Apple Watch gets its own sleep monitoring feature

Apple is working on its own sleep monitoring feature for the Apple Watch. At least that’s what the website 9to5Mac writes, which relies on multiple sources within Apple. The company may announce more about this on September 10.

According to the sources, the new sleep monitoring feature for the Apple Watch would not require any special hardware to work, writes 9to5Mac. The new feature would be internally called “Time in Bed tracking” and gives users the option to wear Apple’s smartwatch in bed. During sleep, the watch will map the quality of the wearer’s sleep through multiple sensors and data, including data about movements, heart rate and sounds. The data on the quality of the sleep session would become available in the Health app and a new Sleep app for the Apple Watch.

It is currently unclear whether this new function is suitable for the current Apple Watch, or whether it only works on a possible new version of the smartwatch. Perhaps more will become clear on September 10. Then Apple will hold an event where new iPhones are likely to be announced; perhaps also a minor update to the Apple Watch, which could see ceramic and titanium models. This probably concerns minor revisions, so the arrival of new hardware for the sleep monitoring function does not seem necessary.

There has been speculation for some time about Apple’s own feature to give Apple Watch users the ability to track their sleep periods, especially after it was announced in May 2017 that Apple had incorporated Beddit. This is a company that makes sensors and the iOS app Beddit Sleep Monitor, which allows users to measure their sleep. Apple has also been releasing Beddit hardware for some time in the form of a sensor band that users can tuck under their fitted sheets. The Beddit app on the Apple Watch can function as a sleep monitor, but partly because the Watch often has to be charged at night, Apple offers this special sleep monitoring band.