The Apple Watch is one of the most popular wearables out there, with a series of seven generations now available, not including the Apple Watch SE. You’re not going to be able to get any sleep data from Apple Watch Series 1 and 2.
There are a number of reasons you may not be getting sleep data, or getting inaccurate data. Low charge, a loose band, improper syncing, or not setting the App up correctly can all contribute to your Apple Watch not tracking your sleep.
When it comes to sleep tracking with an Apple Watch, a few conditions have to be filled. For one, sleep tracking is not available on Series One and Series Two. Secondly, your WatchOS needs to be updated to 7 or later. Lastly, you have to have an iPhone 6s or later that’s running iOS 14 or later.
How To Troubleshoot Your Apple Watch When It Is Not Tracking Sleep
One of the main factors, when it comes to incomplete results or no results at all, with sleep tracking is wearing a loose band. It’s more difficult for a wearable of any kind—especially a >Some people hate wearing a watch that’s secured and prefer to wear one loosely. If you fall into that group, it’s important that you understand that the Apple Watch will have trouble gathering your sleep data if it’s loose.
The battery is the other main factor. You should never go to bed with your Apple Watch at a 30% battery level or less. Sometimes, this is difficult because after having worn the Watch for a full day, it means taking it off for a brief time to give it some juice before bedtime.
You would think that since Apple only initiated a more robust sleep tracking system fairly recently—especially in comparison to some of the competition—they would have invested their technical prowess into a better battery.
However, the new Apple Watch Series 7 remains the same, with a battery duration equivalent to that of the Series 6. Knowing that, it’s important to give it a little boost before bed, or come up with a routine that will ensure you have plenty of battery life for sleep cycle data gathering.
Properly Set Up Your Apple Watch For Sleep
To get your Apple Watch to properly monitor and track your sleep, while completely automated—versus you having to constantly turn on and off certain functions—you need to turn on the right settings.
- Swipe down on your watch and select Sleep
- Toggle on the setting for Turn On Automatically
- Toggle on Show Time
- Toggle on Track Sleep With Apple Watch
Set Up Your Sleep Cycle On Apple Watch
This is where you’re going to create a sleep schedule within your watch so that the Watch will automatically track your sleep during this time.
- Open the Sleep App on your Apple Watch
- Set your Bedtime
- Set your Wake Up (Alarm is optional)
The Health App is a default app that comes with your iPhone. While the Apple Watch will show you a bird’s eye view of your sleep data, the meat and bones of that data will be found on the Health app.
How To Find The Best Sleep Apps To Sync With Your Apple Watch
Once you turn on the Apple Watch for the first time, it needs to be close to your iPhone and the two devices will automatically sync on their own. Now, all of the data collected from your Apple Watch will automatically sync with the Health app on your iPhone.
The best part about that is you can open the Health app and add the best apps for their respective data recording, and those apps will become a part of the Health app.
- Open the Health app on your iPhone
- Scroll all the way down under the Summary tab
- Choose an app and download
- The new app will sync its data under the Health app
On your iPhone, you can also download the sleep app tracker that you want on your Watch by opening the Watch app.
- Open the Watch app
- Select Discover
- Select Explore Watch Apps
- Tap the search bar and type Sleep Trackers
- Select Get and download the app you want
Even though you’re finding the app on your iPhone, it will automatically add to your Apple Watch so you can begin sleep tracking with a third-party app.
Reset Your Apple Watch
If everything is set up correctly, properly synced, the Apple Watch has plenty of charge at night, and it has a snug fit on your wrist, yet it still isn’t tracking your sleep, it may be time to do a reset.
To do a standard reset, press and hold the side button and the digital crown at the same time and hold them both for ten seconds. If that doesn’t fix the problem, you’ll have to resort to a full wipe and reset.
- Open Settings on your Apple Watch
- Select General
- Select Reset
- Choose Erase All Content and Settings
- Enter your passcode and reset
You can also accomplish the same reset by placing the Apple Watch on its charger, pressing and holding the side button until it displays Power Off, and then holding down the digital crown until it resets.
Once it powers back up, it is essentially like it was when it came out of the box and will have to be resynced with your iPhone. You’ll need to start over by downloading your preferred sleep tracking apps and configuring your settings.
All Things Considered
It’s not common to have an Apple Watch not accurately tracking your sleep. Typically, fixing the physical problems, such as tightening it on your wrist and making sure the battery is properly charged before sleep, will fix the problem.
If you’re not happy with the sleep tracker, remember, there is more than one sleep tracker out there and they’re all not created equally. Regardless, the tips above should get you rolling again smoothly. Your sleep is important, in more ways than one, and you should have a sleep tracking platform that you can depend on.
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