Your Apple Watch uses the native sleep app and Apple Health to track your sleep in stages by default. This works as long as you have sleep focus enabled or a sleep schedule set on your iPhone.
However, the built-in sleep app’s performance in this segment is still basic at best.
To know more than just how long and how well you slept the previous night, download and use one of the best third party sleep apps for Apple Watch.
What Are the Best Apple Watch Apps to Use for Sleep Tracking?
The best third-party apps you can use for sleep tracking on your Apple Watch are Pillow, Sleep++, AutoSleep, and Sleep Watch.
Whether you want to know if you talked or snored in your sleep, why you wake up feeling tired, or if you have a consistent sleep rhythm, these Apple Watch apps can help.
Moreover, these apps can help you create an effective bedtime routine, not to mention you can use the generated sleep insights to optimize your sleep goals.
1. Pillow Sleep Tracker
Pillow focuses 100% on tracking and analyzing your sleep, and then it gives you valuable insights you can use to improve your sleep quality and consistency over time.
There are two ways to use Pillow sleep tracker. You can:
- Place your iPhone adjacent to where you lay your head and Pillow will track your sleep manually.
- Wear your Apple Watch properly before going to bed and Pillow will track your sleep automatically and analyze the results for you.
Pillow monitors your heart rate, types of sounds you made in your sleep, and your overall sleep quality.
The app’s audio analysis makes it easy for you to determine if you snored or talked in your sleep. The in-depth sleep analysis helps you understand how long you slept, how often you were awake, and how your brain moved.
You have the option to connect Pillow to Apple Health if you want analyze your data even further. However, this option requires a premium Pillow subscription.
2. Sleep++
Sleep++ isn’t as popular as Pillow, but it’s a simple and robust app you can use to understand how well you sleep.
With Sleep++, you can use manual or automatic mode:
- Manual Mode: You enter the time you slept and work up, Sleep++ uses its built-in algorithm to analyze the collected data, and then it gives you a comprehensive report.
- Automatic Mode: You wear your Apple Watch, let Sleep++ use the green light to track your movement and heart rate, and then check your sleep report the next morning.
Sleep++ tracks your sleep automatically as long as it’s active on your Apple Watch. The following morning, you’ll get an analysis that shows you how long you slept, the quality of your sleep, as well as how restful you were throughout the night.
3. AutoSleep
AutoSleep, developed by David Walsh, is a premium sleep app with a 100% privacy guarantee. The app is sleek and highly responsive, well optimized for performance on iOS and watchOS, and it costs a one-time fee of $8.99.
This sleep tracker supports automatic tracking and manual mode:
- Automatic Tracking: The app automatically detects your heart rate and movements, uses the data to analyze your sleep, and then sends you a notification the next morning.
- Manual Mode: You set the start and the end time and the app does everything else for you – even if you don’t wear your smartwatch.
AutoSleep features rings similar to Apple Watch activity rings.
One of the rings represents Sleep Bank, which shows whether you’re in credit or in debt based on your last 7 days’ data. The other ting shows your previous night’s sleep in hours and minutes. And the percentage of your sleep is in the middle of the ring.
There are additional rings that represent heart rate, sleep quality, sleep stages, and sleep duration.
Additional stats that AutoSleep provides include your SpO2, respiratory rate, sleep fuel rating, sleep consistency, readiness, and a comprehensive rating of your sleep quality.
4. Sleep Watch
SleepWatch focuses on helping you to get sound sleep, no matter how long you’ve struggled to do so in the past.
With SleepWatch, you can:
- Use smart alarms to set the time you want to go to sleep and the time you wish to get out of bed.
- Track your naps and get personalized recommendations to improve your sleeping habits.
- Monitor sleep duration, heart rate, blood oxygen levels, daily and overall sleep score, and whether you were restful during sleep.
- Use the watch’s microphone to detect if you were snoring or talking in your sleep.
- Listen to the recording of noises you made during sleep via the watch’s built-in speaker.
You can view your sleep report by opening SleepWatch on your Apple Watch or iPhone. Use the watch to check for basic information and the smartphone for a more in-depth analysis of your sleep stats.
How Do I Track Sleep on Apple Watch?
To track sleep on Apple Watch, first set up the smartwatch for sleep tracking, charge the watch for at least an hour before bedtime, and then wear it to sleep.
Your Apple Watch will use a combination of motion sensors, heart rate data, and machine learning to determine whether you’re asleep and then logs your stats accordingly.
Apple Watch even works with the Health app to track your sleep patterns over an extended period. And if you have sleep focus activated, the watch will remind you to go to bed on time and analyze your sleep consistency over time.
