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Sleep Tracking

superlawyer15

superlawyer15

Suspended
Original poster
Sep 15, 2014
258
443
Someone I know bought a Microsoft band and it has a sleep tracking feature I found very interesting.

It can auto detect when you fall asleep and graphs out the number of hours plus the stage of sleep.

I'm pretty sure the Apple watch has all the sensors that are found in the Microsoft band. Does a similar watch app exist? I tend to recall hearing that developers don't have access to the gyro APis.
 
I'm sad to report that Band has a lot more sensors in it than :apple:Watch, and all for $199. I bought one because I wanted a fitness band/watch cross back in October of last year - I had it track my sleep, and my movements, and the whole 9.

It also looks like garbage, feels like garbage, and is literally a house arrest bracelet for your wrist. Technology wise, it's got a lot of potential...but as always, :apple: executed the idea better and will likely win the wearable smart watch "war."

Back on topic: I believe it's just a matter of time before Watch gets sleep track ability...battery life is the biggest obstacle to this right now as Apple expects you to use it all day and charge it at night while you sleep.
 
superlawyer15 said:
Someone I know bought a Microsoft band and it has a sleep tracking feature I found very interesting.

It can auto detect when you fall asleep and graphs out the number of hours plus the stage of sleep.

I'm pretty sure the Apple watch has all the sensors that are found in the Microsoft band. Does a similar watch app exist? I tend to recall hearing that developers don't have access to the gyro APis.
Click to expand...

Normally I sell my old gadgets and things after a certain period of time. Even though Watch has replaced 50% of the things that my Jawbone UP24 could do (plus more!) I decided to keep my UP and I use it every night to track my sleep. The Move usage was awesome but I think the most insightful feature of the UP is the sleep tracking feature.

As it is now, I get roughly 45-65% battery life left at the end of the day. I'm not expecting the 14 days of battery I get out of my UP24 but… idk I hope one day it can track sleep movements. I think the most important aspect in this evolution is a quicker time to charge. If you are using it all night and all day, it can't take 2.5-3 hours to charge fully. Maybe 40-70 minutes, tops.
 
AKRowdy said:
Normally I sell my old gadgets and things after a certain period of time. Even though Watch has replaced 50% of the things that my Jawbone UP24 could do (plus more!) I decided to keep my UP and I use it every night to track my sleep. The Move usage was awesome but I think the most insightful feature of the UP is the sleep tracking feature.

As it is now, I get roughly 45-65% battery life left at the end of the day. I'm not expecting the 14 days of battery I get out of my UP24 but… idk I hope one day it can track sleep movements. I think the most important aspect in this evolution is a quicker time to charge. If you are using it all night and all day, it can't take 2.5-3 hours to charge fully. Maybe 40-70 minutes, tops.
Click to expand...

I use my original Up band for sleep tracking as well! haha
Until Apple adds the function to my watch I'll keep using it. The sleep alarm is the best!
 
Here's how I track my sleep, look at the clock before bed, set alarm. Then wake-up, why track your sleep? Nothing you can really do to change it when your sleeping
 
zaneliu94 said:
I use my original Up band for sleep tracking as well! haha
Until Apple adds the function to my watch I'll keep using it. The sleep alarm is the best!
Click to expand...

The UP24 bad has also help me straighten out my poor sleep habits. I hope the apple watch figure this out soon enough.
 
darkgremio said:
Here's how I track my sleep, look at the clock before bed, set alarm. Then wake-up, why track your sleep? Nothing you can really do to change it when your sleeping
Click to expand...

People who have never used a sleep tracker seem to always use this argument.
As an athlete and someone who spends a lot of late nights, it is always incredibly useful for me to know if I should be extra hydrated during the day or take a nap first during a day before I workout. I know to go to bed earlier even if I don't necessarily feel tired. Honestly, just because I'm tired doesn't mean I'll go to bed earlier. But the data certainly motivates me.

And that's JUST the sleep monitoring stuff. The sleep alarm is truly a miracle. Waking you only during periods of light sleep removes grogginess completely. I haven't woken up groggy in over a year now aside from those days when I've only had like 2 hours of sleep
 
superlawyer15 said:
Someone I know bought a Microsoft band and it has a sleep tracking feature I found very interesting.

It can auto detect when you fall asleep and graphs out the number of hours plus the stage of sleep.

I'm pretty sure the Apple watch has all the sensors that are found in the Microsoft band. Does a similar watch app exist? I tend to recall hearing that developers don't have access to the gyro APis.
Click to expand...

Xiaomi MiBand does the exact same thing for around $20 + has a battery that lasts well over 30 days.

Works with both Android and iPhone.
 
I got on the Fitbit bandwagon about a year and a half ago and was quite happy with it overall (until it died.....twice grrr). Anyhoo I too was quite interested in the sleep tracking it provided. However looking back it is kinda pointless. Yes it shows you when u fell asleep, how restless you were during your sleep, how many times you got up to go to the toilet (or have sexy times ;-)but what does that info actually GIVE you? those stats don't actually help you sleep better in any way. It's cool and all, but ultimately kinda pointless IMO. But to each his own, and if a sleep tracking app comes along for my  watch I'll probably use it.
 
