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Apple has acquired Beddit, a company building devices that connect with iPhones to track how well people are sleeping.
Apple regularly keeps tight-lipped when it comes to the companies it snaps up with its vast resources but, every so often, sources within the company reveal some new developments.
According to MacRumors, its latest buy is Finnish company Beddit, which sells sleep-monitoring equipment designed to be used with an app on iPhones.
The company’s current product – the Beddit 3 Sleep Monitor – places a thin sensor along the top of the user’s mattress and, throughout the night, it will gather information on various patterns, such as your sleep quality and how long it takes you to fall asleep.
This includes the ability to read detailed health data such as a person’s heart rate, snoring, movement and the temperature of the room.
The following morning, the app will tell the user how their sleep was, offering advice on how to improve their slumber and take up better habits.
Founded in 2007, Beddit has received approximately $3.5m in funding. In 2015, it signed a deal with Apple to start selling its monitor directly through Apple stores.
Will start using data
In a brief statement, Beddit confirmed it had been acquired by Apple, informing customers that their personal data will be “collected, used and disclosed in accordance with the Apple privacy policy”.
For Apple, acquiring the sleep-monitoring company will give it greater scope within its ever-expanding plans to gather health data for iPhone users using its Health app.
So far – aside from the iPhone itself – the Apple Watch has been one of the largest sources of data for the service, allowing users to access information and check the number of steps they have taken in a day, for example.
Apple’s last known acquisition was Israeli start-up RealFace, a biometric facial-recognition security company using technology to allow users sign in to their phone with an image of their face.
