Do Apple Watches Track Sleep?

Between work, family life, trying to maintain a social life, working on your health, and just staying healthy during a pandemic, it can be hard to track your sleep patterns. 

But doing so can also be crucial to improving your health and quality of being.

You can try using smartphone apps to track your sleep, but they don’t always catch the most accurate biometrics. 

You know that the Apple Watch probably comes with all the fancy doo-dads on the market, but can it track your sleep?

Do Apple Watches Track Sleep?

Apple Watches track sleep using an integrated system of sensors that monitor multiple biometrics related to sleep, including blood pressure, wrist temperature, heart rate (including detecting arrhythmias), walking speed, cardio fitness, distance walked, symmetry, and several other movement-based metrics. 

This small-but-mighty piece of technology has built-in, state-of-the-art sensors that track your sleeping patterns while you are wearing the Apple Watch.

This is what makes the Apple Watch better able to track your sleep habits than your iPhone.

Tracking your sleep using the Apple Watch is actually pretty easy – and informative. 

You can select from different sleep apps in the Apple Store to use with your Apple Watch. 

You can use the Watch itself to set up your own customized sleep schedule and sleep goals.

You can also adjust these goals as time goes on.

But how exactly does this all work? Which sleep apps are the most helpful? How can you tell if you’re experiencing sleep disturbances? Let’s dig our heels in and find out.

How do you set up your sleep?

Once you get your Apple Watch, you can set up your sleep from the Health app on your iPhone. 

Once you have the app open, tap on Get Started under Set Up Sleep, then tap Next.

Once you’ve done that, you can start setting things up. 

Sleep Goals lets you select the number of hours you wish to sleep for, and you can set Bedtime and Wake Up times Sleep Screen helps reduce distractions by having iPhone can simplify your Lock Screen and turn on Sleep Focus at the time you set for Bedtime. 

You can even allow specific people or apps to notify you by going to the Settings app on your iPhone, tapping Focus, then Sleep. 

After that, tap on People or Apps under Allowed Notifications and make your selections.

Wind Down Shortcuts are there to help you focus on getting relaxed before bed. 

This helps by having you do things like turning on a Home scene, using a favorite meditation app, or listening to relaxing music.

You can wear your watch to bed to track your sleep. 

If you have already paired your Apple Watch with your iPhone, this option will become available during setup. 

You are able to turn on Track Sleep with Apple Watch after you’ve set it up with your iPhone at a later time.

How do you adjust sleep goals?

Okay, you’ve met some of your sleep goals. How do you go about altering them so you can reach some new goals? 

There are two ways you can do this: via your iPhone or your Apple Watch.

Adjusting on your iPhone

Open up your Health app, then tap Browse on the bottom of the screen. After that, hit Sleep. 

You can access Sleep from the Health app’s Summary page if you have Sleep saved to your Favorites list.

Now, tap Full Schedule & Options. Press where it says Sleep Goal under Additional Details. 

From here, you can adjust your Sleep Goal. Then, you simply tap on the time that you have selected for saving your changes.

Adjusting on your Apple Watch

Adjusting from the Apple Watch is even easier than using your iPhone and involves fewer steps.

To do this, first open up the Sleep app and tap on Full Schedule. 

Go to Options and hit Sleep Goal. 

Now, tap on the Plus and Minus buttons in order to adjust your goal. 

Once you’ve done that, tap on Sleep Goal, which is located in the upper left-hand corner, to return and save your changes.

Can you edit your sleep schedule from your iPhone?

Need to update your sleep schedule? You can either alter your full schedule or Next Wake Up Only – your choice.

Wake Up only

To do Next Wake Up Only, open the Health app, then tap Browse at bottom of the screen. Next, tap Sleep. 

(Remember, you can access Sleep from your Summary page if you have Sleep saved to your Favorites list.) Now, find and tap on Edit, which is found under the sleep schedule in Next. See the curved slider? Drag it in order to set Bedtime and Wake Up times. 

If the schedule doesn’t meet your sleep goal, it will turn orange.

Next, tap Wake Up Alarm to turn on the alarm. This lets you adjust your alarm’s volume, sound, and haptics. 

Tap Done when you’re ready to save your changes.

Note: You can go into the Clock app to change your next Wake Up alarm.

Update your full schedule

To update your entire sleep schedule, go to the Health app and tap Sleep. Find your schedule in Full Schedule & Options. 

Once you’ve located it, hit Edit under the schedule you wish to alter.

Next, tap the Days Active button, then drag the curved slider to set your Bedtime and Wake Up times. 

Remember, the slider turns orange when these do not meet your sleep goals.

Next, hit Wake Up Alarm to turn on an alarm and adjust the alarm’s settings as needed.

Make sure you tap Done to save your changes.

Need to turn off your sleep schedule for a while? In the Health app, hit Browse > Sleep > Full Schedule & Options. 

After that, tap on Sleep Schedule at the top of the screen to toggle your schedule on or off as needed.

How do you edit your sleep schedule from the Apple Watch?

You can make changes to your full schedule or for Next Wake Up Only whenever you need to edit your sleep schedule. 

Using Next Wake Up Only, the changes only apply to the following day. 

Changes made to your full schedule apply to every following day.

Should you wake up before your scheduled Wake Up time, you are able to exit Sleep Focus by turning the Digital Crown to unlock your Apple Watch. 

Swipe up to open the Control Center, then tap the Sleep app icon.

How to Get the Most Accurate Results

You can do a little more to get the most accurate results from your Apple Watch. 

If you have already paired your Apple Watch after Sleep setup has been finished, you can still turn Track Sleep on using your Apple Watch. 

Just go to the Watch app on your iPhone, tap the My Watch tab, and hit Sleep. 

After that, tap Track Sleep using your Apple Watch to turn it on.

Turning on charging reminders can help you get the most of your results. Open up the Watch app from your iPhone and tap the My Watch tab. 

Tap Sleep. Then tap Charging Reminders so you can remind your Apple Watch to charge prior to your set Wind Down time. 

The watch cannot track your sleep on a dead battery.

Also, ensure that you are actually wearing your Apple Watch at a snug-but-comfortable fit. 

Its accelerometer could pick up too much movement during your natural sleep if the watch is worn too loosely about your wrist.

Recommended Sleep Apps

You can use the native Apple Watch sleep tracking to monitor your sleep, but you might want to try a few different apps. 

AutoSleep is a popular Apple Watch app that provides in-depth feedback on your sleep habits. 

Sleep++ is another popular once since it has features for automatic sleep detection support, bedtime reminders, and sleep goals. 

Pillow is a unique app in that it has the ability to record critical audio events during the night.

Closing Thoughts

The Apple Watch provides a lot of substantial biometrics for monitoring your sleep.

If you haven’t tried using this function, you might want to check into it. 

It is easy to use and effective in its ability to provide feedback and help you regulate your sleeping habits.