Best sleep tracking apps 2024: Top 5 apps to download now
Want to understand your sleep patterns and learn more about exactly what you do during the night? The best sleep tracking apps will help you do just that. They typically use the microphone and sensors in your phone to track your movements, snoring, sleep disturbances and wake-up times.
While investing in the best mattress for your sleep needs will help you achieve good sleep, a tracking app will be able to tell you just how much your sleep has improved. Some of the best smart mattresses come with tracking built in so you can access your sleep information easily. However, you can also pair a sleep tracking app with your usual mattress and see fascinating insights, like your sleep stages, which can help you make changes to improve your sleep.
In this guide, we’ve selected five of the top-rated sleep tracking apps available now so you can level up your sleep for the New Year. We’ll explore why we think they’re worth your time and who we believe each of them is best suited for, so let’s dig a little deeper…
Best sleep tracking apps 2024
1. Sleep Cycle
Sleep Cycle is a comprehensive sleep tracking app with detailed stats and sleep graphs to help you better understand your sleep patterns. It works by utilising your phone’s sound recorder to analyze sounds and track your sleep, but you don’t have to worry about having your device in bed with you, it can go on the floor or on your bedside table.
With Sleep Cycle, you can rest assured knowing it’s designed to enhance your sleep. It offers a variety of ‘Sleep Programs’ with tips and hacks on ways to sleep better.
Sleep Cycle at a glance
OS: iOS/Android
Price: Free (With In-App Purchases)
App store rating: 4.7/5
Best for: Information junkies
As well as tracking the duration of your sleep, it also detects breathing disruptions and ambient sounds that might be affecting your sleep, recording them so you can identify issues, even promising to be able to ascertain whether it’s you or a partner responsible for snoring. It has an audio library of soothing tracks to help you sleep and a smart alarm to wake you up when you’re at your lightest stage of sleep.
A downside of the Sleep Cycle app is that some of the features require the premium subscription, and it does also have a lot of data to look through. If all you want is a simple sleep tracking app, this isn’t the right one for you. However, if you’re keen to thoroughly examine when and how you sleep, this is one of the best sleep tracking apps you can download.
2. SleepScore
SleepScore uses their own sonar sleep tracker technology to measure your sleep through your breath and movements your body makes during the course of the night. As it can do all this from your nightstand, it’s another good option if you don’t want your phone on your bed during the night and would prefer not to wear a sleep tracker on your wrist.
Once the app has tracked you overnight, it provides information on sleep stages in the form of a score between 0 and 100, which is useful for short-term insights and ideal for anyone who is result driven and wants to track how their sleep, and score, changes over time.
SleepScore at a glance
OS: iOS/Android
Price: Free (With In-App Purchases)
App store rating: 4.4/5
Best for: Improving your sleep
In addition, SleepScore uses easy to understand graphs to help you look through the sleep data, and offers a range of additional features. These include soothing sleep sounds to aid in falling asleep and a smart alarm to gently wake you at the optimal time.
Keep in mind that for optimal performance, the app needs to be in close proximity, such as on a bedside table. If you’re sleeping in a bunk bed, next to a wall, or sharing your bed, the accuracy may be slightly compromised. And, to access the full features of the app, including your entire sleep history, personal recommendations and a weekly sleep report, you will have to pay for the premium service.
3. Pillow
Pillow is designed to be used with your Apple Watch to get the most accurate data, but you can place your iPhone or iPad on your mattress near your pillow if that suits you better. While it’s only available for iOS devices, it does provide a whole host of detailed analysis, including your sleep stages, heart rate and giving you a sleep score.
Like other apps on this list, it can also record audio events throughout the night, including snoring, sleep apnea, and even sleep talking. This will help you better understand what’s happening to disturb your sleep, and if you’re a frequent sleep talker, you’ll finally be able to know for sure what you’ve been saying.
Pillow at a glance
OS: iOS only
Price: Free (With In-App Purchases)
App store rating: 4.4/5
Best for: Recording snoring and sleep talking
It has a smart alarm clock feature, which means it’ll wake you up when you’re in the lightest sleep stage, increasing the chances you’ll wake up feeling refreshed and relaxed in the morning. Plus, there’s a ‘Sleep Aid’ library that includes bedtime stories, meditations and more.
While it has a good review score overall, some users reported that the app wasn’t always accurate, and like other options in this guide, some of the features require a paid subscription. Most importantly, if you don’t have an iOS device, this definitely isn’t the sleep tracking app for you.
