Sleep Mode on the Apple Watch: How it Works and Compatible Models

How does the Apple Watch sleep mode work?

The first and most important thing is that you know how this new functionality of your smartwatch works.

Although it seems obvious, the main thing if you use this novelty is that you use your smartwatch while you are in bed. This will force you to change your charging habits with it during the day, since, although simply using the iPhone we can obtain information in the sleep app, the Watch will be in charge of giving us a greater number of data using its sensors.

If you access the sleep section from the health application on your iPhone you will have access to all the information regarding this issue and, if you were not using it until now, you can start it. Here we can consult and modify the following parameters:

• Hours of sleep : although in the next section of this article we will tell you in more detail how Apple establishes the different values regarding sleep, you should know that here is one of the places where you can meet them. You can see the weekly values , or if you want to have a broader vision you can check them monthly . In addition, if you click on the option “Sleep time” , it will show you an average of the time you go to sleep and the time you wake up.
• Sleep schedule : this section is directly linked to the data that you can set in the first alarm of your Clock application. It is nothing more than a routine alarm clock in which we tell our phone what time we want to go to sleep and what time we want to wake up, setting a previous sleep goal (normal will be 8 hours of sleep). Also, if you want to be a little more specific, you can create two different schedules for weekdays and weekends .
• The importance of sleep : as in many other aspects, Apple leaves interesting information available to its users that can improve their day-to-day habits. In this case, if we go down to the bottom of the Sleep section, we will see certain tips and data about sleep, such as: what is a correct sleep, what are the phases of sleep or habits to sleep well at night.

All this information is what the health application gives us from the iPhone. But what can we see from the clock? If we enter the sleep section from this, we can see:

• The next scheduled routine alarm.
• Information regarding the last sleep period, a summary of this data in the last 14 days and the average weekly sleep hours . All this in a single screen in a condensed way but easy to understand.

Therefore, by using the Apple Watch while we sleep, we will obtain more detailed information about how we sleep. In addition, that routine alarm will make us wake up more slowly receiving a vibration that increases slowly on our wrist, much better than a shrill sound from our phone.

If you are wondering whether or not your Apple Watch is compatible with this functionality, you should know that if you have a Series 3 onwards you can use sleep monitoring on it.

What does sleep mode measure?

Another important detail that you should know about this functionality is the type of data that it shows us from the watch or the health app itself. The information we see on the screen describes:

• Average time in bed : this is the time we are in bed without actually falling asleep. An example of this could be those times that we use the mobile before sleeping or after waking up. This value is represented by the light greenish blue color in the app.
• Average sleeping time : in this case it is quite clear. It is about the time we stay asleep daily. This data is collected intelligently by using its sensors such as movement or heart rate. This value is represented by the dark greenish blue (opaque) color in the app.
• Heart rate : although the value of our heart rate is not directly reflected in the sleep section, it will be a parameter that is also recorded in our history. If we see any reference to something abnormal in the sleep graphs, we can check the values of our heart rate at the same time.
• Hours awake at night : If you look closely, sometimes you will see a small strip without that greenish blue color during the night. These lapses refer to the time you spend awake, for example, going to the toilet.

This data may be enough in terms of what information about our sleep hours is concerned, but the truth is that other data that is quite important is missing. We do not have information on the quality of sleep and, therefore, no trace of the amount of sleep or the REM phase (acronym in English for “rapid eye movement”).

This is probably due to the fact that, as indicated in that interesting information provided by the sleep app, scientists have not yet given a closed and 100% verified study of these sleep phases. Therefore, until this happens, Apple may not include these values.

Learn more about your hours of sleep

Despite not knowing if these data on the different phases of sleep are true in their entirety, if you want to expand the amount of data to know about the hours you spend sleeping there is a solution: AutoSleep .

It is an application for your phone and Apple Watch that will display a wider range of this information about sleep. We will have data on:

• Sleep quality : here we could add the section on objectives achieved regarding the hours of sleep we want to sleep.
• Hours of light and deep sleep.
• Time elapsed until we fall asleep : period that we pass from when we lie down in bed until we enter that “first phase” of sleep.
• Total sleep time .
• Heart rate

Therefore, if you want to obtain the most information about the hours you spend asleep, you may be interested in paying the 4.49 euros that AutoSleep costs , or waiting for Apple to add more information in the future in this section.