Apple has come out with 4 generations of watches in the past few years but they have yet to be able to track your sleep. It is a topic of discussion because competitors like Fitbit have had this feature since the beginning. With current devices similar to the Apple watches there are two different kinds of ways to track your sleep. According to the article, “One that simply measures how long you’re horizontal to approximate how well you slept, and another, sleep stage tracking, which uses the wide variety of sensors in modern wearables to make an educated guess not only on how long you slept but how much of that sleep was the coveted REM kind.”
This can be very beneficial for some consumers. Good sleep can be better for your health for a variety of reasons from concentrating better to reducing your risk of diabetes. An issue with Apple trying to add sleep tracking could be the current battery life of the watches which is only around 24 hours. Most owners of Apple watches charge them at night along with their phone. With word that Apple is now testing sleep tracking it is hard to know if it will really be a great feature or if they are just late to the game on this one.
https://gizmodo.com/apple-may-finally-add-sleep-tracking-to-the-apple-watch-1832895850
For apple to add this feature to the Apple watch is very late because many other companies like Fitbit and Garmin have done this for their wearable products ever since they started. But the biggest factor for this feature is Apple watches’ battery life. It is well known among Apple watch users that its battery is limited to only 18 hours in one day that is if you follow apple’s user guidelines. Having this app would mean that Apple needs to increase the battery of the next release of the Apple Watch or release a new software update that will help improve the watches’ battery life.
Personally, I have a Garmin Vivo Smart HR which is a product that has this feature. Being able to keep track of your sleep is a very useful feature because the quality of sleep you get correlates to how your day. Having a good nights sleep will certainly help you throughout the day better. Ever since I am able to track my quality of sleep as well as improve it, I have experienced a significant boost in energy when I wake up in which it has made me more productive throughout the day in comparison to when I use to have bad sleep.
I think that the idea of sleep tracking on the Apple watch is an interesting and useful addition, but I also believe that there is a better way for Apple to implement sleep tracking technology.
Many people like using the default apple apps because they believe that they are made well, and I don’t doubt that a feature like that on an Apple watch would also be utilized. However, as the blog post said, many users charge their watch at night, which would greatly reduce the practicality of the app for many users.
I have used sleep tracking apps on my iPhone before though, and these applications simply required me to put the iPhone on the corner of my bed when I go to sleep. I believe that a default Apple application that does this would be very useful for iPhone users, and would provide another reason to go with Apple.
Benefits of sleep tracking apps: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5698521/
Apple should step up on their games to compete with asian brands like Xiaomi or Samsung where their watches or bands have sleeping tracking feature for years. Sleeping tracking is very useful because it is often combed with algorithms to suggest actions to improve the sleeping quality and they are very accurate and record the times and duration you wake up at night. Apple is trying to sell their products like luxury however in my opinion, the price of the technology should be reasonable and friendly and xiaomi sells their products for a very competitive price and they work on all the android devices. Also, watches are too big for sleeping, the band is perfect size for carrying everywhere. Apps on watches are meaningless in my opinion, and functionalities are more important. Hope apple would realize this as they make future products.
Source:
Lar. “Xiaomi Mi Band 2 vs Apple Watch, the Comparison You Were Waiting For.” Latest Android Reviews, http://www.latestandroidreviews.com/xiaomi-mi-band-2-vs-apple-watch-the-comparison-you-were-waiting-for/.
Hi,
This reminds of devices that my friends and I use called a whoop band. I’m on the track and field team and the coach staff have some of us wear whoop bands. Whoop bands tracks your heat beat and your sleeping cycle. It’s gets really detailed in the sleeping cycle it’s says how long you been sleeping for, how much recovery you received, how long you were in rem for and more. This is good technology telling how much sleep you actually need being able to track will help a lot of people.
https://www.whoop.com/
https://www.shape.com/fitness/gear/whoop-fitness-tracker-review-workout-recovery-features
Over the past eight months I have been using a FitBit Alta HR to track my daily movement, heartbeat, and sleep. I did not buy my FitBit to track my sleep, but the sleep monitor is a great perk that is very necessary to monitor a healthy lifestyle. Apple should not make another generation of Apple Watches unless they can provide a sleep function because there are many similar devices, like the Fitbit, that can track sleep. It is possible that consumers may choose another device over an Apple Watch due to the sleep feature. With that being said, Apple is very late to the game on this feature, something they are not particularly used to being. Since the Apple Watch has so many features, including some that people can live without, the battery cannot support efficient sleep monitoring as the newest generation only has an 18 hour battery life. Apple first needs to increase the battery life of the watch for this feature to be feasible. Including the sleep monitor in the next generation of watches means that the device will be worn almost 24 hours a day seven days week. Although it may be costly for Apple to develop a watch that can support a 24 hour device, since many of their competitors can support this feature they may start to lose sales.
https://gizmodo.com/apple-may-finally-add-sleep-tracking-to-the-apple-watch-1832895850
I thought this article was very interesting and I do think it would be beneficial for Apple to introduce something like this. The one concern I would have is just how many people would actually use it. I know a lot of people that own Apple watches and usually at night they tend to charge it so they have to take it off. With would completely dismantle the idea of the application. Also, this would be Apple asking users to change their current behavior and that is not an easy thing to do. Changing peoples behavior from a current norm to something totally new takes more than just releasing a new application. I think Apple would have to do some more market research on if it is actually worth it to create something like this. I dont think introducing an application like the sleep tracker would hurt sales, but I do think Apple should look into it a bit further.
As someone who owns an Apple Watch this is some interesting news. I like most Apple Watch users charge my watch at night, which I wouldn’t do if it tracked sleep. I’m not sure how useful this feature would be and if I would even use it. According to a Forbes article on the topic, this watch isn’t set to release until 2020. In order to deal with the lack of battery, Apple is trying to make the charge of the watch faster according to the Forbes article. Another issue with the sleep tracking is what is Apple going to do with all this data?
Source:
Phelan, David. “Apple Watch Series 5 Rumored To Feature Sleep Tracking.” Innovation, Forbes. 26 Feb. 2019. https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidphelan/2019/02/26/apple-watch-series-5-rumored-to-feature-sleep-tracking/#3c8946036744.
I found this article pretty interesting, because Fitbit has been doing this for years. Almost every technological company has been coming out with new smart phones and smart watches, just to match the competition. Personally, I have had a Fitbit for about 5 years now, and I have always loved the sleep feature. Basically, your Fitbit judges your sleep throughout the night by using your heart rate. The way your heart rate changes while you sleep can tell you a lot about how you’re sleeping and what stage of sleep you’re exactly in. The Fitbit can tell you when you were awake, in REM, in light or deep sleep. Personally, I always love opening up my Fitbit app and seeing when I slept. There are some days when I feel so tired and open up the app and say ‘wow, I only got this much sleep last night’ or ‘wow I thought I slept more than that’. I believe this is an interesting tool to use, and have at our fingertips, and I think Apple incorporating this feature into their watches will lead to better health and sleep for their users.
Source: https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1314