Samsung Galaxy Watch update delivers improved REM sleep tracking

Ben Schoon | Oct 22 2018 - 9:26 am PT

With its killer battery life, one of the key features that Samsung advertises on the new Galaxy Watch is sleep tracking. Now, with a recent update, Samsung has improved Galaxy Watch REM sleep tracking even more.

Noted by SamMobile, Samsung has quietly upgraded sleep tracking on all Galaxy Watch models with its most recent update which rolled out last week. As usual, the Galaxy Watch can track your sleeping patterns following this update, but it no longer requires continuous heart rate monitoring to detect REM sleep.

REM sleep, if you weren’t aware, is “rapid eye movement” sleep and accounts for around 20% of the average adult’s sleep cycle. This cycle of sleep is commonly where the brain is very active and where we may have very vivid dreams. It also causes your heartbeat to increase, which is one way in which the Galaxy Watch tracked the cycle.

With this most recent update, the watch no longer requires continuous tracking and instead sets it to a “frequent” mode which measures every ten minutes. It may not be as accurate, but for those who want to use Galaxy Watch REM sleep tracking, it’s going to save a lot of battery life. Samsung has even turned the option on by default with this update, but you can easily turn it off with a toggle in the settings.