
Apple acquires sleep tracking company Beddit - sidcool
https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/09/apple-acquires-sleep-tracking-company-beddit/
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dchuk
Oh please please please make a smart alarm that will make me up by only
vibrating on my wrist. I want to be able to wake up early for stuff without
having to wake up my wife and dogs.

I want an alarm app on my Apple Watch that:

1) Wakes me up when I'm in light sleep rather than REM

2) Only vibrates on my wrist at first (let's say for 5 minutes) and then falls
back to a traditional alarm sound so I get my ass up just in case

I've gotten to the point of almost buying some Udemy courses on Apple Watch
development to build the damn thing myself. Only thing really holding me back
is figuring out the algorithm for sleep tracking, but I'm sure that wouldn't
be really hard to do.

Maybe I'll just do it still.

~~~
rikf
Surely the reason this isn't a thing is because the watch needs to be charged
every night?

~~~
pilif
At least for Series 2 this isn't that much of an issue any more: despite
tracking a 2 hour workout every day, the battery easily lasts through the day
and the night. And it recharges fully while I'm showering on the next day.

I could easily use the watch for sleep tracking, but the SDK is a bit limited
for 3rd party apps to be able to automatically start and stop tracking.

I hope Apple will either improve the SDK or add a built-in sleep tracker and
alarm feature as described by OP (though in my case the point is moot as I
have a very efficient fur-based alarm clock that will claw my face on the
first sign of daylight in order to be fed)

~~~
veidr
I agree; I charge it while I'm in the shower and so does everybody I know who
actually uses their Apple watch (which means, about 15% of those people I know
who bought one).

The battery (in the second version of the product) now lasts long enough to
make that work — except sometimes on the weekend when I might go a day without
a shower.

I also want the smart sleep tracking app badly. The reason I bought this
crappy watch was solely for the vibration-on-wrist when you have to make a
turn when using navigation.

Unfortunately, that iOS feature is horribly broken — it automatically switches
to "car mode" when you go faster than a brisk walk, which means it doesn't
work for navigating on a bicycle, skateboard, foot scooter, or even just
running.

So the device has very little utility for me as it stands — but a sleep-cycle-
aware, vibrate-only alarm clock would make it worth the purchase price for me.

And Apple (since I know you clearly must lurk on every hacker news thread
waiting for unsolicited advice from strangers on how to fix your lame
products): fixing the stupid "automatically switch to car mode" misfeature
would _also_ make the watch worth its price to me.

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thedz
I read this as "BBEdit" at first and thought wow, they pivoted to sleep
tracking?

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flashman
I read "Apple acquires... Reddit"

~~~
gallerdude
The humor is, someone else probably read it that way, but had to do something
else and is thinking about it now...

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DashRattlesnake
I was thinking of getting one of these, but now it's only a matter of time
before they remove Android compatibility.

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iplaw
Since sleep tracking dramatically increases the need for robust battery life
without having to resort to very specific charging rituals, I hope this means
that Apple will finally debut an Apple Watch strap which utilizes the
electrical contacts hidden away in the lower strap retention channel.
Officially, the contacts make up a diagnostic port, but it's been proven that
the contacts support charging. Apple has been expected to release a segmented
battery strap for quite a while, but it's never materialized.

Even in the sport band, where the portion of the lower retention strap usable
for battery placement is severely limited by the clasp-holding punctures, you
can easily double or triple the battery capacity of the Apple Watch and
maintain flexibility of the band by using a dozen or so interconnected
segmented batteries. [1]

The pleated leather loop bands do not have punctures since they utilize
magnetic retention, and can easily be adapted to hold one battery segment per
pleated portion. As many as two dozen battery segments can be sewn into the
loop, assuming that a magnet and a battery can coexist in a single pleat. [2]

[1]: [https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MLKX2ZM/A/38mm-
midnight-b...](https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MLKX2ZM/A/38mm-midnight-
blue-sport-band-s-m-m-l)

[2]: [https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MLHL2ZM/A/42mm-
midnight-b...](https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MLHL2ZM/A/42mm-midnight-
blue-leather-loop-medium)

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ctz
Did beddit actually ever make a product that worked? Certainly the indiegogo
version I got never worked in any useful way.

~~~
onion2k
Is it possible for a sleep tracking app to work in a _useful_ way? It could
tell you that your sleep is interrupted a lot, restless, rarely goes in to
deep sleep - but is that actually useful information? How could you use what
it's telling you? It's not enough to only know what's happening. You need to
know _why_ it's happening in order to affect changes that might improve
things, else you could make things worse, or just waste any time/money you're
spending trying to improve, or miss an underlying cause that indicates
something is seriously wrong..

