Can Your Smartwatch Detect Sleep Apnea?

You won’t always know when you have sleep apnea. In fact, the only symptom some people notice is feeling exhausted after a full night’s sleep. But there are other hints that you should consider seeing a doctor for evaluation, and some wearable tech can deliver those.

Sleep apnea is a serious disorder where your breathing repeatedly stops or is disrupted while you sleep. (“Apnea” comes from the Greek word for “without breath.”) They typically last at least 10 seconds and can happen dozens of times per hour. As if its health risks and unpleasant symptoms weren’t enough, sleep apnea can be hell on partners, too. Snoring, gasping and other restless behaviors can make it hard for both people to get a good night’s sleep.

Confirming a diagnosis of sleep apnea requires medical testing. In some cases, that means spending a night in a sleep lab, hooked up to a bunch of wires and sensors. What some consumer smartwatches can do is screen for signs that may suggest you have it. Then, you can visit your doctor to get the ball rolling on a formal diagnosis.

While many smartwatches can track your sleep, screening for sleep apnea is much less common. In fact, the only two major smartwatch makers with sleep apnea notification features with some sort of FDA verdict are also the two biggest players in the smartwatch space: Apple and Samsung.

Without getting too much into the weeds of FDA terminology, I’ll just say that Samsung was granted De Novo authorization from the administration in 2024 for the its Sleep Apnea feature, while Apple received FDA clearance (510k) for its sleep apnea notification feature some months later.

Apple’s sleep apnea notifications are available on the Apple Watch Series 9 and later, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and 3 and the Apple Watch SE 3. The feature uses the watch’s accelerometer to look for breathing disruptions consistent with moderate-to-severe sleep apnea. But again, it doesn’t actually diagnose the condition.

The feature requires the latest version of watchOS on a compatible Apple Watch and the newest version of iOS on your paired iPhone. It’s designed for people 18 and older. Also, don’t just put on your watch and go to sleep: You’ll need to set up sleep tracking first. Then, you’ll need to log your sleep for at least 10 nights within a 30-day period before receiving notifications.

Breathing disruptions will be categorized as either “Elevated” or “Not Elevated,” and you’ll see a notification if you consistently experience the “Elevated” variety. At that point, the wearable has done its part, and you’ll need to visit a doctor for a formal evaluation.

On compatible devices, you can turn on sleep apnea notifications in the Health app on your iPhone. In the app, go to Search > Respiratory, and tap “Set Up” under Sleep Apnea Notifications. (If you see “On” instead of “Set Up,” then, well, you’ve already set it up.)

You can look over your data in the Health app under Respiratory > Breathing Disturbances.

Samsung offers a similar feature to screen for signs of moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea. It works with the Galaxy Watch 4 and newer. (The Galaxy Fit lineup isn’t compatible.)

Note that you can’t use it with any old Android phone: It’ll need to be a Galaxy phone with the Samsung Health Monitor app installed. The feature is designed for people 22 and older.

You can activate Samsung’s feature by tapping Sleep apnea (and then toggling it on) in the Samsung Health Monitor app on your Galaxy phone. Samsung’s version requires less data than Apple’s: only two nights of sleep tracking within a 10-day period. You’ll need to get at least four hours of sleep each night for it to work.

After that, your results will be available in the Sleep Apnea section of the Samsung Health Monitor app. Once you receive your results, the feature will automatically turn off. (You can reactivate it later if you want.)

The closest thing to an exception to Apple and Samsung’s duopoly in this space is Withings. The company’s health-focused hybrid watches can monitor nighttime breathing disturbances that may indicate sleep apnea.

In 2021, the Withings ScanWatch received FDA clearance for tracking breathing disturbances. Unlike Apple and Samsung’s wearables, Withings doesn’t market this as a sleep apnea notification tool. But if it detects breathing disturbances, that may be a sign that you should see a doctor.

As a bonus, the Withings ScanWatch is a pretty slick-looking device. It combines a classic analog watch with a small (0.63-inch) OLED display. Not a bad choice for someone who doesn’t want a watch that looks like a tiny phone.

Garmin has a feature on some watches that logs breathing variations during sleep. However, the feature doesn’t appear to have FDA clearance. A long list of the company’s watches is compatible, including models from the Forerunner, Fenix, and Venu series.

Similarly, the Oura Ring added a feature in 2024 that flags breathing disruptions during the night. Its version detects drops in blood oxygen levels to flag potential disturbances. But like Garmin’s feature, it doesn’t have FDA clearance and isn’t marketed as a sleep apnea screening feature.

Unfortunately, that’s where the list ends. Fitbit and Whoop offer plenty of advanced sleep-tracking and recovery metrics, including nighttime respiratory rate tracking. But neither has an FDA-cleared respiratory feature in the same category as Apple, Samsung or even Withings. And while plenty of smaller companies appear to at least be researching the feature or readying submissions to the FDA, they’ve yet to make the list of device manufacturers that have successfully done so.

Regardless, even if you’re one of the relative few who uses one of the smartwatches listed here that can detect signs of sleep apnea, always make sure to consult a doctor on all things related to your health.