Will there ever be a dedicated Apple fitness tracker/sleep tracker/wearable health device?

[sdilley14]

Sleeping while wearing an Apple Watch can be very irritating and uncomfortable at times, but I really like being able to track my sleep habits and my resting heart rate.

Wearing an Apple Watch can be uncomfortable in general - some people just aren't watch wearers. But again, the health and fitness tracking that the AW provides can justify putting up with the discomfort of wearing a bulky device on your wrist.

Tim Cook has said on more than one occasion that he thinks Apple's biggest contribution to humanity will be in the health field.

It seems like an absolute no-brainer for Apple to create some sort of dedicated health/fitness device - their own version of a FitBit, Whoop Strap, etc. It would be something light, smooth, thin, aesthetically appealing, and barely noticeable while you're wearing it.

Every night I have to decide if I'm going to put up with wearing my bulky Apple Watch to sleep so I can monitor my sleep pattern and heart rate. Several times I've woken up in the middle night and decided to take the watch off because it felt constricting and annoying. The Watch can drag against blankets and pillows, and if you're a stomach sleeper (like me) and you put your arm/hands under your head or under the pillow the Apple Watch can create some uncomfortable resistance.

Forget about the "Apple Tile" and focus those efforts towards a dedicated health and fitness wearable! Price it at $99 and watch it fly off the the shelves!

 

[Duncan68]

Have you ever worn a G-Shock? "Bulky" is the most unlikely word that I would ever use to describe the Apple Watch.

 

[Itinj24]

They don’t need to redirect resources for a dedicated health tracker. That’s child’s play compared to the Apple Watch. They can create one overnight. Maybe they don’t want to cannibalize sales from the AW. I would love to see an Apple “Tile” device hit the market. perhaps try a third party health tracker that syncs with Apple Health. Believe Withings is one option. Oh look, it’s 99 bux...

 

[QCassidy352]

I doubt it. Apple tends to offer more fully-featured versions of their products over time, not stripped-down versions.

 

[sdilley14]

I doubt it. Apple tends to offer more fully-featured versions of their products over time, not stripped-down versions.

I doubt it too. It's wishful thinking. I know Apple doesn't usually come out with niche products like this. I'm just annoyed that I have to go outside of the Apple ecosystem to get a device that's comfortable to wear and can track fitness/health metrics. Oh well

 

[PugMaster]

I think official sleep tracking will be here, soon. I don’t notice my AW at all while sleeping or even during the day. It’s so light and smooth. I have had worse smart watches before.

 

[BittenApple]

Its called the Apple Watch. Check it out.

 

[Bandaman]

Its called the Apple Watch. Check it out.

Yeah I’m confused by this thread.

 

[artfossil]

The Apple Watch is all the fitness and sleep tracker I need. I wear the Sport Loop band and I don’t notice that I even have the Watch on—day or night. I’ve been tracking my sleep for the last 18 months or so with SleepWatch and the data has been invaluable to me and to my sleep doctor. My sleep, fitness and overall health have improved and continue to improve and the Watch is a huge part of this.

 

[Abazigal]

Fitbit just sold itself to google because it couldn’t compete with Apple, and you want Apple to do the very same thing that didn’t work for Fitbit?

 

[Bandaman]

Fitbit just sold itself to google because it couldn’t compete with Apple, and you want Apple to do the very same thing that didn’t work for Fitbit?

What?

 

[staggerlee41]

I have never had an issue with comfort and Apple Watch, though I am admittedly quite used to wearing traditional watches.

What band are you wearing when wearing your Apple Watch to sleep with? Maybe try a different band, like a Sport Loop or a leather band from FFF. Those are the two most comfortable bands that feel like next to nothing against the skin. In particular the leather from FFF is like a second skin. Literally. Two years of wearing Apple Watch including sleep tracking, I don't even notice it's there.

Short of having an Apple Health Tracking chip imbedded within you somewhere, I don't see how anything they can make that is wearable is going to be any more comfortable or different than what's already out there.

