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I’ve spent the past few years tracking my sleep. I’ve used smart rings, watches, wristbands and even smart mattress covers. One thing that I learned early on is that most trackers don’t actively improve your sleep. They all give your sleep a score, but most of the time, you don’t even know what the score means or how to improve it.
Hatch is betting that we don’t need to grade our sleep but rather learn which habits can improve it. And ultimately, how rested you feel the next day will be the most important score. The newly released Hatch Sleep Clock, which costs $249, uses what it learns about your sleep to shape your routine for the next night. The clock learns which types of audio help you wind down and what bedtime consistency looks like for you, then it bakes those insights into your night routine.
The most innovative thing about this tracker is that it’s completely contactless. There’s no wearable and no camera. Instead, the clock uses ultra-low-power radio signals to detect breathing and movement from your nightstand. While some may have privacy concerns with any tracking device, Hatch’s reliance on radio signals rather than cameras or microphones offers a significantly more private, passive approach to monitoring.
“We didn’t set out to build another sleep tracker. We set out to help people sleep better,” said Ann Crady Weiss, Co-Founder and CEO of Hatch, in a press release. “For more than a decade, we’ve been learning what helps people build bedtime routines they actually enjoy. Sleep tracking became the missing piece. It helps us understand what works for each person so we can create personalized routines they want to come back to. Rather than simply reporting what happened last night, Hatch Sleep Clock gets you to bed tonight.”
I’ve been using the Hatch Restore 3 for over a year, and I’ve experienced how a good bedtime routine affects your sleep. The Restore 3 nails the experience side, like the lighting, audio library and sensory setup that makes a bedtime routine relaxing. The Sleep Clock takes that experience, learns which sounds help you fall asleep and tailors your bedtime routine to optimize your night.
I love using my Hatch Restore 3 as a gentle sunrise alarm clock and white noise machine. Anna Gragert/CNET
From a sleep science and consumer perspective, this is precisely the gap that exists with most sleep trackers. You can’t fix sleep by letting people know they got poor sleep — they probably feel it in their bodies well before the tracker tells them, anyway. Changes in habits require personalized, timely nudges paired with a routine people want to come back to.
The Sleep Clock breaks down personalization into four areas: listening habits (which audio types actually help you wind down), routine adjustments (tracking bedtime consistency and suggesting when to shift), sleep guidance (cognitive behavioral therapy and good sleep hygiene advice) and feature recommendations (real-time suggestions based on your habits and sleep tracking).
Hatch Plus, which costs $5.99 per month or $59.99 per year, gives you access to the full audio library, which includes over 2,500 sleep-focused tracks, from sleep stories to ASMR to podcasts.