Oldskool23 said:
I got on the Fitbit bandwagon about a year and a half ago and was quite happy with it overall (until it died.....twice grrr). Anyhoo I too was quite interested in the sleep tracking it provided. However looking back it is kinda pointless. Yes it shows you when u fell asleep, how restless you were during your sleep, how many times you got up to go to the toilet (or have sexy times ;-)but what does that info actually GIVE you? those stats don't actually help you sleep better in any way. It's cool and all, but ultimately kinda pointless IMO. But to each his own, and if a sleep tracking app comes along for my  watch I'll probably use it.
Click to expand...

I believe that people fail to see the bigger picture here. If you have 2 years of consistent sleep data along with information regarding illness, food data and heart rate and exercise for example, you have an excellent starting point for finding correlations to what you eat, how you sleep, workout and how that correlates to when you get sick or feel bad in any other way.
 
Oldskool23 said:
I got on the Fitbit bandwagon about a year and a half ago and was quite happy with it overall (until it died.....twice grrr). Anyhoo I too was quite interested in the sleep tracking it provided. However looking back it is kinda pointless. Yes it shows you when u fell asleep, how restless you were during your sleep, how many times you got up to go to the toilet (or have sexy times ;-)but what does that info actually GIVE you? those stats don't actually help you sleep better in any way. It's cool and all, but ultimately kinda pointless IMO. But to each his own, and if a sleep tracking app comes along for my  watch I'll probably use it.
Click to expand...
I have a Fitbit Charge and the main reason I bought it was for the automatic sleep tracking. While you're right, seeing how many hours you were asleep isn't huge groundbreaking info by itself, it's still interesting to see, for example, that the reason you feel slow and groggy today is because you only got 5 hours or sleep or because you were restless for so and so minutes. When I wake up, the first thing I do is check the time and the first thing that comes to mind is "Geez, I wonder if I got enough sleep" and that's why i'm gonna keep wearing and using my Fitbit along with my Apple Watch.
 
I have a Withings Activite watch. It also tracks my sleep and does so better than my Fitbit used to do. It does it automatically when I lay down to sleep. With the Fitbit I had to start and stop the sleep action. And with the Activite I do not need to charge it. The battery lasts 8 months at least.
 
Check out a Fitbit Charge or Charge HR and wear it on your other wrist. That's what I do.

Tuck
 
superlawyer15 said:
Does a similar watch app exist? I tend to recall hearing that developers don't have access to the gyro APis.
Click to expand...


You're correct, unfortunately. Currently no non-Apple apps can use the sensors required to track movement. Built-in apps aside, the watch is literally just an extra display for your iPhone.
 
AKRowdy said:
Normally I sell my old gadgets and things after a certain period of time. Even though Watch has replaced 50% of the things that my Jawbone UP24 could do (plus more!) I decided to keep my UP and I use it every night to track my sleep. The Move usage was awesome but I think the most insightful feature of the UP is the sleep tracking feature.

As it is now, I get roughly 45-65% battery life left at the end of the day. I'm not expecting the 14 days of battery I get out of my UP24 but… idk I hope one day it can track sleep movements. I think the most important aspect in this evolution is a quicker time to charge. If you are using it all night and all day, it can't take 2.5-3 hours to charge fully. Maybe 40-70 minutes, tops.
Click to expand...

This! I have a Pebble watch that I use for sleep tracking as well. The Apple Watch needs to be charged overnight so not sure a sleep tracking app is in it's imminent future :(.
 
3under2 said:
This! I have a Pebble watch that I use for sleep tracking as well. The Apple Watch needs to be charged overnight so not sure a sleep tracking app is in it's imminent future :(.
Click to expand...

Why would the watch need to charge overnight? It takes about an hour to charge it so whilst you're watching TV or taking a shower at night let it charge and then you're good to go for a night.
 
grenhall said:
Why would the watch need to charge overnight? It takes about an hour to charge it so whilst you're watching TV or taking a shower at night let it charge and then you're good to go for a night.
Click to expand...

Yes, you are right. I have a habit of charging my phone and watch while I am sleeping. I'm not sure how much power the watch would drain while tracking your sleep for a whole cycle though? I already have the Pebble so have been used to using that for my sleep tracking and not being fussed with charging my watch or phone during waking hours. It'll be interesting to see if a sleep tracking app does surface for the Apple Watch. :D
 
grenhall said:
Why would the watch need to charge overnight? It takes about an hour to charge it so whilst you're watching TV or taking a shower at night let it charge and then you're good to go for a night.
Click to expand...

Yes, this.

I have worn my AW a few times while sleeping just the get the heart rate recordings.
 
3under2 said:
This! I have a Pebble watch that I use for sleep tracking as well. The Apple Watch needs to be charged overnight so not sure a sleep tracking app is in it's imminent future :(.
Click to expand...

Yep. The Jawbone UP24 has a 14 day battery life, which is not something I think Apple will be able to match LOL
 
silly

I'm really hopeful that something comes from APPLE to track this.

Its really silly that there couldn't be some form of low power (disable radios, disable HR maybe, other sensors, most of screen) setting so one could wear the watch to track sleep and movement without totally torching the battery.

Next to actually EXERCISING and eating right, getting quality SLEEP is the most important thing you can do.
 
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