How to Use Apple Watch to Track Sleep

Did you know that your Apple Watch can now track your sleeping patterns? Although a lot of people don’t wear their smartwatches during their sleep, you may consider wearing your Apple Watch now that a whole new sleep tracking feature has been added.

With watchOS 7 and newer, Apple includes a whole new Sleep app for the Apple Watch and it’s intended to work in tandem with the Health app on your paired iPhone. While the sleep mode feature in iOS tries to determine how well you sleep depending on how much you’re using your iPhone during bedtime, the Apple Watch uses its built-in accelerometer to observe the subtle movements related to breathing and distinguish between sleeping and waking states.

How to Use Apple Watch to Track Sleep

To take advantage of sleep tracking on your Apple Watch, you need to make sure that your wearable is running at least watchOS 7 or later, since you won’t find the Sleep app on older versions.

1. Press the Digital Crown on your Apple Watch to access the home screen full of apps. Scroll around and tap on the Sleep app as shown below.
   
   
2. If you haven’t set up a sleep schedule on your iPhone before, you’ll need to proceed with the on-screen instructions for the initial set-up. If you have, tap on “Full Schedule” as shown here.
   
   
3. Now, use the toggle to enable “Sleep Schedule”. In the same menu, you’ll find the option “Set Your First Schedule”. Tap on it to get started.
   
   
4. In this menu, you’ll be able to select the active days to use the sleep schedule. Below, you’ll find the option to set your wake-up time. Tap on it to proceed further.
   
   
5. Now, you can select either the hour or minute setting and use the Digital Crown to adjust and set the wake-up time.
   
   
6. Once you’re done, you can scroll down in the same menu, select the bedtime option and repeat the above step to set that as well. When you’re done configuring, simply tap on “Add” to create the schedule.
   
   

There you go. You’ve successfully created a new sleep schedule on your Apple Watch.

From now on, your Apple Watch will monitor your sleeping patterns more accurately than your iPhone ever could, as long as you’re wearing it. However, since it works in tandem with your iPhone as mentioned earlier, you will be able to view your sleep chart using the pre-installed Health app on your iOS device.

The Sleep app can do more than just track your movements during bedtime. It helps you effectively stick to a bedtime routine with features like Wind Down which kicks in just minutes before your actual bedtime. Once bedtime starts, your Apple Watch will automatically turn on Do Not Disturb and prevents your screen from waking.

We understand that a lot of people don’t stick to the same schedule in the long run. If you want to slightly tweak your schedule, you can do this easily within the Sleep app, or you can use the Health app on your iPhone to adjust sleep schedules. Also, if you don’t want to fiddle around with the tiny screen of your watch, you would rather be interested in setting up a sleep schedule on your iPhone instead.

Hopefully, you were able to create a new bedtime schedule to improve your sleeping habits for the long-term. What are your first impressions of Apple’s new Sleep app? Will you be wearing your Apple Watch to bed on a daily basis to utilize the sleep tracking feature? Let us know your valuable thoughts and opinions in the comments section down below.