sleep automatically…
I can enable now do not disturb mode and until the watch doesn’t detect that I’m sleeping… there’s no be sleep data at all… And I can wake up and don’t disable do not disturb mode… the sleep record will be over when I get up.
I mean… This is very very basic. But seems that many people don’t understand it very well.
Seems like I can ditch my Fitbit just in time.
arstechnica.com
Google will start assimilating Fitbit accounts next year
At first it’s optional, but Fitbit accounts will be shut down in 2025.
arstechnica.com
Yesterday I saw a tweet describing a difference between using Apple Pay & Google Pay. Basically Google knows every details of your purchases while Apple knows nothing. 😳Seems like I can ditch my Fitbit just in time.
Google will start assimilating Fitbit accounts next year
At first it’s optional, but Fitbit accounts will be shut down in 2025.
Thing is .. tracking sleep & sleep stages are only parts of sleep health.
To get better health from sleep. To get better sleep - which is Apple goal - you also need to have a sleep habit. This is what Apple aims for. They didn’t want to give you sleep data just for the sake of it but want you to have a whole package, both data & sleep habit, hence a sleep schedule.
Anyone who can’t have sleep schedule there’s always AutoSleep.
To get better health from sleep. To get better sleep - which is Apple goal - you also need to have a sleep habit. This is what Apple aims for. They didn’t want to give you sleep data just for the sake of it but want you to have a whole package, both data & sleep habit, hence a sleep schedule.
Anyone who can’t have sleep schedule there’s always AutoSleep.