When it comes to monitoring sleep with your iPhone, although we have our own Health app, it is true that sometimes it falls very short and fails to take advantage of all the potential that an app dedicated purely and exclusively to it could have.
But fortunately, in the App Store there are very interesting developments in the field of sleep monitoring on an iPhone, so in this article we will tell you how these applications work and which ones we recommend you use. Do not miss it!
How sleep tracking apps work
First of all, what we have to be clear about is that there is no generic definition of “sleep monitoring app”, but there are different applications that each offer a different approach to performing this task.
That is, depending on the emphasis that each manufacturer has placed on it and to what extent the app has access to certain functionalities of the device, sleep monitoring will be done in one way or another.
Today, without taking into account smartwatches or specific devices polysomnography, There are 4 different ways to monitor sleep with your iPhone mobile, which make use of different methods:
Accelerometers and gyroscopes
iPhones have built-in accelerometers and gyroscopes that They can detect movements and changes in position, and thanks to them the iPhone can determine when you are asleep, when you are awake, and when you are in different stages of sleep, such as light sleep, deep sleep, or REM. Obviously, for the phone to do this we will have to carry it with us.
Sound recording
There are apps that access the microphone to detect sounds at night, such as snoring or environmental noises, which ultimately give data about what our environment is like and whether we were deeply asleep or not.
Pattern Analysis
Here we go to a more statistical method, based on analyzing data such as the total duration of sleep, the time you spend in different stages of sleep, the frequency and duration of awakenings during the night, and the overall quality of your rest at bedtime.
Smart alarms
Some apps also offer smart alarm features that They try to wake you up at the optimal time within a certain time range, based on your sleep cycle. So you mark a time interval. (“wake me up between 6 and 7”), it will look for the optimal time where sleep is lightest so that you do not feel tired.
The best applications to monitor sleep with your iPhone
Next, we are going to talk about the best applications to monitor sleep with your iPhone mobile that we have found, based on an exhaustive analysis that we have done in the App Store.
Sleep Tracking & Alarm
Sleep Tracking & Alarm It is an application that precisely uses several of these methods to analyze how the quality of your sleep in general works and how it affects you.
Above all, because in the Sleep Tracking module uses the microphone to know if you snore, how you do it or if you talk in your sleep, in addition to helping you personalize a smart alarm to avoid waking you up (as much as possible) when you are sleeping more deeply.
In addition to taking our records, letting us record our snoring and playing relaxing music to wake us up, another interesting point that this app has is that You can sync the data you take with Apple Health, which can be useful to have a more general control of our quality of life.
The application is no longer available in the App StoreSleep Cycle: Sleep Monitor 4+
Sleep Cycle It is an application that has everything we can ask of an app to monitor sleep with your iPhone, basically. And above all it has a very innovative pattern because integrates a patented Artificial Intelligence that is purely and exclusively oriented to sleep analysis (and relatively different from the one we discussed with the hypothetical Apple GPT).
The good thing about this app is that It allows us to rest without carrying the phone with us, since the operation of this app is based on the pure analysis of the sounds we make when sleeping, which are controlled by the application itself and which, based on a contrast model, will tell what phase of sleep we are in. We simply have to sleep with the phone nearby and the app open, the rest is “pure magic” of AI, basically.
And for those who doubt its usefulness, this app has won several awards as the best smart alarm clock in media such as CNN, Wired, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, the BBC or The New York Times. Almost nothing, do not?
The application is no longer available in the App StorePillow: Sleep Tracking
This app, with a very nice name, has also been awarded numerous awards by major press such as The New York Times, Forbes or The Guardian, and is even considered for Apple Watch as one of the best apps to monitor sleep with your iPhone mobile or with the Apple Watch.
The name of Pillow (pillow) goes because If you use it with your phone, you should leave it on the mattress so that it can record sound events. such as snoring, sleep apnea or sleep talking. With all this, it prepares a report that contrasts with Apple's Health logs, in order to compare and see how your sleep patterns are working.
If you use it with Apple Watch, you will also get a bonus: you can use your watch's heart rate monitoring to be able to add that more data to your sleep analysis and make it even more precise.
The application is no longer available in the App StoreSleep Monitor: Sleep Recorder
Sleep Monitor is an application that also works by recording sounds and obtaining metrics, but in addition to monitoring us It has modules to help us fall asleep effectively and quickly, teaching us breathing exercises to fall asleep or thanks to the more than 130 relaxing sounds that are integrated into the app.
Also It allows us to write down certain patterns that can affect the quality of our sleep, such as having exercised, heavy meals at night or drinking coffee, and as an element it will give us reminders of when we should go to bed to maximize the quality of sleep.
Outside of that, we have another app in front of us with a complete analysis of our way of sleeping that integrates beautifully with Apple Health, to the point that it also uses the step counter and heart rate in case we have an Apple Watch.
The application is no longer available in the App Store