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iOS 26.2 and watchOS 26.2 Update Sleep Score Ranges

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Apr 12, 2001
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watchOS 26.2 and iOS 26.2 tweak the Sleep Score feature that's available for the Apple Watch, changing the labeling for point ranges to better match how people might be feeling after a restless night of sleep.

watchos-26-2-sleep-score.jpg

The new scores are as follows:
  • Very Low - 0-40 (previously 0-29)
  • Low - 41-60 (previously 30-49)
  • OK - 61-80 (previously 50-69)
  • High - 81-95 (previously 70-89)
  • Very High - 96-100 (previously 90-100)
The "Very High" rank used to be "Excellent," but Apple changed the name to be more in line with the other labels.

At the current time, five or six hours of restless sleep can still earn a "High" score, even though most people probably aren't feeling their best with that amount of sleep.

Sleep Score is a watchOS 26 feature that takes into account sleep duration, bedtime, and interruptions to assign a nightly score that represents sleep quality. Duration is worth 50 points, bedtime is worth 30, and interruptions (times woken up in the night) are worth 20.

Apple intends for Sleep Score to provide an overall sense of sleep patterns, helping users to identify habits that might be impacting sleep. Sleep Score requires an Apple Watch, and it works on all Apple Watch models that support watchOS 26.

Article Link: iOS 26.2 and watchOS 26.2 Update Sleep Score Ranges
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/11/04/watchos-26-2-updates-sleep-score-ranges/
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Posted this last Saturday in the thread in the AW forum, not really sure what I get out of the scores



so 6 or so weeks in I still don't know what to do with this "score". I do see it every morning as I look at the Health app for vitals and sleep. I cannot find anywhere how this score is calculated and why the 3 categories have the numbers they do.
I suppose the duration of 50 you get when you sleep for 8 hrs (I've gotten that a few times), but why when my sleep goal is actually set to 7.5hrs???
And the bedtime, I am 99% regular in that I go to bed around the same time and my alarm goes off at the same time every day, so 98% of the time I get the 30
Interruptions, I typically have to use the restroom twice per night. somewhat of an age thing, sometimes I cannot go back to sleep for some time so I know that I will highly unlikely ever get that 20.

I've woken up and felt crappy, with a score of 89, I've woken up feeling good with a score of 73 ...

I'll keep wearing my U2 for sleep tracking for the vitals (wrist temp, SpO2), but the sleep info, it continues to be a mystery and I do not get any insights into the data ...
 
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Does anyone know if it looks to all your devices to see if you're being a good boy or not?

I've wondered if I have my Apple Watch on, in bed, quite possibly appearing be asleep according to my Apple Watch, but in fact doom scrolling on my iPhone, does it know that and NOT count it as sleep time?
 
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For me, personally, I stopped sleeping in my watch. It was too much data. I was constantly thinking about why I had woken up. Why was I awake for 30 minutes? And no matter what I did during the day, working out, yard work, etc, I would still wake up. At least according to the watch. On top of that I would have no memory of waking up.

I stopped sleeping in it and I'm getting sleep just fine without all that data.
 
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KENESS said:
Does anyone know if it looks to all your devices to see if you're being a good boy or not?

I've wondered if I have my Apple Watch on, in bed, quite possibly appearing be asleep according to my Apple Watch, but in fact doom scrolling on my iPhone, does it know that and NOT count it as sleep time?
Click to expand...
If you are doom scrolling on your phone, your heart rate is likely to be higher than if you are asleep. So the Apple watch won't think you are asleep, until you are really asleep
 
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Night Spring said:
Exactly. 8 hours of sleep is way more than I need. My optimal sleep time seems to be around 6 hours. I wish there was a way to adjust the sleep score to reflect that.
Click to expand...
That's my main issue with the score. I do not need 8 hours of sleep per night. About 7.25 hours is what I need. In fact, 8 hours really isn't what most people need. It's a good number to aim for, but there are plenty of studies that show 7-8 is ideal. There are some people who legitimately need less and some who need more, but 8 hours is probably not what most adults really need. Adolescents, however, need 8-10 hours.

Edit to add some sources and more commentary.

There are some conflicting data but if you get between 7-8 hours and you feel well-rested, you should be good. If you think you need less than 7 hours, you might, but most people getting less than 7 hours of sleep per night really need more sleep. It's also highly important to have as regular a sleep schedule as possible -- even on weekends. If you can go to sleep about the same time and wake up at about the same time each day you tend to do much better from a sleep/health perspective.

"Adults should sleep 7 or more hours per night on a regular basis to promote optimal health."

Consensus Conference Panel, et al. "Recommended amount of sleep for a healthy adult: a joint consensus statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society." Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine 11.6 (2015): 591-592.

