Sleep tracker

Why regular times matter more than a score

Most adults do best on 7 to 9 hours, and older adults on 7 to 8, according to the ranges from the Sleep Health Foundation and the National Sleep Foundation that we cite in our how much sleep do I need guide. Needs differ, so how you feel in the day is part of the test.

What a tracker adds is evidence about your own pattern. If you get up at 6:30 on weekdays and 9:30 at weekends, a diary will show a three hour swing that your memory smooths over. Narrowing that swing is one of the simplest changes a person can make, and it costs nothing.

Bedtimes for a 6:30 wake up, worked out

A sleep cycle is commonly taken as about 90 minutes, and people take about 15 minutes to fall asleep. Both are rules of thumb, not measurements of you. With those two numbers, bedtime is the wake time minus the cycles minus 15 minutes. For a 6:30 am alarm, five cycles of sleep (7.5 hours) means being in bed at 10:45 pm, and six cycles (9 hours) means 9:15 pm.

Use the table as a starting point and adjust by how you feel. If you wake mid cycle and feel groggy, shift 15 to 30 minutes either way and watch the pattern in your diary. The sleep calculator does the sums for any time, and how many sleep cycles do you need explains the idea and its limits.

Worked on 23 October 2026 with 90 minute cycles and 15 minutes to fall asleep, the same rule as our sleep calculator.

A two week sleep diary that tells you something

This works in the free account, or on paper with the printable diary.

1. 1
   Days 1 to 3: just record

   Do not change anything. Log Woke up each morning and Bedtime each night, and add one line in Thoughts of the day about how you feel.

2. 2
   Days 4 to 7: look for the swing

   Open Home and read your average wake time. Note the gap between your earliest and latest morning.

3. 3
   Days 8 to 10: set one anchor

   Choose a wake time you can keep seven days a week, and a bedtime that gives you a whole number of cycles before it.

4. 4
   Days 11 to 14: add one change

   Move dinner earlier, dim screens, or take daylight in the morning. One change at a time, so you can tell which helped.

5. 5
   Day 14: read it back

   Open Tracking and look at sleep beside mood and exercise. Keep what helped, and talk to a doctor if sleep is poor for weeks.

What is in the app today, and what is not

The position on 23 October 2026.

What paid sleep trackers charge

Read from the Australian App Store listings on 20 October 2026. A range is a spread of monthly, yearly and lifetime plans, not one price. Rating counts show how widely each app is used.

ChatGPT, asked on 22 October 2026 which sleep trackers people name, listed Sleep Cycle, Pillow, AutoSleep, Fitbit and Garmin Connect. We have not read the prices of the last four.

Sensors, honestly

Consumer sleep sensors estimate stages from movement, sound or heart rate. They are good at showing when you were in bed and roughly when you were restless, and much less certain about the stage of sleep. Treat a sleep score as a conversation starter, not a diagnosis.

If you already own a watch, there is no reason to stop using it. Use it for the extra detail and keep the diary for the thing the watch cannot know: how you felt and what you did that day.

• A diary needs no device and works on any phone
• A sensor adds detail about restlessness, not certainty about stages
• Both are most useful when you look at them over weeks, not one night

When a tracker is not the answer

A tracker will not fix a sleep disorder. If you snore loudly, stop breathing in your sleep, are always tired despite enough time in bed, or sleep badly for weeks, talk to a doctor. A diary is useful to bring to that appointment.

Our health disclaimer says plainly who these tools are for. They are general information for healthy adults and are not medical advice.

Tools and guides to pair with a sleep tracker

Questions people ask

Related guides, prices and tools

Where these figures come from

• App prices and rating counts: Australian App Store listings for Sleep Cycle, ShutEye and Sleep Tracker - Sleep Recorder, read on 20 October 2026 and saved in our files.
• Paper sleep journals: Amazon AU first page of public search results for sleep journal, read on 21 October 2026 and saved in our marketplace file.
• Which apps people name: ChatGPT, asked on 22 October 2026. Names only, not a ranking.
• Sleep needs: Sleep Health Foundation (Australia), sleep needs across the lifespan; National Sleep Foundation (US), recommended sleep durations.
• The 90 minute cycle and 15 minutes to fall asleep are commonly used rules of thumb, not measurements of any person. Bedtimes worked on 23 October 2026 with the function behind our sleep calculator.

Updated 23 October 2026. A figure that was not read from a file is written as unknown. Prices change: check the supplier's own page before you rely on one. We are not affiliated with any app named here.