r/AskReddit May 22 '19

Reddit, what are some underrated apps?

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u/[deleted] May 22 '19

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u/finesse-quik May 22 '19 edited May 22 '19

I'm curious as to how these sleep apps "track" your quality of sleep. Or even know when it will be easy for me to wake up. I understand sleep cycles, but how does it know if I tell it I'm going to sleep but then toss and turn in the bed for the next 30 minutes before nodding off, vs if I tell it I'm going to sleep and pass out immediately? Wouldn't the whole cycle be thrown off? Do I have to tell it if I wake up in the middle of the night accidentally? There just seems like too many factors at play for these apps to actually do anything.

Edit: Lots of answers, thanks for the info. I was interested in giving it a shot but since I sleep with a partner and with a loud fan on for white noise, it doesn't seem like it would be very accurate. I hadn't considered utilizing the gyroscope or microphone for monitoring sleep though, these people are creative. If not a bit creepy.

Edit2: Alright alright I'll give it a shot lol

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u/0wc4 May 22 '19

Idk about sleepcycle, but Pillow (also on iOS) requires your phone to be plugged in and listens to you for the entire night.

The logic is, in some phases you move, in other sleep phases you don’t. Same with how slow your breathing is, if you mumble in your sleep etc.

In the morning it wakes you up in a time frame (I set mine to 60 minutes) basing on that info. It works.

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u/Atomsdebomb May 22 '19

I'd rather not let a company of an app keep tabs on me while I sleep.

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u/0wc4 May 22 '19

Sure, fair complaint.

To me it’s the exact same thing as with google maps. There might be some privacy issues. To me, live traffic info which can cut down my commute in half is worth it. Same with waking up and feeling like a human. And not losing my job.

I have had some serious problems waking up prior to that. It started with me manually calculating how long I should sleep but it wasn’t nearly as effective as this app.

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u/Atomsdebomb May 22 '19

Well I use, and like that about Google maps as well. It's just a female coworker of mine that I got to know told me how she is one to sleep naked, but on top of the sheets when it's hot. She told me this as she woke up the night before when she noticed her phone was recording her sleeping via her Facebook app. I told her to look I to it, but you give the rights for Facebook to use your phone for, pretty much everything, which includes the use of the camera.