Kevin Lynch talks sleep tracking for the Apple Watch in new interview
What you need to know
- Kevin Lynch sat down with CNET to talk about its new Sleep app in watchOS 7.
- The Apple executive talked about how the company wanted to focus on less with the feature.
- The Sleep app will be available on watchOS 7 when it is released this fall.
One of the big Apple Watch features that many have been waiting for is a built-in sleep tracker. Apple announced just that at this year's WWDC, and Kevin Lynch, who heads up software development for the Apple Watch, sat down to talk about it.
In an interview with CNET, the Apple executive said that, after immense testing, they found that helping people get the correct amount of sleep was the area where they should focus.
Lynch says that, while other sleep apps provide users with tons of different data points when sleeping, the company believes that guiding users to bed is the area that they believe will have the biggest impact. The new Wind Down feature, which suggests shortcuts such as dimming your lights or playing a sleep-related podcast, is built just for that.
While many currently like to track and receive feedback on every aspect of their activity, Apple is only going to provide positive feedback for when users achieve their sleep goals. Lynch says that negative feedback was found to only compound sleep problems for those with existing issues.
The Sleep app and all of the new sleeping features of watchOS 7 will be released to the public this fall.
Master your iPhone in minutes
iMore offers spot-on advice and guidance from our team of experts, with decades of Apple device experience to lean on. Learn more with iMore!
Joe Wituschek is a Contributor at iMore. With over ten years in the technology industry, one of them being at Apple, Joe now covers the company for the website. In addition to covering breaking news, Joe also writes editorials and reviews for a range of products. He fell in love with Apple products when he got an iPod nano for Christmas almost twenty years ago. Despite being considered a "heavy" user, he has always preferred the consumer-focused products like the MacBook Air, iPad mini, and iPhone 13 mini. He will fight to the death to keep a mini iPhone in the lineup. In his free time, Joe enjoys video games, movies, photography, running, and basically everything outdoors.