Fitbit has announced it is rolling out a new Sleep Profile feature for Premium users, turning up the heat on Apple Watch and watchOS 9.

From Fitbit:

We know our users are motivated to gather even more insight into their sleep, which is why today we're introducing Sleep Profile. This new Fitbit Premium feature offers a new longitudinal analysis of your sleep patterns. It also makes your sleep data even easier to interpret with fun animal characters, so you can take steps to improve your sleep quality and, in turn, your overall health.

Sleep Profile tracks users using 10 key metrics over the course of a month to give you a picture of how well you sleep. It measures basic stuff like sleep duration, restfulness, and REM, but also sleep schedule variability, time before sound asleep, disrupted sleep, and more.

Each month you'll get your sleep summary that includes a fun designated Sleep Animal, chosen from one of six archetypes, for example, a tortoise or a bear.

You'll need Fitbit Premium and a compatible device, which you wear for 14 nights per calendar month to get an assessment, the more you wear it the more accurate your reading will be. Fitbit says that because sleep varies a lot from night to night, analyzing sleep over a month can be more effective in uncovering your habits and possible improvements:

As a Premium member you will see your Sleep Profile, including your sleep animal and monthly sleep analysis, on the first day of every month. Animals can change from month to month, and data collected throughout the month will inform the next animal you receive the following month. There is no "ideal" animal – each one can be used to better understand your sleep patterns and how you can improve your sleep quality.

The new feature is coming out July 4 for Fitbit premium users with Fitbit's Sense, Versa 3, Versa 2, Charge 5, Luxe or Inspire 2 devices. At WWDC 2022 Apple announced its own sleep tracking updates for watchOS 9, which is coming to all of its Best Apple Watch models later this year including the anticipated Apple Watch Series 8 and the Apple Watch Series 7.

watchOS 9's new sleep insights include detection of different sleep stages such as REM, Core, and Deep sleep to give users a more accurate picture of their night. However, Fitbit's approach with an overarching monthly look at how well you sleep is certainly a fresh and interesting look at using technology to try and improve sleep.