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How to Track Sleep on Apple Watch

Turn on Track Sleep with Apple Watch, wear the watch overnight with enough charge, and review estimated stages and sleep history in the Sleep or Health app.
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To track sleep on Apple Watch, set up Sleep in the iPhone Health app or the watch’s Sleep app, turn on Track Sleep with Apple Watch, then wear the watch to bed with at least 30% charge. Apple says to wear it for at least one hour each night to receive sleep data. You can review the result in Sleep on the watch or in Health on iPhone.

Set up sleep tracking

  1. On iPhone: Open the Health app and tap Set Up Sleep. Follow the prompts to choose a sleep goal and bedtime and wake time, configure Sleep Focus, and enable Track Sleep with Apple Watch.
  2. Or use Apple Watch: Open the Sleep app on the watch and follow its setup prompts.
  3. Before bed: Make sure sleep tracking is enabled and the watch has at least 30% battery. Wear it for at least one hour overnight to receive sleep data, as Apple’s current setup guidance specifies.

Wear the watch comfortably. Apple cautions that a loose fit may cause its accelerometer to register too much movement. You can enable Charging Reminders to get a prompt to charge before Wind Down.

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A sleep schedule and Sleep Focus help manage bedtime, notifications, and alarms; the separate tracking setting is what adds sleep data to Health. Sleep tracking is available starting with watchOS 8, but Sleep is unavailable on watches configured using Apple Watch For Your Kids, formerly called Family Setup. Apple’s setup instructions cover the feature and its requirements.

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Where to see your sleep data

On Apple Watch

Open the Sleep app to see the previous night’s duration, estimated stages, score, and recent history. Apple’s watchOS 27 user guide describes recent trends and an average over the last 14 days. See Apple’s Apple Watch Sleep guide.

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On iPhone

Open Health, tap Browse, then Sleep. Apple’s support guide describes daily, weekly, monthly, and six-month history views, along with sleep-stage and duration data. The iPhone Health app is the place to review those longer history ranges. Apple’s sleep-tracking support page explains the available views.

If no data appears

  • Confirm Track Sleep with Apple Watch is enabled.
  • Check that you wore the watch for at least an hour.
  • Make sure the watch had enough charge to remain on overnight.

What the watch reports—and what it means

Apple Watch estimates time in REM, Core, and Deep sleep, as well as periods when you may have been awake. These are estimates, not direct measurements of sleep stages.

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  • KNOW YOUR SLEEP SCORE—With advanced sleep tracking, Series 11 gives you a daily sleep score. It’s an easy way to help measure and understand the quality of your sleep, so you can make it more restorative.
  • GET HYPERTENSION NOTIFICATIONS—Did you know that Series 11 can spot signs of chronic high blood pressure? By analyzing how your blood vessels respond to beats of the heart, it can notify you of possible hypertension.*
  • SAFETY FEATURES—A smartwatch that puts your safety first. Series 11 can detect a hard fall or severe car crash, automatically help connect you with emergency services, and notify your emergency contacts.* Check In can automatically notify a loved one when you’ve arrived at your destination.
  • A POWERFUL FITNESS TRACKER—With advanced metrics and motivating features like Pacer, Heart Rate Zones, training load, and Workout Buddy powered by Apple Intelligence from your nearby iPhone*—Series 11 is made to help everyone stay active, from runners and hikers to strength-training enthusiasts.

Apple’s Sleep Score runs from 0 to 100 and combines estimated sleep duration (50 points), bedtime consistency (30 points), and interruptions (20 points). Bedtime consistency considers when you fell asleep across the previous 13 nights; interruptions reflect how often and how long you were awake. Apple labels scores Very Low (0–40), Low (41–60), OK (61–80), High (81–95), and Very High (96+). These figures describe Apple’s score design, not an independent assessment of sleep quality. Apple’s Sleep guide describes the score and its components.

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Accuracy and health limits

Sleep stages and the score can help you review patterns, but they should not be treated as a diagnosis or as medical-grade measurements. Apple states: “Apple Watch is not a medical device, and Respiratory Rate measurements are not intended for use in medical diagnosis, treatment, or for any other medical purpose.” For health concerns about your sleep or breathing, discuss them with a healthcare professional rather than relying on watch data alone. Apple’s support page includes this limitation.

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  • A FULL-FEATURED HEALTH TRACKER—Apple Watch Series 11 gives you invaluable insights about your body, right from your wrist. Take an ECG anytime* and get alerts for a high and low heart rate or an irregular rhythm*—so you can stay closer to your heart. You can also view your overnight health tracking metrics with the Vitals app* and be notified of possible sleep apnea.*
  • KNOW YOUR SLEEP SCORE—With advanced sleep tracking, Series 11 gives you a daily sleep score. It’s an easy way to help measure and understand the quality of your sleep, so you can make it more restorative.
  • GET HYPERTENSION NOTIFICATIONS—Did you know that Series 11 can spot signs of chronic high blood pressure? By analyzing how your blood vessels respond to beats of the heart, it can notify you of possible hypertension.*
  • SAFETY FEATURES—A smartwatch that puts your safety first. Series 11 can detect a hard fall or severe car crash, automatically help connect you with emergency services, and notify your emergency contacts.* Check In can automatically notify a loved one when you’ve arrived at your destination.
  • A POWERFUL FITNESS TRACKER—With advanced metrics and motivating features like Pacer, Heart Rate Zones, training load, and Workout Buddy powered by Apple Intelligence from your nearby iPhone*—Series 11 is made to help everyone stay active, from runners and hikers to strength-training enthusiasts.
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  • A GREAT FITNESS TRACKER—SE 3 can track your workouts in a healthy number of ways—from running and strength training to simply achieving your 10K steps a day. With real-time metrics and Workout Buddy powered by Apple Intelligence from your nearby iPhone,* you’ll hit your goals like never before.
  • KEEP HELP CLOSE AT HAND—SE 3 is a smartwatch that can detect a hard fall or severe car crash and automatically help connect you to emergency services and notify your emergency contacts.* Check In can automatically notify a loved one when you’ve arrived at your destination.
  • WOMEN’S HEALTH INSIGHTS—SE 3 has advanced sensors that track your wrist temperature while you sleep. With this smartwatch, you can log your periods and symptoms, get period predictions, and get notified of cycle deviations.*
  • GREAT BATTERY LIFE AND FASTER CHARGING—Enjoy a smartwatch with all-day, 18-hour battery life* from sunup to sundown. Then charge up to twice as fast as SE 2* and get up to 8 hours of battery in just 15 minutes.*

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