Google was reportedly working on an Android feature to detect snoring and coughing in May. More coding suggests the feature could be included to a future version of Digital Wellbeing.
9to5Google performed a deep dive into the latest Digital Wellbeing app released to the Play Store and uncovered references to the feature. “Cough & snoring detection” is part of Android 13‘s “Bedtime mode.” The function will only track coughs and snores during preset sleep hours. This is for privacy, as the phone needs the microphone to detect snoring or coughing. The programme will also track your “Average cough count” and “Average time snoring.” It reports if you coughed or snored throughout sleep.
Digital Wellbeing will work with the sleep tracking features that are already in Google Clock to do this. The app can already keep track of how long you sleep. It does this by using your phone’s gyroscope and ambient light sensor to see if your phone stays still all night.
This is already a common thing that smartwatches can do. For years, I didn’t think I snored, but my Galaxy Watch 4 showed me that I do. Many people, though, don’t have smartwatches. They probably also don’t have the second-generation Nest Hub, which has some advanced features for tracking sleep. And honestly, if a mic can pick up snoring or coughing, why not just let your phone do the dirty work? It could help you find problems you haven’t noticed yet, if there are any.
As with any event like this, it only gives a glimpse of what might happen in the future. But we’re pretty sure that cough and snore tracking will be a part of Digital Wellbeing in the near future.