Frequently asked questions

What is Sleep to Earn?

A 30-day wellness program that uses your Apple Watch to measure sleep quality and rewards consistent, restorative sleep. Each night you get a League Sleep Index (LSI) score from 0–100. Score 90+ shares the daily wellness pool. Score below 85 contributes a $10 wellness adjustment to that pool. After 30 days, your accumulated dividends are paid as an Amazon Gift Card.

Who is this for?

Adults (18+) who already wear an Apple Watch overnight and want a structured incentive to maintain healthy sleep. If you average 7+ hours of sleep already, you'll likely earn rather than pay.

What does a typical month look like?

You wear your Apple Watch to bed each night. Each morning, the App syncs your sleep data, computes your score, and tells you the outcome:

• 90+ → Good Sleep, you earn a slice of today's pool
• 85–89 → Fair Sleep, no adjustment
• Below 85 → Poor Sleep, $10 wellness adjustment

After Day 30, your wallet balance is paid as an Amazon Gift Card.

Where is Sleep to Earn available?

The App is currently available in the United States only. We may expand to additional regions in the future.

How is my LSI score calculated?

Your score is a weighted blend of three sleep dimensions:

• Duration (50 points) — asleep_minutes / 480 × 50, capped at 50. 480 minutes = 8 hours = the gold standard.
• Consistency (30 points) — asleep_minutes / in_bed_minutes × 30. Rewards a high ratio of actual sleep to time in bed.
• Interruptions (20 points) — 20 − awake_minutes × 0.5. Penalizes mid-night wakefulness.

All three add up to a maximum of 100 points.

Why don't you use Apple Health's built-in sleep score?

Apple does not expose its proprietary sleep score to third-party apps. We compute our own score using the underlying Apple Health data (asleep minutes, time in bed, time awake), which is freely accessible via HealthKit.

What if my Apple Watch records weird data (e.g., 14 hours of sleep)?

The duration component is capped at 50 points (480 minutes), so over-sleep doesn't artificially inflate your score. If you believe a record is inaccurate, you can edit it inside the Apple Health app — we read whatever Health reports.

What sleep stages do you read?

We read the three aggregate values: asleep minutes (the sum of Core, Deep, and REM), time in bed, and time awake. We do not read or score individual stage breakdowns.

Is there an upfront cost?

No. You authorize a payment method when you join, but you're only charged $10 on individual nights when your LSI score falls below 85. If you sleep well consistently, you'll only ever earn — never pay.

Where does my $10 go when I have Poor Sleep?

Your $10 is added to that day's wellness pool. After settlement: 50% is split among everyone who scored 90+ that day; 50% goes to platform operations (payment processing, infrastructure, gift card fulfillment, ongoing development). If no one scored 90+ that day, the entire pool rolls forward.

How is my Good Sleep dividend calculated?

Each day's pool is the sum of all $10 wellness adjustments from Poor Sleepers (plus any rolled-over pool from previous days with no Good sleepers). Half of that total is split evenly across every participant who scored 90+ that day. So bigger pool + fewer Good sleepers = bigger individual share.

When do I get paid?

Dividends accrue to your in-app wallet across the full 30-day cycle. After Day 30, your accumulated balance (rounded down to the nearest $1) is issued as an Amazon Gift Card delivered to your email within 7 business days.

What's the minimum payout?

$5.00. Balances below $5 are not paid out and are not carried over.

What payment methods do you accept?

Apple Pay (recommended), Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, and most U.S. debit cards. All payments are processed by Stripe — we never see your card details.

Can I get my dividends as cash instead of a gift card?

No. Dividends are paid exclusively as Amazon Gift Cards.

What happens if my card is declined?

Your account may be suspended pending resolution. We'll email you to update your payment method. Repeated decline failures can result in termination.

What sleep data do you read?

Only sleep analysis from Apple Health: total asleep minutes, time in bed, and time awake. That's it. We never access heart rate, workouts, medications, or any other health data category.

Where is my data stored?

On Google Firebase servers in the United States, encrypted at rest and in transit. Raw HealthKit samples never leave your device — only the derived score and three aggregate values are sent to our servers.

Do you sell my data?

No. We do not sell, rent, or share your data for advertising. We do not run third-party advertising SDKs. Read our full Privacy Policy.

How do I revoke HealthKit access?

iPhone Settings → Health → Data Access & Devices → Sleep to Earn. You can turn off any individual permission. Note: if you revoke sleep data access, the App can no longer compute your score and you may incur the $10 wellness adjustment on nights without data once your grace nights are used.

What if I miss a night of tracking?

Each 30-day cycle includes 2 grace nights — missing data is forgiven. From the 3rd missing night onward, that night is treated as Poor Sleep and a $10 wellness adjustment applies.

What devices do I need?

• iPhone running iOS 17 or later
• Apple Watch Series 4 or later (sleep tracking required)
• An Apple ID for Sign in with Apple

Does Sleep to Earn work with Fitbit, Oura, or Garmin?

Not currently. We rely on Apple Health for the data pipeline. We may consider other platforms in the future.

My sleep didn't sync this morning. What do I do?

1. Open the Apple Health app and confirm last night's sleep is recorded.
2. Pull-to-refresh on the Sleep to Earn home tab.
3. If still missing, restart the App.
4. Still nothing? Email hz489@cornell.edu with your Apple ID email and the date in question.

Why is my score lower than I expected?

The most common cause is the consistency component: if you spent a lot of time in bed but only slept part of it (e.g., reading or scrolling for an hour before sleeping), your asleep_minutes / in_bed_minutes ratio drops. Try winding down before getting into bed.

Can I cancel mid-cycle?

You can stop participating at any time by deleting your account in Settings → Delete Account. However, any pending dividends are forfeited if you delete before Day 30. Signing out (without deleting) does not end your cycle — wellness adjustments still apply.

How do I delete my account?

Inside the App: Settings → Delete Account. We permanently delete your data within 30 days, except where retention is legally required (e.g., financial records for tax purposes).

Can I have multiple accounts?

No. One person, one account. Multiple accounts violate our Terms of Service and may result in account termination and forfeited dividends.

I have a question that isn't answered here.

Email hz489@cornell.edu. We respond within 5 business days.