Apple Watch Reportedly Getting Built-In Sleep Tracking

Apple is expected to take the wraps off its Series 5 Apple Watch next week. And ahead of the official launch, a major new feature has been revealed by the folks at 9to5Mac.

According to the report, Apple has reportedly made a new feature for sleep tracking. The built-in feature, internally codenamed Burrito, will allow Apple Watch owners to track their sleep without needing any extra hardware. It’s being called “Time in Bed tracking”, so Apple might not exactly advertise it as a “sleep tracking” feature.

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The feature will entirely use the Apple Watch’s existing sensors and use all those sensors to quantify things like a user’s quality of sleep. It will leverage data like a person’s movement in bed, their heart rate, and any other noises during their sleep. It will also be integrated with the alarm system, so if you wake up before your alarm goes off, the alarm will be automatically turned off. Similarly, you can choose to get a silent alarm on the Apple Watch that makes the vibrate without any ringtone, and the feature will also automatically enable Do Not Disturb when you go to bed.

Apple is working on a new Sleep app for the Apple Watch where all the Time in Bed data will be available.

Built-in sleep tracking on the Apple Watch will obviously be pretty great, but you will have to make sure to charge your Watch when you wake up or before you go to bed to make sure it runs throughout the day. It’s not clear, however, whether the new Time in Bed tracking feature will be an exclusive Apple Watch Series 5, or whether it will be made available on older Apple Watch devices via a software update. Considering Series 5 is supposed to be a minor upgrade to the Apple Watch line, I have a feeling Apple will make the sleep tracking feature exclusive to the Series 5 Apple Watch just to give users a reason to upgrade.

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Conversation 17 comments

  • SvenJ

    02 September, 2019 - 3:36 pm

    <p>Depending on your daytime usage, your battery might well be dead before you wake up.</p>

    • Paul Avvento

      Premium Member
      02 September, 2019 - 5:23 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#455209">In reply to SvenJ:</a></em></blockquote><p>I use a 3rd party app now for sleep monitoring and charge my watch during my morning routine and usually get a full day and a half on that if I forget to charge it. Granted, I mostly use it for notifications and movement measurements and not dedicated workouts or gps run tracking which is more battery intensive.</p>

    • mattbg

      Premium Member
      02 September, 2019 - 5:45 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#455209">In reply to SvenJ:</a></em></blockquote><p>It's feasible they could come up with a "sleep mode" that uses far fewer resources (perhaps aided by new hardware). If it's tracking your sleep and makes a good guess when you are asleep then presumably you aren't doing anything else with it.</p><p><br></p><p>I have no idea if they are doing that, but it's an Apple type of thing to do – i.e. optimize for the use case and it's very much not an Apple thing to do to sell a watch feature that fails to wake you up with an alarm because the battery died while it was tracking your sleep.</p>

  • MikeGalos

    02 September, 2019 - 7:01 pm

    <p>Wow. Another "Innovation" Apple will have retroactively invented.</p>

    • lvthunder

      Premium Member
      02 September, 2019 - 10:49 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#455340">In reply to MikeGalos:</a></em></blockquote><p>Do you have to be so negative about everything?</p>

      • dontbeevil

        03 September, 2019 - 1:50 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#455398">In reply to lvthunder:</a></em></blockquote><p>When we will have the same treatment when apple copy someone else and when someone else copy apple… We'll be glad to stop </p>

      • dontbeevil

        03 September, 2019 - 2:43 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#455398">In reply to lvthunder:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>"Gmail No Longer Gives You an Excuse to Send Emails With Spelling and Grammar Mistakes"</p><p>For some reasons they forgot to say that outlook.com already provide the same feature for ages, but when it comes to MS, they really pay attention to put the emphasis on copy</p><p>"Microsoft Copied the iPhone’s Animoji and Made It More Accessible"</p><p>Oh they forgot to write copy also when it comes to</p><p>"In-Display Fingerprint Scanners Will Make a Debut on the iPhone in 2021"</p><p>And</p><p>"Apple Introduces New Migration Feature for iPhones"</p><p>And</p><p>"Apple Testing Face ID and Touch ID Sign-In for iCloud.com"</p><p>And</p><p>"Google Services Going Passwordless on Android"</p><p>But suddenly they remembered again that apple has something similar to point out here:</p><p>"Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo Announce New AirDrop-inspired File Transfer feature"</p><p>(and of course there was nothing similar before airdrop…ehm bluetooth/nfc file transfer)</p><p>And they forgot to mention products with similar features again</p><p>"Apple Watch Reportedly Getting Built-In Sleep Tracking"</p><p>"Apple’s Tag Device for Tracking Personal Items Detailed in New Leak"</p>

        • MikeGalos

          03 September, 2019 - 10:26 am

          <blockquote><em><a href="#455425">In reply to dontbeevil:</a></em></blockquote><p>Good examples. Odd how that works out.</p>

          • MikeGalos

            05 September, 2019 - 11:47 am

            <blockquote><em><a href="#455557">In reply to MikeGalos:</a></em></blockquote><p>Apparently I replied to "Good example" that were [REDACTED]</p>

    • dontbeevil

      03 September, 2019 - 1:49 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#455340">In reply to MikeGalos:</a></em></blockquote><p>Strange that they didn't write "apple copy fitbit" (or whoever) </p>

  • jwpear

    Premium Member
    02 September, 2019 - 7:58 pm

    <p>This is just what I've been waiting for to make a jump to Apple Watch. Can't wait to see how they manage battery life and what aspects of sleep they track. I'm also interested in the new Fitbit Versa 2, to replace my Blaze, so will be comparing both. I am more interested in fitness and sleep tracking with light notifications than I am with apps. On the surface, it feels like the Versa is the better option given those features and the five day battery life of the Versa 2. </p>

  • RonV42

    Premium Member
    02 September, 2019 - 9:18 pm

    <p>I get 9 days on my Vivoactive 3 with a full charge and it tracks me 24 x 7 including sleep. It will be interesting how Apple will handle the message that battery life will be impacted.</p>

    • wright_is

      Premium Member
      03 September, 2019 - 4:59 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#455382">In reply to RonV42:</a></em></blockquote><p>Same here with my Huawei Watch GT and my old Fitbits and my wife's Huawei Band 3. It is great, only having to recharge every 10 – 15 days.</p>

  • lvthunder

    Premium Member
    02 September, 2019 - 10:48 pm

    <p>Who wants to wear their watch when they sleep. Apple already owns an excellent sleep solution called Bedit. It's a thin band that sits on your mattress under the sheets. It plugs into the wall so no need to worry about battery life.</p>

    • Chris_Kez

      Premium Member
      03 September, 2019 - 10:34 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#455397">In reply to lvthunder:</a></em></blockquote><p>I wear mine to track sleep; to have a flashlight handy for changing baby diapers overnight; to have a silent alarm in the morning. I top off the battery while showering or making dinner.</p>

  • wright_is

    Premium Member
    03 September, 2019 - 4:58 am

    <p>This is new? My Fitbit Charge 2 and Charge 3 both did this, as does my Huawei Watch GT and my wife's Huawei Band 3… I assumed that the Apple Watch has been doing this for a similar length of time.</p>

    • Chris_Kez

      Premium Member
      03 September, 2019 - 10:21 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#455440">In reply to wright_is:</a></em></blockquote><p>Apple has been content to let third party developers offer sleep tracking apps, and there are several good ones. Battery constraints may be one reason Apple didn't push this earlier. But if there wasn't a robust developer community they may have had to do it themselves. Apple seems to be taking it slow with the Watch, focusing on just a few new features every year. </p>

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