A new report says Apple’s current Apple Watch Series 4 wearable will gain the ability to track a wearer’s sleep quality. The tracking will be accomplished via the device’s current set of hardware sensors.
While it has been previously claimed that a sleep tracking feature could be coming to the Apple Watch in 2020, 9to5Mac reports the feature could be ready soon enough to be included in watchOS 6. The reports sources, said to be within Apple, say the Cupertino firm is near completion on the “Time in Bed tracking” feature.
The feature, codename “Burrito,” works when the user wears their Apple Watch to bed. Data collected through the night will be sent to both the existing Health app and a new Sleep app for the Apple Watch.
The 9to5Mac report says the new feature will allow users to wear the device overnight, and will reportedly include a notification feature that will prompt users to charge up their Watch beforehand.
For Apple Watch users that already use their Watch’s alarm feature to wake them up via silent haptic tapping in place of an audio alarm, the new feature will recognize when they are up and around, automatically cancelling the alarm.
Apple is likely using some of the technology it acquired back in 2017, when it bought sleep tracking firm Beddit. Beddit has been inviting beta testers to use the iPhone app it has been developing.
Apple is also reportedly testing sleep tracking with employees, ahead of a projected 2020 launch.
Apple is expected to publicly launch watchOS 6 at its September 10 iPhone event. However, any changes to the Apple Watch itself are believed to be limited to the materials used for the Watch’s case.
(Screenshot from AutoSleep Tracker for Watch app.)
