Apple might finally add sleep tracking to its Apple Watch smartwatch, according to reports on Monday.
9to5Mac sources say the company is working on adding sleep tracking without the need for additional sensors. That means owners of the Series 4 could be able to wear the watch overnight and glean information pertaining to their hours of shuteye.
Of course, the main prohibiting factor in terms of adding sleep tracking to the Apple Watch is the current need to charge nightly. However, perhaps the Apple Watch Series 5 – potentially set for a September 10 unveiling – will boost battery life, with Series 4 users also benefitting in one way or another.
The lack of sleep tracking has long been a stick to beat the Apple Watch with, compared to devices with multi-day battery life that can offer a more holistic view of overall health beyond daily activity.
If the Apple Watch can finally add multi-day battery life, many users would consider that the final piece in the puzzle for the world’s most popular smartwatch.
Related: Apple Watch Series 5
According to today’s report, the feature is codenamed Burrito internally, and called Time in Bed Tracking.
The report says if user has more than one Apple Watch they will be able to choose which is their bedtime watch. That’s likely to be seen as a cynical ploy to tempt users into purchasing more than one Apple Watch in order to do the job that many fitness trackers already do.
However, Apple is also preparing to prompt users to charge their watch during the day in order to benefit from sleep tracking tech.
According to the report, the watch will be able to track sleep based upon movement, heart rate and noises using the existing sensors in the current hardware. Naturally that information will be pushed to the Health app, as well as a brand new Sleep app in watchOS 6.
There are additional nuggets contained within the report too. According to the sources, if Apple Watch wearers wake up and start moving around before their alarm goes off, the alarm will be automatically turned off.
The report does point out that it’s still unclear whether an Apple Watch Series 5 will be necessary to access sleep tracking. However, given the rumours the new hardware, set to be announced on September 10, will not add significant new sensors, it appears Series 4 users will also have access to sleep tracking too.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
