The Apple Watch could finally be getting its own sleep tracking features, and it may be unveiled at Apple's 10 September event.
That's according to 9to5Mac and the word from sources inside of Cupertino who claim sleep tracking for the smartwatch has been in the works. A report back in February this year suggested an Apple Watch with built-in sleep tracking was in the process of being tested before a big rollout by 2020.
Essential reading: Best Apple Watch sleep tracker apps
The new native sleep tracking mode is apparently going by the codename 'Burrito' internally at Apple and more officially called 'Time in Bed tracking'. Interestingly, the mode will let owners of multiple Apple Watch owners choose which Watch they want to take to bed to track their sleep.
It sounds like the Apple Watch will not require any additional hardware to track sleep, adopting the same method of monitoring your bed time as other smartwatches and sports watches. The Apple Watch will track movement, heart rate and noises to produce data about the user's quality of sleep. That data will apparently be able to live inside of Apple's Health app and inside of a dedicated Sleep app.
While other smartwatches have offered the ability to track sleep for some time, it's believed one of the reasons Apple didn't follow suit was due to the battery life of its own wearable. It seems Apple will try to remedy this issue by offering users a reminder to charge their Watch before thinking about tracking sleep time.
Apple's Sleep features it seems will go beyond tracking too. If a user wakes up before the time an alarm was set up for, the Watch will automatically turn off the alarm. Other features include a silent alarm option, a Do Not Disturb mode that automatically activates when you go to bed, and a dedicated sleep complication to view data from your watch face.
Apple's next big event is nearing on the horizon, where we are expecting to see the Apple Watch Series 5. Hopefully this will be the time when we'll get to hear more about these native sleep features too.
How we test
By Michael Sawh
Michael Sawh has been covering the wearable tech industry since the very first Fitbit landed back in 2011. Previously the resident wearable tech expert at Trusted Reviews, he also marshaled the features section of T3.com.
He also regularly contributed to T3 magazine when they needed someone to talk about fitness trackers, running watches, headphones, tablets, and phones.
Michael writes for GQ, Wired, Coach Mag, Metro, MSN, BBC Focus, Stuff, TechRadar and has made several appearances on the BBC Travel Show to talk all things tech.
Michael is a lover of all things sports and fitness-tech related, clocking up over 15 marathons and has put in serious hours in the pool all in the name of testing every fitness wearable going. Expect to see him with a minimum of two wearables at any given time.