4. SleepWatch
The SleepWatch creators describe this app as an “all-in-one sleep tracker and digital sleep coach.” Again, it should be used with your Apple Watch for the most accurate data collection, but you can put your iOS device on your mattress near your pillow if you’d rather not have a wearable on while you sleep.
Like many other apps in this guide, it can track your sleep stages and give you important insights into how long you take to get to sleep, sleep disturbances, and more, via a personalized morning report.
SleepWatch at a glance
OS: iOS
Price: Free (With In-App Purchases)
App store rating: 4.7/5
Best for: Apple Watch owners
However, it also has an AI element (described by SleepWatch as an “AI-powered sleep assistant,”) which delivers customized suggestions and tips to help you improve your sleep.
SleepWatch does require a premium subscription to unlock features including the smart alarm and your SleepWatch Score, which uses an algorithm to compare your sleep to others around the globe and provide you with a score. But if you’re dedicated to improving your sleep, it might be worth it.
5. Eight Sleep
Although not a standalone sleep tracking app like the other suggestions in this guide, we’re including the Eight Sleep app because it works incredibly well alongside the super popular Eight Sleep Pods.
Eight Sleep Pods are currently available in three versions, the Pod 3, Pod 4 and Pod 4 Ultra, and while the upgraded versions have more features, each is a smart mattress cover fitted with sensors and a base that are attached to a hub, meaning it can track your sleep.
Eight Sleep at a glance
OS: iOS/Android
Price: Free (With In-App Purchases)
App store rating: 4.7/5
Best for: Those with a big budget
Eight Sleep Pods also regulate your temperature throughout the night, and have dual climate control, meaning the two sides of the bed can operate to different people’s requirements. You can even set a wake up that involves gentle vibrations and a temperature change.
All of this is done via the Eight Sleep app, which also presents information such as the time you have slept, your heart rate and identifying any snoring, as well as providing sleep stages and a sleep score. The obvious downside to the Eight Sleep app is that you’ll need the Eight Sleep Pod, and it’s incredibly expensive, with the Pod 3 starting at $2,295, plus a subscription fee for the app.
But if you’re serious about tracking your sleep and want the best way to do it, the Eight Sleep Pod and its app are the most premium experience around right now.
The best sleep tracking apps: FAQs
Are sleep tracking apps the same as sleep apps?
Sleep tracking apps and sleep apps are both, as the names suggest, about your sleep, but they tend to have different purposes. The best sleep tracking apps are primarily designed to monitor how you sleep.
They typically use sensors in your smartphone to track and record information about how long you sleep, the quality of your sleep and your sleep cycles. This information is then used to provide valuable insights about your sleep habits, helping you spot potential disruptions and ways to improve your sleep over time.
In comparison, the best sleep apps or sleep aid apps (such as Headspace and Calm) are created to help you fall asleep more easily. They might include features like soothing soundscapes, bedtime stories, breathing exercises or meditation guides designed to lull you into restful sleep.
Both types of apps can contribute to better sleep, but where sleep tracking apps are all about analysis and understanding, the best sleep apps are a more direct way to impact sleep quality.
Are sleep tracking apps reliable?
Most sleep tracking apps are reliable, but they can vary based on how data is collected with your phone’s sensors and how it’s interpreted. Many of the best sleep tracking apps use the accelerometer in your smartphone or wearable to monitor how you move throughout the night and infer your sleep patterns from that data, including whether you’re in light, deep, or REM sleep.
However, these estimates can sometimes be inaccurate, as they may not always be able to distinguish between lying still and actual sleep or when you wake up to use the bathroom versus when you wake up in the morning. More advanced sleep trackers tend to include additional metrics, like heart rate, for more precise readings.
So, while using sleep tracking apps to better understand your sleep habits is good, remember they are not medical devices. The accuracy of sleep tracking apps can be influenced by where you put your phone and your personal sleep behaviors. For more accurate trackers, try an under the mattress sleep tracker.
How to choose the best sleep tracking app for you
It’s key to consider several factors when choosing the best sleep tracking app for you. First, find out which different metrics it tracks. Most people want to see their sleep duration and sleep stages, but if you’re keen to learn something more specific about how you sleep, like sounds you make and heart rate, you’ll need to check which sleep app tracks and offers that information.
Compatibility with your devices is also important, especially if you want to use an Apple Watch for more accurate results (conversely, if you don’t have an iOS device, some apps won’t be available to you). You’ll also need to think about the app’s user interface. A good sleep tracking app should present data in a way that’s easy to understand, so take a look at screenshots on the App Store before you download.
Finally, make sure you check which features are available for free on each app, and which require committing to a paid subscription. While the premium features in some of the options on this guide are excellent, they can come at a cost, which may not suit those on a budget.
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