Apple Watch SE 3 records sleep score even if I don’t wear it while sleeping

Question

Level 1

4 points

Apple Watch SE 3 records sleep score even if I don’t wear it while sleeping

I have only owned an Apple watch for a few weeks. My previous smart watch was a Garmin. Here’s an interesting thing I noticed today. I put the watch on the Apple-supplied charger before going to bed last night. This morning I put the watch on, and it gave me a “very low” sleep score.

How is a “smart” watch not smart enough to know that it is in a charger and not on the owner‘s wrist during the time when the owner is usually sleeping?

Seems like a design flaw that should be easy to fix.

Don’t record a sleep score if the user is not wearing the watch whether it is on the charger or not.

Posted on Mar 4, 2026 10:09 AM

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Answer 1

LD150

Level 10

103,878 points

Mar 5, 2026 5:28 AM in response to Jotter507

Unpair it and set it up again, if necessary as a New watch. What you describe is not normal. Nor is setting up a sleep schedule and not wearing the watch.

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Answer 2

KiltedTim

Level 10

230,072 points

Mar 4, 2026 10:14 AM in response to Jotter507

Sounds like you have wrist detection turned off. If that's the case, you will need to manually lock it when you take it off to make sure it doesn't track non-existent motion, etc.

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