 

[Strangedream]

So basically you just want a slimmer Apple Watch so you can sleep with it comfortably?

 

[PBz]

What blows my mind is the AW is a supercomputer compared to my old Garmin FR 305 but somehow the Garmin is capable of storing workout/activity ON the watch.

 

[Ntombi]

I agree with the others: try switching to a sports loop.

I wear my watch as close to 24/7 as possible, because I got it for fall detection and to monitor a minor heart thing. I sleep and shower in it, only taking it off to charge about every 36 hours.

The kicker is that I have chronic pain in my joints, especially my wrists, so wearing a watch or bracelet can go way past uncomfortable into very painful. And I have to wear it fairly tightly for the heartbeat function to work well enough for my needs.

For that reason, I only wear sports loops (OEM and knockoff). I have found them super comfortable and not distracting, even when sleeping. It’s the closest thing to wearing nothing on my wrist.

 

[PBz]

I second the sport loop. Love them.

 

[PugMaster]

Fitbit just sold itself to google because it couldn’t compete with Apple, and you want Apple to do the very same thing that didn’t work for Fitbit?

Fitbit was very well in business. Google tends to acquire good stuff to use the tech for themselves. Just like Apple does. Expect Google Fitnessbands and maybe they ditch WearOS one day.

 

[44267547]

Fitbit was very well in business. Google tends to acquire good stuff to use the tech for themselves. Just like Apple does. Expect Google Fitnessbands and maybe they ditch WearOS one day.

Believe me when I tell you this, I’m not trying to refute you in multiple threads. Fitbit has not been ‘very well’ in business for years. Fitbit has been a dying brand for (Probably since the Series 2 Apple Watch made some major leaps). Plus, their general marketing was falling behind compared to how they were heavily marketed 2013–2014, and Apple pretty much dominated the marketing aspect with the Apple Watch expanding in brick and mortar stores versus just being sold an Apple store/online. But as @abazigail stated, they can’t compete with Apple on many levels.

Anyways, the only advantage Fitbit has over Apple, is they make entry level fitness bands that’s relatively cheap if someone couldn’t afford/didn’t need the higher end Fitbit models.

 

[PugMaster]

I don't know where you get your numbers from, but Fitbit still dominates the market share of fitness wearables, not smart watches. They surely lost grounds compared to 2015, but also the number of competitors is increasing. Also, I don't know why you want to directly compare both of them as they have vastly different features - only the very recent Fitbit devices get closer to be called a "smart watch" - everything else they made is a fitness tracker, but a very good one.
And at last, FitBit was acquired for over 2 billion $$$$. Do you think this is the price of a dying brand?

 

[Dobbel]

For good sleep tracking use one of the under mattress sensor options, they are superior in many aspects registering moves, heartbeat and breathing

 

[Abazigal]

I don't know where you get your numbers from, but Fitbit still dominates the market share of fitness wearables, not smart watches. They surely lost grounds compared to 2015, but also the number of competitors is increasing. Also, I don't know why you want to directly compare both of them as they have vastly different features - only the very recent Fitbit devices get closer to be called a "smart watch" - everything else they made is a fitness tracker, but a very good one.
And at last, FitBit was acquired for over 2 billion $$$$. Do you think this is the price of a dying brand?

Is this not the iPhone vs the blackberry all over again? Apple redefined what the modern smartphone ought to be capable of, RIM found itself increasingly unable to compete in this new world order, and fell into irrelevancy.

Fitbit, like pebble before it, is a glorified pedometer compared to the Apple Watch, which is a miniaturised computer you wear on your wrist. This is as far as it goes, and with each new iteration of the Apple Watch, the gulf just gets wider and wider.

Likewise, I don’t know what it is google saw in Fitbit that they thought was worth 1.5 billion (after subtracting the .6 billion of spare cash that Fitbit had - not even enough to cover a year of operating costs), but I don’t see Google’s acquisition going anywhere either, for the simple reason that google simply lacks the design-led culture to succeed with wearables, and people seem to be increasingly leery of giving google any more data than they already have to.

