Rumours have been doing the rounds lately that Apple Watch is about to get sleep tracking.
These rumours gained significant traction after Apple bought Beddit, the company that makes the Beddit Sleep Monitor.
This week, sources inside Apple reportedly admitted that the firm plans to introduce an Apple Watch sleep tracking feature that will not need any additional hardware to work.
The announcement could be made next Tuesday, when Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 11, plus maybe also an upgraded Apple Watch with ceramic and titanium options.
The new ‘Time in Bed tracking’ feature, which is internally known as ‘Burrito’, will monitor users while they sleep.
It will track your sleep quality by utilising various inputs and sensors, including your heart rate, movement and noises.
Data about your sleep quality will afterwards be available in a new Sleep app and also in the Health app.
There is one potential problem: many Apple Watch owners opt to charge the device at night, which would now be impracticable.
Apple’s solution is that it will, in future, remind owners to charge their Apple Watch before going to bed.
While wearing your Apple Watch at night, if you wake up and start your day before it’s time for the alarm to go off, it will automatically be turned off.
The alarm will only go off on Apple Watch, with the iPhone only serving as a backup.
Available options will also include a silent alarm, in which case the Apple Watch will only vibrate to wake you up.
The new system will automatically activate ‘Do Not Disturb’ when you go to bed, and it will offer a new complication for sleep tracking.
At this stage, it’s not clear whether you will have to buy a new Apple Watch to use the sleep tracking feature, but since the new model will reportedly only come with minor changes, this seems unlikely.