Apple watchOS 7 finally brings sleep tracking

A long-requested feature is finally on its way to the Apple Watch – sleep tracking! With today’s announcement of the upcoming watchOS 7, it became clear that among the major new features baked into the latest watchOS release will be Sleep, providing users with a legitimate reason to keep wearing their Watch even at night.

The main purpose of Apple Watch sleep tracking will be to set the proper mood, ease the user into sleep and capture a basic overview of how it all went.

Sleep detection itself will be automatic, and will happen courtesy of the Watch’s accelerometer, which will detect if the user is sleeping based on the micro-movements caused by breathing. This way, the Watch will know exactly when and for how long you’ve been asleep. If you fail to hit your sleep goal for the night, it’ll will know you’ve been naughty and won’t let you open Tinder that day, so you can learn your lesson. Just kidding; Apple Watch can’t possibly be that cruel. To avoid distracting you at night, the Watch will auto-activate DND mode and will dim its display.

As mentioned, a big part of the whole Apple Watch sleep tracking thing will be the time prior to the actual sleep. Apple has created Wind Down – a customizable routine to be executed before bed. It can set things like a Home scene (adjusting lights, cameras, etc.), engaging a relaxing soundscape, or running a meditation app.

Waking up will be accompanied by a gentle tap on your wrist, or, if your partner doesn’t mind it, a nice, soft wake-up tone.

Have you been looking forward to sleep tracking on the Apple Watch? If you happen to be using a different kind of wearable, do you use sleep tracking? Share your experience in the comments!