Sleep tracking with Apple Watch is a great way to gain new insight into your
sleeping habits and trends over time. In fact, with the
<https://9to5mac.com/2020/06/25/watchos-7-apple-watch-sleep-tracking/>
release of watchOS 7 last fall, Apple officially added native sleep tracking
support to the Apple Watch for the first time. Read on as we round up the
best sleep tracking apps for Apple Watch, comparing Apple's first-party
solution with the competition.
Native Apple Watch Sleep Tracking
With the release of watchOS 7 last year,
<https://9to5mac.com/2020/06/25/watchos-7-apple-watch-sleep-tracking/> Apple
Watch now officially supports sleep tracking without needing a third-party
application.
We went hands-on with the
<https://9to5mac.com/2020/06/25/watchos-7-apple-watch-sleep-tracking/>
experience when it was released, explaining that Apple is tying Apple Watch
sleep-tracking capabilities in with new iPhone features such as Wind Down
and Wake Up for a seamless cross-device experience.
There's a new Sleep app on the Apple Watch, as well as a Sleep Mode that
hides your usual watch face and instead shows the current time, as well as
what time your alarm is set for. It also disables features like
raise-to-wake, so your watch face isn't lighting up in the middle of the
night.
To view the sleep data tracked by your Apple Watch, you can go to the Sleep
app on Apple Watch or the Health app on iPhone. The actual data here is
limited. Apple simply shows you your time asleep, as well as a range for
your heart rate. That's where third-party applications still prove useful.
They can offer much more data than Apple's native implementation, and you
don't have to wait until the fall to get started.
What about battery life?
Before you start tracking your sleep with Apple Watch, you'll need to make a
plan for when you'll charge your watch. There are two primary options here:
before bed or after you wake up in the morning. One key change for me has
been <https://amzn.to/3c0LqEX> placing an extra Apple Watch charger at my
desk rather than on my nightstand.
For me, it's much easier to charge before bed every night. I wake up and
workout first most mornings, so I have to make sure my Apple Watch has
enough battery for workout tracking. If I put my Apple Watch on the charger
at around 8 p.m., after I've already reached my stand goal for that day, it
usually has a full charge by the time I head to bed at 9:30 p.m. And when I
wake up in the morning, I almost always have more than 90% battery left -
more than enough to make it through the day.
Plus, on the days when I need a mid-day recharge, having the
<https://amzn.to/3c0LqEX> extra Apple Watch charger on my desk makes that a
lot easier.
This works perfectly for me, but your routine is probably different than
mine. The key is to come up with a plan that you can replicate every day.
Whether that's charging in the morning or at night, or a combination of
both, it's a lot easier than you might think to change your Apple Watch
charging habits.
Of course, there is also always the option of repurposing an old Apple Watch
as your dedicated "sleep watch." 9to5Mac's Zac Hall previously
<https://9to5mac.com/2018/09/28/apple-watch-sleep-tracking/> explained how
to do that. You could also pick up a <https://amzn.to/2v2JZT5> used or
refurbished older Apple Watch model to do this.
Once you've established a charging routine for your Apple Watch, it's time
to pick a sleep tracking app. There are a few different options.
AutoSleep
AutoSleep is probably the most popular Apple Watch sleep tracking app on the
App Store, and for good reason. It provides some of the most in-depth data,
including a detailed look at sleep, sleep quality, heart rate, deep sleep,
and much more.
AutoSleep uses a system of rings to help you monitor those key statistics.
The main interface shows you rings for sleep, sleep quality, deep sleep, and
bpm. All of this data comes at a cost, however, and AutoSleep's interface
can feel a bit overwhelming once you dive into all of the available data.
To combat that, AutoSleep also offers an excellent Apple Watch application
that makes it easy to get a quick look at the current day's sleep data.
There is also a "readiness" score that attempts to predict how ready you are
for the day based on your sleep for that night.
More on AutoSleep:
* <http://autosleep.tantsissa.com/> Simple app overview
* <http://autosleep.tantsissa.com/sleeprings> Sleep Rings - Simple at
a glance overview of sleep
* <http://autosleep.tantsissa.com/readiness> Wellness
* <http://autosleep.tantsissa.com/hygiene> Sleep Hygiene Trends
* <http://autosleep.tantsissa.com/calibrate> How to Adjust Sleep
Detection
* <http://autosleep.tantsissa.com/tips> Tips & More
AutoSleep is available on the
<https://apps.apple.com/us/app/autosleep-track-sleep-on-watch/id1164801111>
App Store for $3.99 as a one-time purchase.
