Apps Sleep tracking app?

[sean000]

This is actually the main reason I bought my fitbit. They work great for sleep tracking. The Flex is pretty inexpensive, or if you like the idea of a watch that shows texts and controls music, go with the Blaze.

I used a Fitbit One for about 1.5 years before I bought an Apple Watch. I continued to use the Fitbit for sleep tracking, but was frustrated that it couldn't write to the Health app without the help of a third party. I kept manually entering my sleep hours into Health. Like the Fitbit, Pillow can use the motion sensor on your wrist to detect when you are still vs when you are moving or when you are out of bed. Both Fitbit and Pillow will log time out of bed as "Awake." Fitbit logs movement in bed as restlessness. Pillow doesn't log restlessness. It will use the motion sensor info to determine when to log "Light Sleep" vs "Deep Sleep." Pillow can also record sound to help you figure out how much you snore, and measure your pulse.

The nice thing about using a Fitbit for sleep tracking is that you can wear it while your Apple Watch is charging, but I just charge my watch for a while at night while I'm reading to myself or to my kids. Then I put the watch back on before I go to sleep. Of course if you don't have or want an Apple Watch, then yes the Fibits offer a very good alternative.

Sean

 

[zokstar]

That's odd... how many nights have you used Pillow when you needed to get out of bed in the middle of the night? I frequently get up in the middle of the night for a variety of reasons (I need a bathroom break, the dog needs a bathroom break, a kid is out of bed...) and so far Pillow has recorded these events as "Awake" time.

Sean

Havent used it much. That was the first time i ran it. Tried it again last night with the watch on and it picked up alot more.

 

[BlueMoon63]

Havent used it much. That was the first time i ran it. Tried it again last night with the watch on and it picked up alot more.

Pillow has picked up every bathroom break that I can remember. Love that aspect. It's by far the most accurate and I have sampled with the audio tracking for more accuracy - you need a quiet room for the best tracking from the iPhone.

 

[Trajan81]

I have tried Pillow several times, but I never stick with it. I don't really have confidence in the results.

I use it with the Apple Watch and iPhone recording audio. In the morning, the results says 2 or 3 times I was awake for about 15-30 min at different times throughout the night. When I listen to some audio recordings during the time it said I was awake, you can clearly hear me sleeping.

It's a shame, because I really like the visual representation it provides for different stages of sleep/restlessness.

 

[sean000]

I have tried Pillow several times, but I never stick with it. I don't really have confidence in the results.

I use it with the Apple Watch and iPhone recording audio. In the morning, the results says 2 or 3 times I was awake for about 15-30 min at different times throughout the night. When I listen to some audio recordings during the time it said I was awake, you can clearly hear me sleeping.

It's a shame, because I really like the visual representation it provides for different stages of sleep/restlessness.

I think the problem with pretty much any of these sleep tracking apps is that your mileage may vary depending on a number of factors. The audio recording in Pillow does allow you to adjust the sensitivity of the mic, so maybe yours was set too sensitive? Even if you used the least sensitive setting, it's possible for errant sounds or ambient noise to fool it. I used a different iPhone app years ago to record my snoring throughout the night. It seemed to work well enough in a quiet room, but not so well when we run our air filter (which produces a lot of ambient noise). I also had a problem with it picking up the dog snoring

Because of my noisy bedroom, I am not currently using the recording feature. My biggest concern is how frequently, and for how long, I am actually out of bed during the night.... and how many hours of sleep I end up actually getting on a given night. I tend to sleep pretty well as long as nobody makes me get up, and as long as I go to bed at a reasonable hour.

As far as the different stages of sleep, I take it with a grain of salt even though the charts do look impressive. The "Awake" time coincides with the times I remember being out of bed. I will say that so far the sleep quality and deep sleep/REM sleep amounts seem to agree with how I feel in the morning.

I have a bad habit of staying up too late. Combine that with getting up at least once in the middle of the night and I am simply not getting enough hours. I find that the pretty charts and the sleep quality score help motivate me to go to bed earlier.

Sean

 

[BlueMoon63]

I think the problem with pretty much any of these sleep tracking apps is that your mileage may vary depending on a number of factors. The audio recording in Pillow does allow you to adjust the sensitivity of the mic, so maybe yours was set too sensitive? Even if you used the least sensitive setting, it's possible for errant sounds or ambient noise to fool it. I used a different iPhone app years ago to record my snoring throughout the night. It seemed to work well enough in a quiet room, but not so well when we run our air filter (which produces a lot of ambient noise). I also had a problem with it picking up the dog snoring

Because of my noisy bedroom, I am not currently using the recording feature. My biggest concern is how frequently, and for how long, I am actually out of bed during the night.... and how many hours of sleep I end up actually getting on a given night. I tend to sleep pretty well as long as nobody makes me get up, and as long as I go to bed at a reasonable hour.

As far as the different stages of sleep, I take it with a grain of salt even though the charts do look impressive. The "Awake" time coincides with the times I remember being out of bed. I will say that so far the sleep quality and deep sleep/REM sleep amounts seem to agree with how I feel in the morning.

I have a bad habit of staying up too late. Combine that with getting up at least once in the middle of the night and I am simply not getting enough hours. I find that the pretty charts and the sleep quality score help motivate me to go to bed earlier.

Sean

Pillow for the audio doesn't work for me because we have plenty of background noise from an air purifier and a fan. My wife and I became so use to noise that we can't sleep with a silent room. I tried having the fan on the other side of the room and set the audio for Pillow to medium and it worked great. Then I heard myself snoring about 4-6 times a night and it was somewhat creepy but funny. Lol

Was good to know I don't snore very loud and it seemed to give me slightly better results to match with the graph. If I get up to use the bathroom it has caught those as awake time. If I wake and check the time, it doesn't seem to catch those but I don't think that isnt a flaw. We all move a little and if my heart rate stays low, it may see that as shifting.

Overall, I am most impressed with Pillow and I have sleep pulse, sleep ++ and sleep watch. Sleep watch doesn't need a start or stop but it hasn't been right more than once or twice ever. I finally uninstalled. It kept saying I feel asleep at 12:30am to 1:30am when I would go to bed at 9-11pm depending if I had to get up at 4am or not. Sleep watch always said the same sleep time. So far it stinks.