Apple has acquired sleep tracking company Beddit, in a move that hints to the future of the Apple Watch.
The Beddit privacy page has just been given an update announcing the move, however the exact terms have not been made clear. "Beddit has been acquired by Apple," it reads. "Your personal data will be collected, used and disclosed in accordance with the Apple Privacy Policy."
Beddit has been allowed to sell its tracker in Apple's stores for quite some time now, so it's no secret that Cupertino approves of the product. It also has an existing Apple Watch app, but this move suggests Apple is getting serious about sleep tracking, and could be looking to introduce sleep features into future devices.
Read this: Spending some quality time with Fitbit's new sleep features
Wareable recently broke the news that Beddit was phasing out old devices and upgrading users for free, and we now can't help but wonder if this has something to do with the Apple move. We've contacted Beddit for clarification of what's going on here, and will update when we know more.
We've used the Beddit 3 plenty at Wareable, and it's definitely one of the best sleep trackers on the market, using ballistocardiography to measure cardiac activity alongside movement - but what could Apple be planning here? Right now, if you want to track your sleep with the Apple Watch you'll have to download one of the third-party options. It's no surprise that Apple might be looking to introduce its own sleep tracking abilities, but limited battery life is the biggest obstacle currently.
So start your speculation engines. Will we see something announced in watchOS 4 at WWDC next month? Or will we have to hold out for the Apple Watch Series 3, which is predicted to touch down later in the year, and may offer better battery life as a result?
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By Hugh Langley
Now at Business Insider, Hugh originally joined Wareable from TechRadar where he’d been writing news, features, reviews and just about everything else you can think of for three years.
Hugh is now a correspondent at Business Insider.
Prior to Wareable, Hugh freelanced while studying, writing about bad indie bands and slightly better movies. He found his way into tech journalism at the beginning of the wearables boom, when everyone was talking about Google Glass and the Oculus Rift was merely a Kickstarter campaign - and has been fascinated ever since.
He’s particularly interested in VR and any fitness tech that will help him (eventually) get back into shape. Hugh has also written for T3, Wired, Total Film, Little White Lies and China Daily.