~~~
adrianN
Gwern uses a sleep tracker for self-experimentation:
[https://www.gwern.net/Zeo](https://www.gwern.net/Zeo)

~~~
johnfn
This article is amazing. Thank you for reminding me about gwern.

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jbyers
One of the factors holding me back from buying an Apple Watch is the need to
charge overnight. I wear a Fitbit overnight for sleep quality and duration
tracking - imperfect as it is. An iPhone- or iWatch-integrated solution would
push me over the edge.

~~~
sillysaurus3
_I wear a Fitbit overnight for sleep quality and duration tracking_

Are any of these overnight sleep trackers effective?

I'm curious if they cause any changes in your life, or if it's mostly just
fulfilling curiosity.

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droopyEyelids
It certainly changed my life, and it's the only reason I keep wearing this
decaying fitbit.

I did a bio major in college and had researched as much as I could about
sleep, so I went into it informed, but could never really 'figure out'
anything to my satisfaction.

That all changed when I got the fitbit, which tracks your sleep 100%
automatically. I was able to piece together my complete story about sleep
debt, the effects of drinking, caffeine, anticipation, and exercise on my
sleep quality, and exactly how much sleep I actually need in a night. (All of
which had elements of mystery to them before)

This has put me FAR more in tune with my body and mind. It explains the ADD-
like symptoms I've coped with, as well as other negative effects that I now
realize are due to sleepiness, but had believed were natural variance in life.
It gave me control of my life by allowing me to figure out exactly what I need
to do to regain my sleep balance when I lose it- something that seemed like an
art or even magical before.

I think a skeptic's first thought might be along the lines of "How could
someone not be able to tell their body's sleep situation- sounds like a high
tech solution to a non-problem." If you've studied sleep, you should know that
after a few hours sleep debt (even before you go to bed) your body compensates
by increasing the release of dopamine in your head, which provides stimulation
and euphoria that _inhibits your ability to sense your own disability_ That
should explain the benefit of an objective robot that tells you whats up, and
if you're a true skeptic, it should make you wonder a bit about the accuracy
of your own self perceptions.

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SirensOfTitan
The Sleep Cycle app does a pretty good job at sleep analysis and gentle waking
and you don't have to wear anything.

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calvinbhai
I was a first adopter for this app, and I have seen way too many scientific
journals / papers by PhD candidates or from researchers saying that the Sleep
Cycle app is not anywhere close to identify the correct sleep cycles.

After using it for a few years, I stopped using it because how I felt in the
morning had no correlation to what the app was saying how my sleep was.

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ismail
What I really really want is: a fitness tracker that does not look like a
watch and can be worn with a normal watch.

I prefer wearing classic watches, surely I cannot be the only one out there
with this need?

Do not care about notifications, viewing messages etc. So something that has
HR and great sleep tracking.

~~~
brlewis
Is the Alta HR slim enough?
[https://www.fitbit.com/shop/altahr](https://www.fitbit.com/shop/altahr)

To get anything on your wrist slimmer than that you'll have to give up heart
rate tracking.

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josep2
I have had a Beddit for many years now. It's a great device and hope they can
make some waves with Apple.

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gumby
Do you sleep alone? I have GF, cat, dog all of whom move differently. Can it
filter one person from the noise?

There's also the kid-jumping-on-bed problem but that is pretty rapidly an
"awake" case.

~~~
discohead
Their FAQ says it can:

Absolutely, Beddit 3 is designed for sleep tracking in a shared bed. However,
this requires one sensor per person, per phone. You may track sleep one or
two-at-a-time

[http://www.beddit.com/faq/](http://www.beddit.com/faq/)

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perseusprime11
Before going to bed, try telling yourself to wake up at a particular time and
you will be amazed.

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DonHopkins
Not to be confused with BBEdit.

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free2rhyme214
I miss Apple's innovation.

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tmsldd
We've tracked down in all sort of ways while awake ... now are we going to be
tracked also while sleeping? We should try to figure out how to not be a data
source without being paid for..

