In several ways, Apple is reinforcing a message it's been sending for some time: It’s better to sleep while wearing the Apple Watch. It sounds like paradoxical advice for a watch—except for the Ultra model—which has a battery barely that lasts barely a day and a half, but the company says it's all in the interest of health.
Why it matters. Apple is committed to tracking our health while we sleep. Some people find monitoring their sleep by wearing a watch to be inconvenient. Others don’t mind, but they charge their devices overnight. This in mind, it stands to reason that Apple could be betting on a new product: a smart ring.
Context:
- Apple is launching the Vitals app in watchOS 11, which provides a holistic view of health based on nightly metrics.
- Dr. Sumbul Desai, Apple’s vice president of health, talked to CNET about the importance of wearing the Watch while sleeping to get accurate data.
- Meanwhile, rumors of a hypothetical Apple Ring have been circulating. The company hasn’t officially confirmed anything.
The details. Vitals collects data on your heart rate, respiratory rate, wrist temperature, sleep duration, and blood oxygen. It sets a normal range for each metric and sends an alert when at least two are out of range.
Desai explained that wearing the Watch while sleeping is critical to getting more accurate baseline data by eliminating daytime stress and activity.
Yes, but... For many people, wearing a watch while sleeping is uncomfortable, and the battery issue makes it even more uncomfortable. It forces the user to find a charging routine that will get them through the night with enough battery. A smaller, lighter, dedicated device to use when sleeping could be a solution.
The context for a potential Apple Ring:
- Samsung has already launched its Galaxy Ring, becoming the first major technology company to enter this market—Amazon did it before, but with a different approach—and putting pressure on its competitors.
- Other manufacturers like Oura have been producing smart rings for years with reasonable success.
- Superhuman also launched one as part of its unique healthcare suite.
- Several third-party apps have brought the ideas behind Vitals to the Watch, including Athlytic, FitWoody, and Bevel.
In addition, a ring could take advantage of Apple’s ecosystem and offer iPhone or Vision Pro controls.
Rumors. Rumors point to a ring that Apple could launch around 2026, with an estimated price tag between $300 and $500. It would offer sleep tracking, wireless payment support, health monitoring, and haptic feedback for specific notifications.
While Apple has accumulated several patents around a ring in recent years, this doesn’t guarantee the company will launch this type of device. Still, it ensures that it at least wants to protect its developments if it decides to turn the idea into reality.
The bottom line. Apple’s insistence on monitoring our health at night and the rest of the industry’s advances in smart rings make the idea of Apple launching its own device seem reasonable.
It would be a solution for those who want to monitor their health at night without wearing a Watch. In addition, it would allow those who prefer traditional watches to obtain information about their health and physical activity.This article was written by Javier Lacort and originally published in Spanish on Xataka.
Image | Samsung
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