Roger Fingas
Apple-owned Beddit on Friday made a surprise product launch, releasing a very slightly revised version of its namesake sleep tracker.
The product appears functionally identical to its predecessor, able to record sleep duration, heart rate, breathing, snoring, and room conditions when slipped onto a mattress. Cosmetically though the product is more refined than its predecessor, hiding stitches and incorporating a dedicated opening for its USB cable.
Owners must also use a different iPhone app, Beddit (for Model 3.5), which requires iOS 12. The original Beddit app has been rebranded as "Beddit (for Model 3.0)," and needs only iOS 9.
The Beddit 3.5 syncs with HealthKit and will work with one or two people in a bed, though the second person can't be tracked unless they have their own monitor. Apple is selling the product for $149.95.
Apple bought Beddit in May 2017. The purpose wasn't known at the time, particularly since an Apple sleep expert, Dr. Roy J.E.M. Raymann, left shortly after the acquisition. Beddit shut down its legacy cloud services on Nov. 15 this year.
Earlier in 2018 Apple applied for a patent on technology extremely similar to Beddit's. In the future however the company could conceivably build sleep tracking into the Apple Watch, something so far supported via third-party apps.
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8 Comments
I've been using Sleep Cycle with Series 4 for 55 nights. It's amazing; I'm satisfied enough to not spend 150 bucks for something that probably adds marginal accuracy gains.
I tried several Sleep apps and settled on Pillow. With the auto-detect feature in the newest versions, I find it more than satisfactory for my purposes. I actually went ahead and purchased the Pro upgrade to reward the developer even though I didn't really have much need for it.
WHY?
I'm sure Apple is planning on implementing these features into Watch. Not sure why they're releasing new Beddit hardware.
Apple may have made some sort of guarantees for future product development in their acquisition of beddit
Have been using the original Beddit sleep monitor for several years as I purchased it shortly after it was announced and long before Beddi was bought by Apple. It performs as advertised and my only complaint is secondary such as fit and finish of the band that lays on the mattress. I am hoping the new model will not only be finished better, but also will fit better and won’t get twisted during the night as I roll from side to side.