Apple Watch 8 not Tracking Sleep & Sleep Stages

Hello all,


I have an Apple Watch 8, running 9.5 (at the time of writing). This is paired with an iPhone 14 Pro running 16.5


When I first got the watch, an upgrade from Series 5, the sleep data appeared perfectly, showing stages and tracking correctly. This was working in tandem with AutoSleep which I was previously using. No issues for the first couple of weeks, then suddenly, the Apple Sleep was just showing the block of time my phone & watch were in 'Sleep' Focus, with no information on the stages. Some nights NO DATA is recorded at all. The sleep graph in Health.app is absolutely empty. Other nights I see only the green bar showing time asleep and time awake, but no stages. And that data is absolutely wrong. For example, tracking starts 3h after I have gone to bed. I regurarly sleep 7-8h and the Sleep in Health reports 1-2h of sleep.


Every once in a while everything is tracked perfectly....like every 9-10 days. Last night's sleep was tracked correctly. The night before the graph was absolutely empty. Today the graph is a mess with wrong data, a green bar only, and no stages.


I have tried:


  • Verified all tracking metrics are on and allowed under privacy;
  • Ensured wrist detection is turned on;
  • Kept watch charged (always 100% at bedtime);
  • Made sure Sleep Monitoring is turned on on Apple Watch;
  • Deleted current sleep schedule, turned phone & watch off and on again, then set up a new schedule;
  • Deleting Autosleep from both phone & watch;
  • Turned off 'Track time in bed' on iPhone;
  • Made sure Apple Watch 8 is first in the 'Data Sources' for sleep;
  • Reset the watch entirely to factory defaults, then paired it up again;
  • Turned OFF "Share Across Devices" in Focus (off on ALL devices).


Sometimes it will randomly track again for a couple of nights & then go back to tracking nothing or tracking wrongly.


This is super frustrating as it links into my fitness apps, which all think I am now not getting enough sleep so they adjust metrics accordingly (wrongly).


Any other solutions people have found other than those already tried above?


I'm in touch with Apple Support over the phone for 2 weeks now. Support is super kind and helpful, but they also can't figure it out. The issue has been escalated. Support has done Screen Sharing, checking settings, and adjusting things. I test Sleep for a few nights and then I call back (the same person via a special link) for further troubleshooting. So far, no good.


Any feedback and suggestions are very welcome.


Thank you!

Apple Watch Series 8

Posted on May 20, 2023 3:21 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Aug 29, 2024 10:28 AM

Hi SF-,


I'm sorry to hear that you are having the same issues in 2024 with a Series 9  Watch. But don't worry, and do not lose faith. Mine is now working fine like a charm, spot on, correct, and absolutely great. I spent a lot of time with  Support; the issue was escalated several times ("stairs") with no result. I gave up. But apparently, the problem wasn't with the  Watch/Health app at the time. Maybe, maybe a software update fixed things, but if you are having issues a year after my issues, probably it was not a hardware/software thing. I guess the problem was with my HEART. Later that year I had a yearly heart exam with my cardiologist and he said I had a "somewhat" irregular heart rhithm. A few weeks later, I had a full-blown AFIB (which  Watch detected immediately) and stayed this way for a few months (during that time, sleep tracking was not working). But then I got hospitalised, and the doctors performed Cardio Versio on me (a kind of electroshock under anaesthesia) to bring back the normal sinus rhythm - and they did succeed :) After that day,  Watch has been tracking perfectly sleep and everything health-related. So maybe check with your cardiologist if everything is OK with your heart. Good luck and success.

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Oct 7, 2023 6:56 PM in response to Kostadin

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Apple Watch 8 not Tracking Sleep & Sleep Stages

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