Apple Watch needs this sleep feature to compete with Garmin, Oura, and Whoop — but it might be coming soon

Since my son was born, I’m more obsessed than ever with tracking my sleep. Did I get the recommended 1.5-two hours of deep sleep needed, and how many times did I actually wake up? Most nights, I’ll go to sleep wearing my Apple Watch 10 and my Oura Ring 4, because despite being one of the best fitness trackers on the market, the Apple Watch falls short of one sleep feature nearly every other tracker on the market has had for years — a sleep score.

Apple has been able to expertly track your different sleep stages for years, as well as your total time in bed and total time asleep. That said, you do need to remember to put your watch into sleep mode before falling asleep, and ensure it’s got enough charge to record your sleep all night. If you have the vitals app pinned to your Smart Stack, you can see a breakdown of your sleep each morning, but unlike Garmin, Oura, and Whoop, Apple doesn’t give you an overall sleep score. However, according to rumors, we might not have long to wait.

Writer Steve Moser uncovered a graphic named “Watch Focus Score” from deep within the code of Apple’s Health app (reported by MacRumors). This score shows an Apple Watch with the number 84 in it, surrounded by three bars that curve to form a circle. The colors of the bars are red, light blue, and purple, which correspond to the sleep stages shown in the Health app — red reflecting time awake, light blue showing REM sleep, and purple reflecting time spent in deep sleep.

It’s not clear whether this feature would be part of the watchOS 26 update coming this fall (although it’s not available on the public beta), or a feature launched with the rumored Apple Watch 11.

Why is a sleep score helpful?

Why does every other brand use a sleep score? In simple terms, it helps you see quickly what those different stages mean. For example, last night, my Apple Watch 10 recorded my 7 hours and 34 minutes of sleep (my kid slept through the night for the first time ever, a fact worth celebrating), but my Oura ring 4 gave me a sleep score of 89, and told me that yes, this was outstanding compared to my typical range.

Of course, I know I slept better than I have in the past 18 months since my son was born, but I appreciate seeing the quality of sleep in the form of a sleep efficiency number. With Oura, I can also see how my sleep score changes over time, and why my sleep score might be lower from one day to the next. It allows me to make healthier decisions, such as not doom-scrolling Instagram before trying to sleep, or drinking a glass of wine too close to bedtime.

Garmin and Whoop also have similar sleep features. The best Garmin watches give you a score out of 100, which is then incorporated into the watch’s daily readiness number, reflecting how ready you are for a hard workout. Whoop, on the other hand, gives you an overall sleep performance score, as well as a breakdown of different metrics, all of which have their score out of 100.

It’s a metric Apple Watch users have been dreaming about for years, and hopefully one that’ll roll out onto watches sooner rather than later.

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