Tracking Sleep With Apple Watch: A Guide

The Apple Watch is a versatile device that can track your sleep patterns and help you maintain a healthy sleep schedule. With its built-in sleep tracking feature and various third-party apps, the watch can monitor your sleep duration, sleep stages, and even your respiratory rate while you sleep. By syncing with your iPhone's Health app, the Apple Watch provides insights into your sleep history and enables you to set sleep goals and schedules. To ensure accurate tracking, it's important to wear your watch to bed, adjust the fit, and maintain sufficient battery life. Additionally, you can customize your notifications and screen settings to minimize distractions before bedtime.

Setting up sleep tracking

To set up sleep tracking on your Apple Watch, you will need to make sure your watch is paired with your iPhone. You can then follow these steps:

Open the Health App

On your iPhone, open the Health app and tap Browse at the bottom of the screen. Tap Sleep and then tap Get Started or Full Schedule & Options.

Set Your Schedule

Tap Sleep Schedule at the top of the screen to turn your schedule on. You can then set your sleep and wake-up times by tapping Wake Up or Bedtime and turning the Digital Crown to adjust the time. You can also set up a wind-down period, which will limit distractions before you go to bed.

Set an Alarm

Tap Alarm to turn on an alarm and tap Sound & Haptics to adjust the sound and vibration of your alarm.

Set a Sleep Goal

Tap Sleep Goal under Additional Details and adjust the time using the Plus and Minus buttons.

Wear Your Watch to Bed

Make sure your Apple Watch is charged to at least 30% before you go to bed and wear it to bed. Ensure that your watch fits comfortably—if it is too loose, it may register too much movement during your sleep.

Check Your Sleep Data

In the morning, you can check your sleep data by opening the Sleep app on your watch or the Health app on your iPhone.

You can also download third-party sleep tracking apps on your Apple Watch, such as AutoSleep Track Sleep or Sleep++.

Viewing sleep data

To view your sleep data, you must ensure that Sleep Tracking is enabled on your Apple Watch, and that you have worn it for at least one hour each night. If you have not worn your watch for this minimum period, your graph may not show any data.

To view your sleep history, open the Health app on your iPhone or iPad. If you are using an iPhone, tap 'Browse' at the bottom of the screen. If you are using an iPad, tap the sidebar to open it. Next, tap 'Sleep'. If you have previously saved Sleep to your Favourites list, you can access it from the Summary page in the Health app.

The bar graph is set to 'D' for 'daily' by default. Tap 'W' at the top of the chart to view your sleep history for the past week, 'M' for the past month, or '6M' for the past six months. Tap 'Show More Sleep Data' and select a category to review additional sleep details. You can view the time and percentage you spent awake or in REM, Core, or Deep sleep.

You can also view your recent sleep data on your Apple Watch. Open the Sleep app on your watch, then turn the Digital Crown to view your Sleep Stages data, Time Asleep, and your Sleep Duration for the last 14 days. With Apple Watch Series 3 or later with watchOS 8, you can measure and track your Respiratory Rate.

Using third-party apps

While the Apple Watch does have a Sleep app, there are several third-party apps available in the App Store that can turn your watch into a sleep monitor. These apps can offer more detailed data than the Sleep app, including tracking your sleep trends over time.

Some of the most popular third-party sleep tracking apps for the Apple Watch include:

• SleepWatch: This app takes your stats and uses artificial intelligence to provide insights.
• AutoSleep: This app offers a lot of data, and you can choose how much of it you want to engage with. It can be paired with features introduced with watchOS 7 and iOS 14, including Wind Down and Sleep Mode.
• Sleep Cycle: This is another popular option for tracking sleep.

It's important to note that, regardless of which third-party app you choose, it's recommended to have some sort of automatic sleep detection feature. This means your Apple Watch can track your sleep in the background without you needing to manually start a sleep-tracking session each night. Additionally, some apps integrate with Apple's Health app, allowing you to view your sleep data alongside other health metrics.

Charging reminders

To track your sleep using an Apple Watch, you need to ensure that your Apple Watch is charged to at least 30% before you go to bed. If your Apple Watch is charged less than 30% before bed, you will be prompted to charge it. To avoid this, you can set up charging reminders.

To turn on charging reminders, open the Watch app on your iPhone and tap the My Watch tab. Then, tap Sleep and tap Charging Reminders. This will turn on a reminder on your Apple Watch to charge it before your wind-down time. You can also use the Sleep app on your Apple Watch to set up reminders for charging. If your watch battery dies, it won't track your sleep data.

You can also charge your Apple Watch while you're in the shower or during your wind-down time before bed. This is a good time to charge your watch as you don't need to be tracking your activity or responding to emails. You can also purchase a portable Apple Watch charger so that you can charge your watch in the car, at the gym, or wherever else you may need to.

Sleep schedules

To track your sleep using your Apple Watch, you must wear it while sleeping. The Sleep app on your Apple Watch will track your sleep and add sleep data to the Health app on your iPhone.

You can set up a sleep schedule on the Sleep app on your Apple Watch or the Health app on your iPhone. Here's how you can set up a sleep schedule:

Setting up a Sleep Schedule

• Open the Health app on your iPhone and tap "Get Started" under "Set Up Sleep".
• Set your sleep goals, including the number of hours you want to sleep, your bedtime, and wake-up time.
• Set up Sleep Focus to reduce distractions on your iPhone and Apple Watch during your scheduled bedtime.
• Adjust your Wind Down time, which is the period before your bedtime when Sleep Focus will be active, limiting distractions and helping you prepare for sleep.
• Enable Sleep Tracking, which uses motion detection to track your sleep when you wear your Apple Watch to bed.
• You can create multiple sleep schedules, such as separate schedules for weekdays and weekends.

Viewing Sleep Data

To view your sleep history, open the Health app on your iPhone or iPad. Tap "Browse" at the bottom of the screen and then tap "Sleep". You can access your sleep data from the Summary page if you have added "Sleep" to your Favorites list. The bar graph will show your daily sleep data by default. You can tap "W" to view your sleep history for the past week, "M" for the past month, or "6M" for the past six months.

You can also view the time and percentage spent in different sleep stages, such as Awake, REM, Core, or Deep sleep. Additionally, you can track changes in your nightly wrist temperature and respiratory rate while you sleep, providing insights into your overall health.

Frequently asked questions