What’s keeping you up at night? Fitbit can detect snores and other noise

September 17, 2021

By Kim Komando

Do you snore when you sleep? Unless you have woken yourself up while doing so, you can’t be that sure. But if it sounds like you are sawing logs at night, someone might kick you to stop. Tap or click here for 10 ways to get better sleep: Apps, podcasts, gadgets and more.

Several apps can keep track of your sleeping habits and note them down every time you rattle the shingles. A partner who is severely against your late-night musical might even decide to record you as evidence.

In all seriousness, a good night’s sleep is essential for physical and mental well-being. It plays a significant role in living a healthy life, and if snoring is starting to become a problem, it needs to be addressed.

Here’s the backstory

That is why Fitbit is incorporating some new technology into the Sense and Versa 3 models. The function will roll out soon, and through the microphone, the “Snore & Noise Detect” does what you’d expect.

The beta version of Snore Detect was released earlier this year but was provided as a separate download. Fitbit will now push it out to all users of the two compatible devices. It is important to note, though, that it is only available to Fitbit Premium subscribers.

When enabled, the app monitors sound in your sleep environment. This can be anything loud enough to disturb your sleep. Things like noisy cars, babies crying, or even barking dogs can impact your sleep cycle.

In addition to the environment, it tracks when (or if) you snore and how loudly. The results will be displayed when you wake up.

How to enable the snore tracking

While it is available to everyone who has a Fitbit Premium subscription, you must first enable it to work. To do this, you must go through a few steps.

• Open the Fitbit app.
• Navigate to the Sleep page.
• Tap on the Check for snoring option.
• After reading through the information, tap Next.
• To continue, you must accept the privacy notification. This involves permission to access your microphone and listen to any sleep-related sounds. The notice states that it checks every few seconds for the “noise level of the environment, snoring events, or how often snores are detected.”
• After you tap Agree & Continue, toggle the slider for Snore and Noise Detection to turn it on.

It is still unclear, though, what would happen if two people used the snore tracking. Would it detect one person’s snoring and attribute it to the other, or could it sense the proximity of the Fitbit wearer?

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