Only when you start it
Fullday asks for the microphone the first time you tap Start, never before. While it listens, the Sleep screen says so with a Stop button, and iOS shows its microphone light.
Sleep, explained
Snoring and sleep-talk detection.
Yes, your iPhone can hear you snore. Put it by the bed and Fullday counts snoring, sleep talk and coughs through the night, works the sound out on the phone and shows the minutes in the morning. No sound is uploaded. It counts sounds; it isn't a medical test.
Coming soon to the App Store
Android coming to Google Play
How it worksPart of Fullday Pro · iPhone and iPad · only on a night you start it
How listening works.
From Sleep, Bedside, Listen. The sheet explains everything first; nothing starts until you tap Start Listening.
Worked out on the phone
Apple's built-in sound recogniser, which can identify over 300 sounds, sorts each few seconds into snoring, speech or a cough. The sound itself goes nowhere.
It stops by itself
At I'm Awake, when you tap Stop, half an hour after your alarm, or after 12 hours, whichever comes first. It keeps going with the screen locked.
Plug it in
Listening all night uses battery, so the app asks you to charge. Off the charger, it stops by itself if the battery gets very low.
In the morning
Sounds in the night.
A card on the Sleep screen, under last night's sleep, on the same clock as your stages.
Snoring
ProMinutes of the night with snoring. A single snore-like sound on its own doesn't count.
Sleep talk and coughs
ProHow many times, each kept apart from the snoring.
The strip
ProA lane each for snoring, talk and coughs under Apple Health's stages, so you can see when they happened.
Clips, if you chose them
ProThe night's short clips, to play or delete.
It can't tell who made a sound: a partner's snoring, a pet or a TV counts too. Tell anyone who shares the room. Sleep sounds can keep playing; it listens more strictly while they do.
What's kept, and for how long.
Everything stays on the phone or iPad that listened: not in iCloud, backups or the export, and never sent to the coach.
No clips unless you ask
Turn on Keep short clips and it saves up to 20 a night, 10 seconds each, the clearest snoring and coughs. Sleep-talk clips need a second switch, because they can catch someone else's words.
Clips go after 7 days
Each clip is deleted seven days after it was made. Each night's minutes and counts are kept on the device for 120 days.
Delete it any time
Delete one clip, every clip, a night's sounds from its card, or everything listening kept, from Bedside, Listen.
Snoring, sleep talk, and when to see a doctor.
Both are common. A few signs that can come with snoring are worth raising with a doctor.
Snoring is common
About half of people snore at some point; about 40% of adult men and 24% of adult women snore habitually. It gets more common with age. AASM.
So is sleep talk
In a survey of 1,000 adults, 66.8% had talked in their sleep at some time and 17.7% in the last three months. Bjorvatn 2010.
Talk to a doctor if
A bed partner notices you stop breathing in your sleep; you wake gasping or choking; or you feel sleepy in the day despite enough sleep. These can be signs of sleep apnea, which takes a sleep study to diagnose. NHS, NHLBI, AASM.
Fullday can't tell you why you snore, and it doesn't detect sleep apnea. Only after snoring on several nights (30 minutes or more on three nights in two weeks) does the card add a gentle line about mentioning it to a doctor, with its sources. One loud night never triggers it.
Questions about snoring detection.
Can Fullday tell me if I have sleep apnea?
No. It counts snoring, sleep talk and coughs as a wellness estimate; it isn't a medical test and never diagnoses anything. Sleep apnea is diagnosed with a sleep study. If your breathing stops and starts, you gasp or choke in the night, or you're sleepy in the day, talk to a doctor.
Does it record me all night?
No. The sound is worked out on the phone as it arrives and then let go; what's kept is each night's minutes and counts. Clips are off unless you turn them on, at most 20 ten-second clips a night, deleted after 7 days. No sound is uploaded, ever.
What if my partner snores, not me?
It can't tell who made a sound, so a partner's snoring, a pet or a TV counts too. Tell anyone who shares the room before you start it.
Which devices can listen?
iPhone and iPad, placed by the bed. Apple Watch, Mac and Vision Pro don't listen. Fullday for Android, coming to Google Play, listens the same way with its own detector, also on the phone.
Is snoring detection free?
It's part of Fullday Pro. The sleep score, smart wake on Apple Watch and the bedside night screen are free. See pricing
Next: what are sleep stages? Or see everything for the night on the Sleep page.
Sources
American Academy of Sleep Medicine (2020). Snoring. SleepEducation.org. sleepeducation.org
American Academy of Sleep Medicine (2020). Sleep Apnea. SleepEducation.org. sleepeducation.org
NHS (reviewed August 2023). Snoring. nhs.uk
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (updated January 2025). Sleep Apnea: Symptoms. nhlbi.nih.gov
Bjorvatn B, Grønli J, Pallesen S (2010). Prevalence of different parasomnias in the general population. Sleep Medicine, 11(10), 1031–1034. doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2010.07.011
Apple. Classifying Sounds in an Audio Stream, Sound Analysis documentation. developer.apple.com
Hear your night.
Coming to the App Store this December. Snoring and sleep-talk detection is part of Fullday Pro; the sleep score is free.
Coming soon to the App Store
Android coming to Google Play
Pre-orders open soon.
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