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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Apple unveiled Sleep Scores on the Apple Watch.
- The feature is available with WatchOS 26 and on the new smartwatches.
- There’s one health tracking feature I wish Apple had announced.
Last year, Gallup surveyed Americans about their sleep habits. For the first time since polling began in 2001, it found that a majority of Americans said they’d feel better if they got more sleep. They aren’t happy with their sleep quality and want to improve it. Enter the trusty sleep tracker.
Smart rings, smartwatches, sleep earbuds, mattress monitors, and a long list of other sleep-tracking devices have flooded the market to address growing sleep needs.
Also: Apple iPhone 17 event recap: Reactions to iPhone Air, Apple Watches, AirPods Pro 3, more
Until this Tuesday, my sleep tracker of choice was the Oura Ring. But after Apple’s announcement that it’s bringing sleep scores to its lineup of Apple Watches, I might be ditching the Oura Ring for a new Series 11, Ultra 3, or SE 3 smartwatch.
A sleep score at last
I’ve been waiting for Apple to implement sleep scores for as long as I’ve owned its smartwatch. The tech giant excels in its sleep tracking mechanisms, like its ability to accurately record and map out a user’s sleep stages, sleep duration, and heart rate activity (not to mention the FDA-cleared Sleep Apnea Detection feature, which uncovers an often undiagnosed condition without the bulky equipment or a lab appointment).
However, it failed to contextualize that data in the form of a sleep score. As its competitors developed smartwatches and rings with the feature, Apple waited on the sidelines. That changed on Tuesday.
People are taking their sleep more seriously than ever, despite getting less and less of it. As more Americans recognize sleep’s importance and impact on their waking hours — their ability to focus, their energy levels, and more — more people are tracking and seeking to improve it.
Also: I replaced my Apple Watch with the Oura Ring 4 for sleep tracking (and it did some things better)
Apple’s new feature takes a user’s sleep duration, bedtime consistency, and interruptions into account to deliver a score out of 100. It was developed using Apple’s Heart and Movement Study, which evaluated over 5 million nights of sleep data to create its scoring algorithms.
The scores are in line with the latest guidelines by three sleep research foundations, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the National Sleep Foundation, and the World Sleep Society.
Still waiting for stress tracking
Nina Raemont/ZDNET
I’m all for the sleep score feature release. But one update that I’m still waiting on is comprehensive stress tracking. I first tested this feature out in the Oura Ring. Daytime Stress displays a user’s heart rate data on a graph against four stress rankings: lower heart rates fall in the restored and relaxed range, while higher heart rates fall in the engaged and stressed range.
The feature provides an interactive view of my heart rate throughout the day while I work, exercise, socialize, or commute. I’ll check it after an emotional moment to see how my body responds to stressful information, and I do the same with my Apple Watch.
Also: The best sleep trackers: These sleep trackers improved my sleep
In fact, while I was on the airplane headed to the Apple Event earlier this week, the six-hour flight (and my empty stomach) started to grate on me. With only caffeine in my stomach and several hours on the flight to go, I became anxious. Right as I felt this, I checked my Apple Watch Heart app to track my heart rate in real time.
I check my heart rate regularly and scroll through the Heart app to see my daily activity. But I can’t go deeper into my data or thoroughly examine the exact moment my heart rate begins to spike.
Apple already records this data, though, and a more interactive, deeper display of heart data could help users better understand their daily stressors. Hopefully, this feature will become a reality in Apple’s next software update.
