The 3 best Apple Watch sleep tracking apps to use before watchOS 7 arrives

The 3 all-time Apple tree Watch sleep tracking apps to use earlier watchOS 7 arrives

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

The Apple tree Picket 6 and watchOS 7 are a pair prepared to bring sleep tracking mainstream, merely that doesn't mean you need to wait until this fall to start monitoring the quality of your snooze.

Apple tree'southward own Slumber app has been in the pipeline since outset-generation Apple tree Watch debuted, Apple VP of Technology Kevin Lynch told CNET before this week. But as some Apple Watch users saw Fitbit and Garmin wearables supply sleep data, they turned to the watchOS App Store for software of their own.

The all-time fettle trackers we've tested
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While the all-time sleep apps for smartphones strive to aid adults become plenty shuteye, using a smartwatch or fitness tracker can offer insights that a telephone by your bedside cannot. Apple tree'south upcoming sleep tracking app, for example, will wield the Apple tree Watch'south built-in accelerometer and heart rate sensor to detect subtle movements that signal respiration while users snooze.

When the public watchOS vii beta launches afterward this month, nosotros'll be going easily-on with the all-new Slumber app to come across if our Apple Watch tin aid u.s.a. found amend bedtime schedules. We'll also take a expect at how the 'Air current Downward' feature contributes to a more peaceful transition to dreamland.

Testing the best Apple Watch sleep tracking apps

I tried out three unlike Apple Watch sleep tracking apps currently available in the watchOS App Store. All of them are among the most popular downloads, and ranged in cost from free to $30 per year.

These Apple Watch sleep tracking apps offer more than metrics than what we look from Apple tree's native version. Based on what we know nigh the software and so far, Apple slumber tracking tells yous how many hours of rest yous go each nighttime, and differentiates the time you spend in bed versus time y'all spend asleep. But that's almost it. Some of the existing apps beneath, meanwhile, provide a catalog of sleep quality statistics, and can even factor in things similar the conditions of your area.

And for those wondering how we continue our Apple Sentry juiced up when we wear it overnight, we offer 2 charging tips: Dock your watch an hour before yous plan on getting into bed, or for an 60 minutes first matter the morning. Attempt out both ways to come across which routine works best for you.

one. AutoSleep

The 3 best Apple Watch sleep tracking apps to use before watchOS 7 arrives — (Image credit: AutoSleep)

We think AutoSleep is the all-time Apple Watch slumber tracking app for those trying to make sleep tracking a habit. AutoSleep offers notifications that remind you to juice upwards your Apple Watch before going to sleep to help you become accustomed to a different charging routine. Equally long every bit your smartwatch has enough battery to make information technology through the night, in the morning yous'll be able to come across your sleep quality, average heart rate, minutes of deep sleep and more.

Not only did we find AutoSleep's assay authentic based on how rested (or not rested) we felt, we liked how information technology takes a cue from Apple's Activity rings in terms of UI, also. When you look at your reports from the week, you can run across how close yous came to meeting your desired sleep goals. For someone who takes rounding out their exercise and stand rings seriously, AutoSleep'south approach might motivate you to get to bed sooner and pay more heed to external factors that could demolition your sleep quality.

two. Slumber Cycle

Sleep Wheel is 1 of the best Apple tree Watch sleep tracking apps because, like Fitbit's slumber tracking software, it pays attention to your nightly slumber cycles to make up one's mind when it should wake you up. Before you go to bed, the Sleep Cycle app asks you to set a thirty-minute window in which information technology can wake you up. Then, when information technology senses a natural point for y'all to clamber back to consciousness, information technology leverages the Apple Lookout'due south advanced haptics to stir you from your sleep.

A premium Sleep Bicycle membership comes at a toll, but unlocks information a sleep tracking enthusiast should find valuable. It compares your Slumber scores confronting other Sleep Cycle users around the world and lets y'all accept notes of factors that increase or decrease your sleep quality. Information technology even lets you know if your local atmospheric condition influences how well or poorly yous rested when you lot've used the app for an extended flow of fourth dimension.

3. Sleep++

For those who desire ane of the all-time Apple Sentinel sleep tracking apps for costless, Sleep++ is the right service for y'all. It'southward a pop pick for automatic sleep detection, and tin can remind you when it's time to become to bed if yous intend to meet your sleep goals. Sleep++ besides provides a graph reporting on when you become your best sleep versus when you're restless each night.

Sleep++ isn't equally data-heavy as Slumber Cycle or AutoSleep, but the fact that it'southward free makes it a good choice for those who are perhaps skeptical of sleep tracking, or are intimidated by things like slumber scores. If you're going to monitor your slumber with Sleep++, it's up to you whether y'all choose to correlate its metrics with other factors in your life. It won't help y'all keep tabs on changes y'all may make, but we found it gets the job done at no cost.

How nosotros tested the best Apple tree Watch slumber tracking apps

We tested the Apple tree Watch slumber tracking apps above based on user reviews of top-performing choices available on the watchOS App Store. After getting into the routine of charging our Apple tree Watch first matter the morning time or earlier bed at dark, we used each app for several nights (if not longer) to come across if the data translated to our perception how much slumber we got and how rested we felt.

Taking accuracy, toll and bounty of metrics into consideration, nosotros ordered this list co-ordinate to how worthwhile each popular sleep tracking app proved.

Of course, when Apple'south native sleep tracking service goes live, we could recommend it before any of the 3rd-party apps above. We'll have to take information technology to bed for several nights to approximate how reliable and constructive the Sleep app is compared to the competition, and Apple tree'due south other health services, as well.

Kate Kozuch is a senior writer at Tom'due south Guide covering wearables, TVs and everything smart-home related. When she'south not in cyborg mode, you can observe her on an exercise cycle or channeling her inner celebrity chef. She and her robot army will dominion the globe one twenty-four hours, only until then, achieve her at kate.kozuch@futurenet.com.