Apple Watch vs Fitbit: How accurate are they as sleep trackers?

There’s a typical ailment that plagues me and plenty of others around the globe: I keep up too late after which get up exhausted, and drag my toes all day, solely to repeat the cycle once more every evening. Most of us know we’re purported to get the perfect 7 to 9 hours of sleep each evening, however are you truly getting them? I positive as heck am not.

So I made a decision to get a sleep monitoring machine. I like knowledge and seeing issues in black and white, so when it was delivered to my consideration that perhaps a few of my stress was rooted in lack of sleep, I assumed a sleep tracker would possibly assist. 

Also: The 5 finest Fitbit health trackers of 2023

My analysis turned up nice issues about Fitbit’s sleep monitoring algorithm, so I purchased a Fitbit Inspire 2 as step one to mending my damaged sleep. And I’m not the one one to take this step: According to the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 10% of adults within the United States put on or use a sleep monitoring machine regularly. 

Why I put on each a Fitbit and an Apple Watch

The Fitbit confirmed me that I used to be getting even much less sleep than I assumed I used to be. I’d anticipated to see a number of wake-ups that I’d be capable to attribute to tending to my 1-year-old, however, worse than that, I discovered that I used to be averaging about 4.5 hours of sleep at evening, some nights simply barely making it previous 3 hours. 

The perfectionist in me shortly accepted the problem and I turned enthralled by sleep knowledge; I’d get up each morning desirous to see my stats and commenced making acutely aware selections seeking to get not simply extra sleep, however better-quality sleep, all with the aim of bettering my rating. 

Around this time, I additionally acquired an Apple Watch 7, however discovered I could not half with my Fitbit. After it mentioned the giraffe is my sleep animal, my Inspire 2 and I had been buddies. Plus, Apple hadn’t launched WatchOS 9 but, so there was no native monitoring characteristic that would present me my sleep cycles and phases like my valuable Fitbit may.

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That modified with the discharge of WatchOS 9 in September 2022, which allows suitable Apple Watches to trace sleep phases and cycles. My watch leveled up within the sleep monitoring division to higher compete with my Fitbit.

Does the Apple Watch monitor sleep higher than a Fitbit?

The jury continues to be out. Since the brand new WatchOS that tracks sleep phases and cycles has solely been in widespread use for a couple of months, there is not any definitive reply on the accuracy of its sleep monitoring but. Until some peer-reviewed research evaluating it with different tried-and-true strategies are printed, anecdotal proof is all we have got.

Also:How to sleep higher with the Apple Watch

I’d like to do an precise sleep research whereas carrying my Apple Watch and Fitbit to see how accurate they are at figuring out sleep phases — that is how a lot I like monitoring my sleep. For now, I can solely see the information from having worn each units to mattress for months. 

Though I do not know which one is extra accurate, I’ve discovered the Apple Watch 7 persistently does three fundamental issues in another way from the Fitbit Inspire 2. The knowledge under is a each day common over seven days of sleep monitoring, the place each units tracked sleep cycles on the identical nights.

1. The Apple Watch exhibits extra mild or core sleep and fewer deep sleep than the Fitbit  

Tracking your sleep phases and cycles is most precisely finished by polysomnography; it is not as easy as monitoring your coronary heart fee all evening. Polysomnography analyzes your sleep by monitoring your mind waves, respiration and coronary heart fee, blood oxygen stage, and eye and physique actions all through the evening. While you sleep throughout a polysomnogram, an electroencephalogram (EEG) may be carried out to measure your mind waves, aka {the electrical} exercise in your mind as you navigate totally different sleep phases.

All these fancy phrases principally imply that, at this level in fashionable know-how, you possibly can’t monitor sleep cycles with 100% accuracy with units you put on in your wrist, however you may make approximations with a mix of various knowledge sources and an amazing algorithm or two. This is what wearables do. 

Review: I put the Apple Watch Ultra by a Tough Mudder

As you possibly can see on the desk above, my Apple Watch tends to trace longer time asleep than the Fitbit by about 25 minutes on common, whereas additionally monitoring barely extra time awake all through the evening. However, the largest variations are in Light/Core sleep and REM sleep; the previous is marked as over an hour longer by my Apple Watch 7, whereas the REM sleep is about 40 minutes longer. 

2. Asleep and awake instances are fairly even for each, with lower than a 20-minute distinction

While my Fitbit confirmed much less time asleep than the Apple Watch did, by a mean of 25 minutes, the information I’ve seen over the previous couple of months makes comparisons between each units a toss-up: Some days my Fitbit says I fell asleep a number of minutes or as much as an hour earlier than the Apple Watch marked the onset of sleep, instances after I was mendacity in mattress studying my Kindle or, sure, watching TikTok.

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On different days the Apple Watch marks sleep onset sooner than my Fitbit, leading to instances like those proven above. Many components could make this kind of accurate, like how tight or free your machine is, which wrist you put on it on, and the way a lot you progress at evening.

3. Shows “Time asleep” as longer than “Time in bed” about half the time

The new replace to the Apple WatchOS provides it the flexibility to trace sleep phases by analyzing coronary heart fee and motion, and it does so with at the least some accuracy: although it is nonetheless too quickly for printed, peer-reviewed research, my anecdotal impression is that the Apple Watch is extra accurate than Fitbit at sleep monitoring.

Some different anecdotal examples, like scientist’s Rob ter Horst’s sleep assessments (video), additionally discovered the Apple Watch post-WatchOS 9 replace to be probably the most accurate at monitoring sleep cycles of the units he is examined.

Also:Apple Watch Ultra vs. Garmin Enduro 2

But one factor that grinds my gears is that the Apple Watch tends to point out my complete time asleep as longer than the overall time I truly spent in my mattress, as proven within the image above. Complaints from different customers present this is not a brand new drawback, and it makes me query the accuracy of the sleep monitoring knowledge the Apple Watch provides me.

You can buy an Apple Watch if…

You’re an Apple one that needs a smartwatch with stable sleep monitoring.   

The Apple Watch has extra options than a health tracker, like extra third-party apps, for instance, and matches seamlessly into the Apple ecosystem.

When evaluating Apple Watch fashions or deciding whether or not to improve to a brand new Watch mannequin, it is value noting that some options are unique to the Apple Watch Series 8, like crash detection, which might alert emergency companies within the occasion of a automobile accident, and temperature monitoring, which may assist monitor ovulation through modifications in basal physique temperature.

Also: The finest Apple Watch fashions of 2023

As far as sleep monitoring, anecdotal proof is cut up to date, however I’ve most well-liked monitoring with my Apple Watch 7 because the WatchOS 9 options rolled out. I discover that it is extra usually accurate on displaying my sleep onset time and the instances I get up throughout the evening, however I can not converse for the sleep phases knowledge with out additional proof. 

You can buy a Fitbit if…

You’re crew Android, and/or on the lookout for a top-of-the-line health tracker with sleep monitoring.

Because Fitbit fashions can sync with each iOS and Android, a Fitbit is a greater choice for Android customers, because the Apple Watch is unique to iPhone homeowners. 

The lineup of Fitbits can also be rather more inexpensive than the Apple Watch, so if you happen to’re available in the market for a health tracker however do not wish to spend an excessive amount of, that is doubtless a better option. 

Though they do not have as many options as the Apple Watch, Fitbit additionally has a line of smartwatches, just like the Fitbit Sense 2, Fitbit Versa 4, and Fitbit Versa 2, as nicely as Fitbit monitoring on the Google Pixel Watch.

Review: Fitbit’s Sense 2 gave me a glimpse of how the Google Pixel Watch can be