Sleep++
Sleep++ is another popular sleep tracking app for Apple Watch with support
for automatic sleep detection, bedtime reminders, sleep goals, and more. In
the Sleep++ app, the main interface provides a detailed look at your sleep
habits over the past few days.
Like its competitors, Sleep++ also offers quite a bit of data on sleep
trends, cycles, phases, and more. You can also see a detailed timeline of
your sleep, including when you were restful, restless, and awake, with a
particularly neat look at when your "best sleep" occurred."
One of the best things about Sleep++ is that it's completely free, with an
optional in-app purchase to remove advertisements. If you're looking for a
data-rich automatic Apple Watch sleep tracker, you
<https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sleep/id1038440371> download Sleep++ on the
App Store.
Pillow
When I wrote about sleeping apps for the Apple Watch almost three years ago,
Pillow was an option that I wasn't familiar with at the time, but multiple
9to5Mac readers suggested I give it a try. With features like automatic
sleep detection and heart-rate analysis, Pillow fits right in among the rest
of the market.
One of the key features of Pillow is its support for recording important
audio events throughout the night. This means the app can track data
including snoring, sleep apnea, and sleep talking, but the biggest caveat
here is that noise detection only works in manual mode.
There's also support for viewing detailed sleep trends over time,
personalized recommendations, and more. You can try Pillow on the
<https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pillow-automatic-sleep-tracker/id878691772>
App Store for free with in-app purchases.
NapBot
NapBot is a newcomer to the Apple Watch sleep tracking fun, and it's quickly
becoming one of the most powerful options. NapBot uses machine learning to
perform automatic sleep tracking, allowing you to see details on phases,
trends, and more.
NapBot offers an impressive amount of data in an impressively
easy-to-navigate interface. The "Calendar" tab in the app allows you to get
a detailed look at your sleep on a daily basis, and you can pick a specific
day to see more detailed information on heart rate and phases.
NapBot also just launched its first Apple Watch app that's completely
independent of the iPhone. It currently only allows you to see the previous
day's sleep, but hopefully it will add more capabilities and historical data
over time.
NapBot is the newest Apple Watch sleep tracking app, but it's also quickly
becoming my go-to. You can
<https://apps.apple.com/us/app/napbot-auto-sleep-tracker/id1476436116>
download it on the App Store for free with in-app purchases.
Others
If none of those options pique your interest,
<https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sleep-watch-by-bodymatter/id1138066420?mt=8&p
t=11l8808&ign-mpt=uo%3D4> Sleep Watch is another choice that's available on
the App Store. Apple
<https://9to5mac.com/2017/05/09/apple-acquires-popular-apple-watch-sleep-tra
cking-app-beddit/> acquired Beddit in 2017, but it's primarily a hardware
sleep tracker that you put underneath your sheets. Sleep Cycle was available
for the Apple Watch up until recently, but
<https://support.sleepcycle.com/hc/en-us/articles/206704349-Why-don-t-you-su
pport-Apple-Watch-or-Wear-OS-right-now-> support was dropped back in
October.
What do I use?
Despite all of the new entrants into the sleep tracking Apple Watch
industry, I still find AutoSleep to be the most powerful option, but that's
not to say it's perfect. AutoSleep offers you a lot of data, and you can
pick and choose whether to read too much into it.
Additionally, I pair the AutoSleep data with the features introduced with
watchOS 7 and iOS 14. You can still use features such as Wind Down and Sleep
Mode, and track data using third-party sources such as AutoSleep.
NapBot is becoming a close second for me, and it's getting better with each
passing update. Both NapBot and AutoSleep, for instance, offer iOS 14 home
screen widgets and Apple Watch complications, something that isn't possible
with Apple's Health data.
The key, regardless of which application you pick, is to make sure there is
some sort of automatic sleep detection feature. This reduces friction and
means you don't have to remember to manually start a sleep tracking session
every night before bed. Instead, your Apple Watch can track your sleep in
the background, without any interaction from you.
These apps also integrate with Apple's Health app, which means you can get
an overview of your sleep data alongside everything else in the Health app.
The Health app is useful for tracking long-term trends and averages, but if
you want detailed data, you'll have to jump to your third-party app of
choice.
Now that Apple's first-party sleep tracking solution for Apple Watch has
been <https://9to5mac.com/2020/06/25/watchos-7-apple-watch-sleep-tracking/>
officially released, there's more interest than ever in sleep tracking
applications. These third-party apps offer powerful and rich data, Health
app integration, and more.
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