Episode

ELI5 Activity Trackers - how do they detect deep sleep?

Podcast
ELI5 Explain Like I'm 5: Bite sized answers to stuff you should know about - in a mini podcast
Published
Jan 23, 2026
Duration seconds
504
Processing state
not_requested
Canonical source
https://prefix.up.audio/s/pscrb.fm/rss/p/op3.dev/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/ATHLLC8752058361.mp3?updated=1714753427
Audio
https://prefix.up.audio/s/pscrb.fm/rss/p/op3.dev/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/ATHLLC8752058361.mp3?updated=1714753427
JSON
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Markdown
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Summary

What are the creative ways people fool their FitBit? How does my activity tracker differentiate between steps and my tapping to a rhythm? Does it use GPS to calibrate? How does it know what stage of sleep I'm in? ... We explain like i'm five! Help more people fund us by leaving a rating on iTunes. Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community, and specifically the following reddit users whose questions and responses formed the basis of this conversation: failtuna, fieldpeter, devilishgainz, srslylovesgames & groundhogcakeday To the ELI5 community that has supported us so far, thanks for all your feedback and comments. Join us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/eli5ThePodcast/ or send us an e-mail: [email protected]