Apple has finally answered the call for native sleep tracking on the Apple Watch. Starting this fall, Apple will allow Apple Watch Series 3 and later users to see how well (or badly) they slept with the watchOS 7 software update, which may put the company on the map for sleep tracking

WWDC.

The watchOS 7 Sleep app, unveiled at WWDC 2020, will show how long users doze off when they wear the smartwatch throughout the night; it leverages the Apple Watch's built-in accelerometer and heart rate sensor to help users stay in bed and Detects subtle movements that signal breathing while sleeping. In the morning, users can receive a sleep analysis chart showing how many hours they have slept in the past week.

For Apple Watch owners who have relied on third-party sleep apps to learn about their unconscious state, the addition of Sleep to watchOS 7 sounds like a welcome addition. However, sleep tracking on the Apple Watch is far less ambitious, as well as requiring more troubleshooting than other wearables.

In recent years, health has been an essential pillar of the Apple Watch's success. In addition to sleep tracking, Apple plans to introduce dedicated mobility metrics in watchOS 7. These two features join wellness tools such as electrocardiogram measurement, fall detection, and noise exposure alerts that competitors are unlikely to be able to keep up with.

"The more Apple moves into the health space, the more the Watch becomes a necessity rather than a discretionary purchase," says Avi Greengart, principal analyst at Techsponential. 'From a business perspective, that's exactly what we want.'

And as the world's largest smartwatch maker with a 47.9% market share according to Statista, Apple, despite its slow start, can count on Apple Watch users to make sleep tracking the hot new health tool can.

"Apple is late to the party on this feature, but it won't matter because they are so far ahead of everyone else in the [smartwatch] category," says Greengart.

For those even remotely interested in sleep tracking, the mere suggestion that the next generation series will offer faster charging and better battery life could "alone drive upgrades and solidify Apple's dominance in the wearables industry."

However, an early preview of Apple Watch sleep tracking shows that it is not as sophisticated as that found in Fitbits wearables, which also identify sleep stages and wake you up at the optimal point in your cycle. Instead, Apple's sleep tracking tells you how many hours of rest you've had each night. Sleep apps also help you establish a sleep schedule and set sleep goals.

Apple is betting that people with these motivations are already wearing Watches and are hooked on activity tracking, and that the devices do not need to provide actionable sleep data to make sleep tracking interesting.

"Fitness-oriented people could benefit from tracking their sleep if they are already taking a general inventory of their health behaviors," says Dr. Joshua Tull, a Manhattan-based sleep expert. 'People who are constantly collecting data on diet and exercise may want to see the link to sleep and recognize the evidence for themselves.'

And then there is the issue of battery life: at the WWDC keynote, Apple did not reveal details about the Apple Watch 6 hardware, but seemed to suggest that battery life would not be much better than the Apple Watch 5, which lasts around 18 hours The reason for this is that the sleep tracking is not as good as the Apple Watch 5. This is because for users who plan to use sleep tracking, the "Wake Up" feature in watchOS 7 will prompt them to charge the watch in the morning.

Leaving my Apple Watch on my wrist overnight is due to laziness. I pay the price of laziness in the morning when I have to decide whether to delay my workout, perform my workout while my smartwatch is charging, or use it as an excuse to skip exercise altogether.

While not that sophisticated, the Fitbit Versa 2 lasts up to five days on a charge, so I don't have to worry about not juicing every night.

"Sleep tracking is a long-awaited addition to watchOS, but given that the current model lasts about 18 hours and takes 1.5 hours to charge, it will be easier to use on a future generation Apple Watch with better battery life," CSS Insight's Research Chief Ben Wood said.

While there is no proof that the Apple Watch 6's battery life will improve, Apple will not let me blame my Series 5's stamina on my charging laziness. If the Watch has no more than 30% remaining an hour before my scheduled bedtime, the Watch will prompt me to plug it in a bit.

This is how wearing the Apple Watch to bed becomes part of my nightly routine. Even as a skeptic of sleep tracking, I could imagine myself charging it before applying skin cream and watching an episode of a sitcom. Then, as the final act of the night, I would put my Apple Watch back on and drift off to dreamland.