Conclusion

While the data I gathered was better than random, the results from my experiment should still be taken with a grain of salt. My experience with these 10 devices may differ from yours, and each device has its strengths and weaknesses. If we consider only the results from the AMI MotionLogger as the “gold standard” for our accuracy study, the Fitbit Alta seems to be the most accurate among the other 9 in terms of sleep versus awake data. However, each device varies in price, convenience, design, popularity, and plenty of other factors more that you might consider differently based on your lifestyle.

In the end, we found that most devices were similar to each other if they were based on the same type of sensor (accelerometer vs. noise) and the device type (phone vs. wristband vs. other). Ultimately, sleep is best tracked through polysomnography, but these devices offer much more accessible and convenient options for casual users to track their activity and learn more about their habits during both the night and day. These devices offer some powerful data tracking tools, but it’s best to let the experts analyze your sleep if you have any chronic conditions. Our findings tell that these consumer-level sleep reports should be taken with a grain of salt, but regardless we’re happy to see more and more people investing in improving their sleep -- after all, there’s nothing better than a good night’s rest!

If you're interested in trying SleepCoacher, you can download the SleepCoacher app for Andoid. You can read more about how it works, on our Medium article. The iOS app is still under development by researchers in my research group at Brown University, but you can sign up for updates on our sleep website here! By signing up, you'll receive an invitation to be part of the first group to receive personalized recommendations through our app. SleepCoacher works by guiding you through small experiments to find the optimal sleep environment and schedule for you. The more you use it, the better the recommendations get.