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5 Apple Watch settings vital for accurate sleep tracking | Tom's Guide
I've been wearing my new Apple Watch to bed for a week now, and I must say I'm impressed. From accurately tracking my sleep stages to giving me gentle nudges to start winding down, the Apple Watch has helped me understand my sleep while showing me key ways to improve it.Still, as with every time I try out one of the best sleep trackers, I feel there are modes and settings that I'm completely oblivious to — and it could be standing in my way of seeing lab-accurate results.Key takeaways: At a glanceThe Apple Watch can track your sleep duration and sleep stages, but there are key hidden settings that need to be activated for more accurate results.Activating Wrist Detection and Sleep Focus are vital for accurate results, as they allow your Apple Watch to know when you're wearing your device and are intending to sleep.Other settings, such as Wrist Temperature and Sleep Apnea notifications, can give you invaluable insights into your health, such as sleep disorders, medical conditions, or illness.While research shows that consumer sleep-tracking wearables are improving in accuracy and can give you useful data on your sleep duration and patterns, board-certified sleep physician Dr Wells notes that an Apple Watch won't give you data as accurate as a clinical sleep study's data.The 5 vital Apple Watch settings for accurate sleep data 1. Sleep Focus (Image credit: Future)Let's begin with one of the most important Apple Watch settings for your sleep: Sleep Focus mode. In fact, it was the first setting I learned about when I set up my Apple Watch, and while it prepares you for rest by reducing distracting notifications, it's also needed for accurate tracking."Sleep Focus mode signals to the watch that you’re intending to sleep, and this allows it to more accurately detect when you fall asleep and stay asleep, rather than misinterpreting late-night phone use or movement as wakefulness," says Dr. Roland, a board-certified sleep medicine physician."Without it, the watch may confuse quiet rest, like lying in bed scrolling your phone, with sleep," agrees board-certified sleep medicine physician Dr Wells.2. Wrist detection (Image credit: Future)Wrist Detection is another important one as it lets the Apple Watch know you're wearing it and, according to Dr Roland, it's "essentially what allows all the sensors to function properly" when you're wearing the watch to bed.Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips."Without it, the watch...
Apple Watch Pacer Feature Helps You Develop Your Own Sense of Time ...
There are two seemingly opposite “struggles” that many runners—including myself—grapple with: 1) maintaining an effortful even pace for long runs and races, and 2) running easy miles too fast.Pacing yourself is a skill—and it can be a pretty difficult one to master. I’ve been getting real-time feedback and training my own pacing intuitiveness via a lesser-known (and perhaps vastly under-appreciated) feature on Apple Watch known as Pacer.The feature came out in 2022, but even as a devoted Watch user (I’ve consistently run with it since it came out in 2015!) I had yet to take full advantage of it. So, I decided to put it to the test this spring while training for the London Marathon on April 26, which I’ll be running with Apple. (This is a special one for me as my first-ever marathon was the 2013 race; I’ve since run 13 more.) Here’s what to know about the feature in general, plus how it helped restore some of my intuitiveness while—hopefully—giving me an edge on race day.Now 23% OffProsAccurate run trackingStylish enough to wear all dayBright screen is easy to useConsButtons are not as useful as on other GPS watchesBattery needs charging dailySize46 mmConnectivityGPSBatteryUp to 24 hoursWhat Is Pacer? I’ve been through many Apple Watch hardware and software updates and this latest lineup—including the Series 11 and Ultra 3—is definitely the most sophisticated yet. “Running has always been a core experience of Apple Watch, and over time we’ve added a range of features designed to help runners of all levels,” says Craig Bolton from the Apple Fitness Technologies team.In addition to heart rate zones, there are many other metrics you can glean via the Watch, including Vertical Oscillation, Stride Length, Ground Contact Time, and Power. You can also create custom views on the Watch screen, make Custom Workouts (think: specific speed intervals or marathon pace miles in the middle of a longer easy run), and notify someone that you’re starting a workout with the Check-In feature. The latest is Workout Buddy, an Apple Intelligence feature that pulls a users’ workout data and fitness history to give you real-time personalized, spoken motivation throughout the session. When I ran the NYC Half in March, it told me mid-race that I’d run more elevation than I had all year!It’s easy to set distance and time within the Workout app.But back to the Pacer feature. You can set this up easily on the Watch app on your iPhone or in the Workout App on the Watch itself, which I did...
Apple Watch sleep score became more useful for me with these settings
Apple Watch includes a built-in sleep tracking feature. Just wear your Apple Watch to bed, and it works automatically. No need to install apps or enter a special mode. watchOS 26 takes sleep ...
Apple Watch Battery Life: How to Get More Hours on a Charge
My biggest challenge with this new sleeping arrangement has been battery life. The Apple Watch needs at least seven consecutive nights of sleep tracking to start analyzing the data.