I foresee that Fitbit will ultimately serve as a case study for what happens to a company who underestimates Apple’s ability to redefine not just a product category, but an entire industry. And its acquisition by Google is merely the first of several dominoes to fall because of the Apple Watch redefining what utility on the wrist entails and the inability of its competitors to respond in kind.

Anybody want to bet on who the next casualty will be? Garmin perhaps?

Anyways, back to the original question, Apple does sell a (rather pricey) sleep tracker that you place on your bed. Beddit or something. Probably not what the OP had in mind, but I reiterate my belief that the Apple Watch is only going to get more complex and powerful in the future, not less. You want a cheap Apple-branded fitness tracker, that’s basically the series 3 Apple Watch.

 

[44267547]

Is this not the iPhone vs the blackberry all over again? Apple redefined what the modern smartphone ought to be capable of, RIM found itself increasingly unable to compete in this new world order, and fell into irrelevancy.

Fitbit, like pebble before it, is a glorified pedometer compared to the Apple Watch, which is a miniaturised computer you wear on your wrist. This is as far as it goes, and with each new iteration of the Apple Watch, the gulf just gets wider and wider.

Likewise, I don’t know what it is google saw in Fitbit that they thought was worth 1.5 billion (after subtracting the .6 billion of spare cash that Fitbit had - not even enough to cover a year of operating costs), but I don’t see Google’s acquisition going anywhere either, for the simple reason that google simply lacks the design-led culture to succeed with wearables, and people seem to be increasingly leery of giving google any more data than they already have to.

I foresee that Fitbit will ultimately serve as a case study for what happens to a company who underestimates Apple’s ability to redefine not just a product category, but an entire industry. And its acquisition by Google is merely the first of several dominoes to fall because of the Apple Watch redefining what utility on the wrist entails and the inability of its competitors to respond in kind.

Anybody want to bet on who the next casualty will be? Garmin perhaps?

Anyways, back to the original question, Apple does sell a (rather pricey) sleep tracker that you place on your bed. Beddit or something. Probably not what the OP had in mind, but I reiterate my belief that the Apple Watch is only going to get more complex and powerful in the future, not less. You want a cheap Apple-branded fitness tracker, that’s basically the series 3 Apple Watch.

I’d agree about Garmin. They’ve been around for a while, and they actually make great hardware, but where they really suffer is their watchOS is terrible. It’s improved in some areas, but it lags and stutters. [The UI is sloppy with Garmin as well.] But I think where they really strive is the durability with their water resistant rating/ overall construction. But is that enough to keep their business alive considering where the Apple Watch is growing exponentially? I doubt it is.

Also, I think it’s worth noting in the background, (I can’t personally attest to this), but from my understanding, Garmins customer service is terrible. And I think that’s a really important key factor in moving forward isn’t just about the quality of the hardware and watchOS support, but when you’re purchasing an expensive smart watch like the Apple Watch or Garmin Fenix series, you’d expect the customer service to be a bit more highly rated.

 

[Indianwin]

I’d agree about Garmin. They’ve been around for a while, and they actually make great hardware, but where they really suffer is their watchOS is terrible. It’s improved in some areas, but it lags and stutters. [The UI is sloppy with Garmin as well.] But I think where they really strive is the durability with their water resistant rating/ overall construction. But is that enough to keep their business alive considering where the Apple Watch is growing exponentially? I doubt it is.

Also, I think it’s worth noting in the background, (I can’t personally attest to this), but from my understanding, Garmins customer service is terrible. And I think that’s a really important key factor in moving forward isn’t just about the quality of the hardware and watchOS support, but when you’re purchasing an expensive smart watch like the Apple Watch or Garmin Fenix series, you’d expect the customer service to be a bit more highly rated.

Yea, Garmin outsourcing their software development was a huge mistake. Their software has been horrible over the last 2 years.

 

[Plett]

Deleted

 

[nickdalzell1]

Whenever Google 'acquires' anything they too often kill it shortly afterward like all their other failed ideas. Remember the Revolv smart home platform? yeah...