Runtastic's Sleep Better app aims for a good night's rest
Runtastic, best known for its fitness apps and hardware, just unveiled its first sleep-tracking app: Sleep Better. The app, which is available for both iPhone and Android, offers most of the features you'd expect. You can track the overall quality of your sleep by laying your phone beside you (it relies on your phone's sensors to determine how much you toss and turn). And since it knows how you're sleeping, you can set up a smart alarm to wake you up when you're not in deep sleep, which typically leaves you feel more well-rested.
You can starting using the app for free, but you'll have to pay $1.99 to unlock the full version, which gives you an ad-free experience and enables more features. Those include the ability to jot down notes about your dreams and chart things that could affect your sleep cycles, like caffeine intake. The app can also determine which moon phase gives you the best rest (which is a real thing, no joke).
Given that Runtastic has its fingers in so many pies -- including separate apps for cycling and its own fitness tracker, the Orbit -- it was only a matter of time until the company specifically targeted sleep tracking. The Orbit can also track your sleep with the company's original app, but it's fairly basic compared to what Sleep better can do. While we didn't see any mention of the Orbit's integration with Sleep Better so far, I'd wager that's coming soon. After all, wearables are far more accurate than an app that relies on keeping your smartphone in bed.
If you're already using a sleep tracking app, gadgets like Jawbone's Up, or dedicated sleep monitoring solutions like Misfit's Beddit, there doesn't seem to be much of a reason to use this app. It just doesn't offer much that differentiates it from the competition.
