At its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June, Apple unveiled a new Apple Watch app called Vitals coming to watchOS 11. Designed to help you track and act on your health data, it was one of the most notable new additions to the Apple Watch announced at the show.
What Apple didn’t mention, however, is that you’ll only get the most out of the Vitals app if you wear your Apple Watch while you sleep. That could mean some big changes to your routine if you normally let your Watch charge overnight.
In a interview with CNETDr. Sumbul Desai, Apple’s vice president of health, said it’s important to wear the watch when you go to bed because it allows the Vitals app to understand metrics like your heart rate, body temperature and more without the distraction of exercise and other activities during the day. The Vitals app needs a complete picture of your health, including what’s happening overnight, to determine whether your readings are normal or deviate from your baseline levels.
“So much of your health is invisible,” Desai said. “This daily health status is almost a snapshot of your health from one day to the next.” Instead of giving you a health score, Vitals calculates how your current stats compare to your normal levels, and if two or more of those stats are off, it tells you what you can do to get things back to normal.
The goal, however, is not to send you to the doctor at the slightest sign of deviation from your norms. “We’re not saying, ‘You need to talk to a doctor,'” Desai added. “We’re really thinking about not making you wait in line unnecessarily to go to the doctor. […] We want to make sure that when we notify you, it is for a meaningful reason and that it is acted upon.”
Apple has been adding sleep tracking features to the Apple Watch in recent years (and watchOS 11 is no exception), but it’s not as comprehensive as what you’ll get from some competing apps and trackers. The Vitals app, however, could change that.
One issue for many, however, is that the Apple Watch is a fair bit bulkier and heavier than something more discreet like an Oura Ring or the new Samsung Galaxy Ring. That might make it less appealing to wear while you sleep, but it’s a hurdle users will have to overcome if they want to get the most out of the Vitals app – and with all the extra health data at its disposal, the extra effort could be worth it.
