{"id":281688,"date":"2026-06-25T13:31:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T17:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/25\/i-turned-my-old-android-phone-into-a-sleep-companion-and-its-better-than-my-smartwatch\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T14:05:55","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T18:05:55","slug":"i-turned-my-old-android-phone-into-a-sleep-companion-and-its-better-than-my-smartwatch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/25\/i-turned-my-old-android-phone-into-a-sleep-companion-and-its-better-than-my-smartwatch\/","title":{"rendered":"I turned my old Android phone into a sleep companion\u2014and it\u2019s better than my smartwatch"},"content":{"rendered":"

I turned my old Android phone into a sleep companion\u2014and it\u2019s better than my smartwatch<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/i-turned-my-old-android-phone-into-a-sleep-companion\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-06-25 13:31:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.howtogeek.com<\/a><\/p>\n

I tried using my Galaxy Watch as a sleep tracker, but it never really stuck. So, I went in the opposite direction and turned an old Google Pixel 6a into a dedicated bedside sleep companion instead. After making a few specific optimizations, it not only helped improve and stabilize my sleep schedule but also did a decent job of tracking my sleep.<\/p>\n

\n Why I never got into a smartwatch as a sleep companion
\n <\/h2>\n

\n I don\u2019t like being touched while I sleep
\n <\/h3>\n

Credit:\u00a0Hannah Stryker \/ How-To Geek<\/p>\n

The first smartwatch I ever bought\u2014the Galaxy Watch 4\u2014was specifically for sleep tracking. But here\u2019s the thing: I\u2019d never worn a wristwatch in my life. And having that constant pressure around my wrist actually made it harder to fall asleep.<\/p>\n

Sure, I could loosen it for a more comfortable fit, but that would hurt the overall accuracy. The sensors on the back of the watch need to stay in contact with my skin to take accurate measurements, but if it\u2019s strapped on loosely, and I move around in my sleep, it won\u2019t be able to measure my heart rate or blood oxygen levels with any meaningful accuracy.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the issue of charging. Using your smartwatch to track sleep complicates the charging schedule. A typical Android smartwatch like my Galaxy Watch 4 only gets around 20\u201324 hours of battery life. If I charge it at the start of the day, there\u2019s a good chance it might die in the middle of the night. But…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I turned my old Android phone into a sleep companion\u2014and it\u2019s better than my smartwatch…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":281689,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static0.howtogeekimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/wm\/2026\/06\/sleep-as-android-summary-screen-showing-sleep-score-duration-and-deep-sleep-percentage-next-to-a-silk-sleep-mask.jpg?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[70,72],"class_list":["post-281688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-android","tag-google","tag-pixel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281688"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281688"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":281690,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281688\/revisions\/281690"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}