Treatments and supplements · Sleep tracking devices and apps

Do sleep tracker apps actually help improve my sleep?

What we can tell you today: how thoroughly this has been studied.

Well studied

4 studies, including one that brings together the results of several trials in people.

5 Repeated evidence 1 study

4 Large controlled trial 1 study

3 Small study in people 2 studies

This says how thoroughly something has been studied — not whether it works for you. What each study actually found is in the study itself, and in the plain-language write-ups we are adding.

Appears under: Sleep, energy and the brain

The studies

5 Repeated evidence How are Consumer Sleep Technology Data Being Used to Deliver Behavioral Sleep Medicine Interventions? A Systematic Review.
2022 · Behavioral sleep medicine · 10 participants
4 Large controlled trial Effect of Sleep Report Feedback With Health Guidance Using a Sleep Monitoring Device for Improving Sleep in Community-Dwelling Older People: A Three-Arm Randomized Controlled Trial.
2026 · Geriatrics & gerontology international · 229 participants
3 Small study in people Investigating the efficacy of digital cognitive behavioural therapy in comparison to a sleep-monitoring application via integrated diary and actigraphy: A randomised-controlled trial.
2025 · Journal of sleep research · 29 participants · manufacturer helped fund this
3 Small study in people Exploring the Psychological and Physiological Insights Through Digital Phenotyping by Analyzing the Discrepancies Between Subjective Insomnia Severity and Activity-Based Objective Sleep Measures: Observational Cohort Study.
2025 · JMIR mental health · 2,023 participants