"Overall, the optimal sleep duration decreases with age, with the optimal sleep durations for adolescents, early adulthood, mid-adulthood, and old age being 9 h, 8 h, 8 h, and 7 h, respectively."

Wang, Fei, et al. "Nonlinear relationships between sleep duration, mental health, and quality of life: the dangers of less sleep versus more sleep." Sleep Medicine 119 (2024): 565-573.


"Using data from the UK Biobank for participants primarily of European ancestry aged 38–73 years, including 94% white people, we identified a nonlinear association between sleep, with approximately 7 h as the optimal sleep duration, and genetic and cognitive factors, brain structure, and mental health as key measures."

Li, Yuzhu, et al. "The brain structure and genetic mechanisms underlying the nonlinear association between sleep duration, cognition and mental health." Nature Aging 2.5 (2022): 425-437.
 
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neuropsychguy said:
That's my main issue with the score. I do not need 8 hours of sleep per night. About 7.25 hours is what I need. In fact, 8 hours really isn't what most people need. It's a good number to aim for, but there are plenty of studies that show 7-8 is what is typically needed. There are some people who legitimately need less and some who need more, but 8 hours is frankly too much for most adults. Adolescents, however, need 8-10 hours.
Click to expand...
So I guess I'm not weird. I feel better rested with 6-7 hours than I do with 8+
 
I know for my watch I've woken up in the night, looked at my watch to see what time it was, tossed and turned and finally gotten to sleep.

And then in the morning it didn't record that period of being awake. Dude, I literally checked YOU for the time.

I'm surprised the sleep score doesn't count the actual stages of sleep in it's calculation.
 
I like the sleep tracking feature, or at least seeing how I score. The only thing I don't understand is why it cares about "bedtime" at all. What's it matter what time I actually go to bed? It should only try to monitor hours slept and waking up etc.
 
rotlex said:
I like the sleep tracking feature, or at least seeing how I score. The only thing I don't understand is why it cares about "bedtime" at all. What's it matter what time I actually go to bed? It should only try to monitor hours slept and waking up etc.
Click to expand...

Because an important thing to have good sleep is regularity. It has been proved that having the habit to go to sleep every night around the same time has a positive effect on your sleep. It is how your body works.

www.nationalgeographic.com

When you go to bed may matter more than how long you sleep

You might be tempted to sleep in after a late night—but scientists have found that it’s better for your brain and heart health to stick to your regular schedule.
www.nationalgeographic.com www.nationalgeographic.com
 
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KENESS said:
Does anyone know if it looks to all your devices to see if you're being a good boy or not?

I've wondered if I have my Apple Watch on, in bed, quite possibly appearing be asleep according to my Apple Watch, but in fact doom scrolling on my iPhone, does it know that and NOT count it as sleep time?
Click to expand...
It should definitely count your iPhone time as awake time, as it’s always factored in my sleep cycles before as “awake”

Though I’ve found the Apple Watch extremely good at detecting. I used to have a Pebble watch that would think I was sleeping even if I was gaming in the middle of the night because my wrist is perfectly still. The Apple Watch doesn’t make this mistake!
 
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RALentz said:
Restless -> restful I believe.

Certainly 5-6 hours of 'restless' sleep should never qualify for a 'High' score on sleep quality I would think.
Click to expand...

I believe the article is correct. They noted that such sleep would get a high score using the "old" (still current excluding the beta) calculation, and that the new calculation makes this less likely given the higher ranges required for the higher scores now.
 
Tim Jobs the 2nd said:
So I guess I'm not weird. I feel better rested with 6-7 hours than I do with 8+
Click to expand...
That's quite normal. Too much sleep isn't good either. If you're getting closer to 6 hours of sleep, you probably need closer to 7.

Something else that can affect how rested you feel is what sleep stage you wake up from. If you happen to wake up from a moderate or deep stage of sleep, you can feel much worse than if you wake up from a lighter stage. That's possibly what happens when you wake up after 8+ hours of sleep (although we spend less time in deeper sleep the longer we sleep).
 
RALentz said:
Restless -> restful I believe.

Certainly 5-6 hours of 'restless' sleep should never qualify for a 'High' score on sleep quality I would think.

-R
Click to expand...

You'd think, but it does for me. That's why I used the wording.
 
I wish there was some option for feedback on these scores. There are times when I've gotten to bed on time, not woken up at all, but also gotten like 6 hours sleep (which is definitely not enough for me) and it gives me like a 90 or something -- even though I'm dead tired. What I'd like is a little popup that asks me to rate how rested I feel and uses that to adjust the score and improve its accuracy on future scores.
 
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