Your Apple Watch May Be Getting a Sneaky Cool New Feature

Over the years, Apple has developed a habit of observing what works in other smartwatches and fitness trackers, and then introducing similar features to the Apple Watch later. But, because it’s Apple, they’re able to do it in a stylish way that works much better with your iPhone and other Apple devices.

One recent example of this is sleep tracking. Because the Apple Watch doesn’t have nearly the battery life of its rivals, Apple stayed away from it. But, due to overwhelming demand, it finally conceded and introduced sleep tracking in 2020 as part of watchOS 7.

That said, the Apple Watch’s sleep tracking has lacked a fundamental feature — the ability to provide a sleep score, which is a fun and easy way to gauge how well you’ve slept.

Some of the most popular fitness trackers, including Whoop, as well as several third-party sleep tracking apps for the Apple Watch, have been able to provide wearers with a sleep score. And now it looks like a similar feature could be coming to the Sleep app on your Apple Watch for the first time.

(It’s worth noting that this wouldn’t be the first time the Apple Watch got a signature Whoop feature. Just last year, with watchOS 11, Apple Watch finally gave you the ability to take days off, or “rest days,” where you could pause activity rings in case you need a day or week off.)

The Apple Watch gets a sleep score (maybe)

Apple

As spotted by MacRumors contributor Steve Moser in the developer beta of iOS 26, located in the Health app code, there’s an unused illustration titled “Watch Focus Score” with several sleep-related icons (including “zzz,” the moon, a bed and an alarm clock) around it.

The actual illustration shows a graphic of an Apple Watch with the number “84” displayed. Around this number are three bars foaming a ring, each the same colors (light blue, dark blue, and orange) that the Health app currently displays to indicate your sleep stages.

In the corresponding MacRumors article, it’s noted that “the orange could represent time awake, the lighter blue may correspond with REM sleep, and the darker blue could be Core or Deep sleep.”

It’s an exciting development because the ability to give you a sleep score has been popular on other wearables — and it promises to make wearing your Apple Watch to bed a little more fun.

Additionally, it’s a surprise because Apple didn’t provide any indication of a sleep score when it announced watchOS 26 and its upcoming features.

Apple

When’s it coming?

Of course, we’ve seen in the past that just because something appears in Apple’s beta software code, that feature doesn’t always come to fruition.

As for the official release of watchOS 26, that will roll out to the masses in September, coinciding with Apple’s announcement of its next-gen smartwatches. It will be supported on all Apple Watches that are Series 6 and SE (2nd generation) or later.

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