Smart Alarms that Wake You More Naturally (eg. in Light Sleep Stage)

[MikeHalsey]

I just got my Fitbit flex and I think it's fantastic.  If it monitors your sleep though it will have a good idea of when you're in deep (REM) sleep and when you're in lighter sleep.  You cycle between these two during the night on a pretty reliable pattern, and they're easy to tell apart as you don't move around while you're in REM sleep.  At least not as I understand things.

Could an update for the Fitbit modify the alarm feature please to wake you up as close as possible to your chosen time, but NOT during REM sleep?

This will allow you to wake more naturally, feeling refreshed, rather than how unpleasant it is when your alarm goes off in REM sleep.

Thanks, please all vote for this

Moderator edit: labels.

[othermore]

Please implement this!! It was requested 4 years ago, and even the new models do not have it. It would be easy to implement an alarm that takes a range of time to wake you, and goes off when you move or your heart rate is higher. If the end of the range is reached and it has not gone off, then it's forced.

The start and end for the alarm could be manual or automated based on the time you started sleeping.

[Pattiy888]

Yes, please. I have a Charge 2 and would love this feature.  I'm thinking of getting Misfit's Shine 2 instead as I wake up tired every days despite getting a decent amount of sleep most nights. With the Shine 2, you program a window of 30 minutes in which you need to get up and it wakes you when you're in a period of light sleep in that window. I wouldn't consider replacing my Charge 2 if it had this feature.

[SunsetRunner]

I'm sure this has been suggested before but I'd love to be able to - instead of setting alarm for a certain time and hoping I'm in a light sleep - set the alarm to wake me in a time range, say anytime between 5am and 6am, when I'm in light sleep.  Of course if that doesn't occur, then the alarm would trigger at the end of the range (6am in my example).

[Docalende]

Please do It!

[Yasiv]

Fantastic Idea! Maybe make the alram stronger and make sure it doesn't go off until you press the button?

[gamesbrainiac]

This is my first post, and I was just about to suggest this myself. Please add this killer feature, because this would make Fitbit a complete solution, and I would not have to use other apps to get this specific type of alarm system.

[SunsetRunner]

I have actually had a watch (see below) that does this for five or six years.  I haven't used it since I switched to the Charge 2, but I do really miss this feature:

https://www.amazon.com/SleepTracker-Pro-Sleep-Monitoring-Watch/dp/B000VHL9T8

"During the night, your body goes through a series of sleep cycles comprised of five different stages. The average adult will experience four or five cycles each night, that include light stage-one sleep, slightly deeper stage-two sleep, heavy stage three, stage-four "Delta Sleep," which is when your body rebuilds itself, and REM sleep, a unique stage during which people dream and experience significant physiological changes. Pinpointing the moments within each cycle when you are naturally closest to waking makes this alarm system truly unique.

Depending on your schedule, you can set an alarm window to last for up to 90 minutes. Since your alarm sounds at the moment during the preset alarm window when you are most alert, you will wake up refreshed instead of groggy. World travelers, business associates, busy parents, and students with early morning classes are particularly likely to enjoy the edge this gives them during the first hours of every day."

[Summit9]

With the implementation of the new fitbit sleep tracking feature, it should be easy to implement this feature as well.

They already know and show the different sleep cycles.

They just need to let the alarm feature read from that and wake us up at the correct sleep state.

Jawbone always had this feature and I bought jawbone tracker only for powernap and this feature.

I am surprised that even with so many votes and such an old request, fitbit has still not implemented it.

Fitbit doesn't need to do any survey, this is a request from the customers who have been disappointed for so long.

We know Fitbit is losing to apple watch, but the biggest strengths of Fitbit are the community and longer battery life (which allows users to wear it while sleeping). But if Fitbit doesn't provide enough benefits of these then it doesn't make much sense to stick with the platform (Fitbit) and we will also lose the community.

[Summit9]

There already is 4 year old request for the same:

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Suggestions/Alarms-that-wake-you-more-naturally/idi-p/4609

2,904 likes.

is it possible to integrate this post with that ?

Alternatively people on this post can like that one as well.

[Erv]

My guess is that they're fine-tuning it now - verifying their data is good
and rolling it out to be sure they'll successfully wake people up at the
right time.

[SunsetRunner]

Excellent, thanks for sending that link.  Such a natural extension of the current features, I'd think they could grab any developer and he/she/they could knock this out in a day or less.

[dtalksall]

Misfit has had this for years! I don't want to be woken up at 6 am, I want to be woken up when I'm in light sleep! 

[Disorganise]

Now that deep/rem/light sleep is added to blaze, there is no reason that a smart alarm cannot be added.

Function;

Monitor for transition to light sleep within a configurable period around a desired wake up time.  Default 20 mins early, 10 mins later or something.  If in deep sleep, suppress alarm until limit reached (ie the 10 mins suggested as default).

How to wake;

Two options that can be used independently or in conjunction.

1) blaze vibration.  I imagine this would the gentlest.  Perhaps this could also be used for a brief "pulse" to knock you out of deep sleep as alarm time approaches.

2) new function; audio alarm within the fitbit app. (ie phone based).  This will require the app to initiate bluetooth sync regularly during the "smart wake up" period to retrieve current sleep status

[heismant]

It is great suggestion! I use charge 2 and I love it's alarm feature. But sometimes I miss this alarm because I'm in deep sleep. I just don't feel alarm at all. Because of what I can oversleep and be late for work.

[Trimqira]

The BEST feature on a fitness tracker. I used to have a Jawbone tracker and they have that feature and it was a killer! I switched to Alta HR and now I found that it doesn't support Smart Alarm. So disappointed and I don't know why doesn't Fitbit integrate that as it has all the Sleep data do do so! 

[aiguofer]

I'd love to have this!! Been wanting it for a long time.. I used to use an app on my phone, but since I switched to a memory foam mattress that doesn't work very well... Seems like my fitbit would be able to do this easily since it has my sleep info anyways.

That being said.. since the REM changes didn't make it to the Charge HR, I'm not too hopeful this will make it to it either, and I don't like replacing things that aren't broken -.-

[Easterly81]

I currently use a phone app as a sleep cycle alarm but would love my Fitbit to do it.

[Easterly81]

This would be amazing. I use an app for this function currently but would love my blaze to do this. With the addition of the new sleep tracker this should be easier to achieve. 

[Adelscott]

Jawbone has the patent for this, right ?

Moderator edit: content

[Astreck]

It's best to be woken up from a light sleep.   It would be neat if you could tie the phone alarm to the sleep stages so that the alarm went off (around the wake up time) when you were in light sleep rather than REM or deep sleep.

[CharlieChatz]

Microsoft Band 2 had this feature and I used it daily. I'm not sure why Fitbit hasn't implemented this yet. Very useful 

[CharlieChatz]

I used this feature daily on my Microsoft Band 2. Please implement it on Fitbit 😄

[MSPII99]

I would thoroughly enjoy this feature as well.  Now that the FitBit dashboard shows sleep cycles, is this something in the works?  I'd happily test the feature as a beta tester if that is needed.

[THarrison78]

Please, please, please! I love the new sleep tracker, which seems perfect to introduce the smart alarm. It would change my life to make the alarm go off when I'm in that light sleep phase!!!

[YvanB]

I sell my Fitbit in December and bought a Samsung galaxy gear s2 with Sleep as Android.

It's perfect and work really well.

I am really happy with my Samsung Watch.