The Sleep Cycle App Wakes Up the User at the Appropriate Time

Enjoying a full night's rest is no easy task, but the Sleep Cycle app aims to change that with a strategically set alarm clock.

There are three states of sleep: light sleep, deep sleep and REM-sleep. A full cycle lasts about 90 minutes and the individual's movements during each phase differ. The Sleep Cycle app has two motion detection modes that monitor the user's movements during the night — the built-in microphone and the accelerometer.

Once the phone is placed in the correct position to receive sensory input, the Sleep Cycle app tracks the movements and uses a wake up phase, which is set to 30 minutes by default, which ends at the desired alarm time. The application is also compatible with a smartwatch. Monitoring the signals from the user's body, the Sleep Cycle app chooses a time slot of the lightest possible sleep state to wake the user up.