Garmin’s new sleep-only band enters screen-free fitness war with Apple, Whoop, Polar

Dubai: The global fitness-tech brand wants to dominate the one-third of your life you spend sleeping—with a discreet, data-packed armband that never needs a screen.

Garmin has unveiled a bold new addition to its health-tech portfolio: a sleep-only wearable that monitors your rest, recovery, and vital signs—all while staying out of sight. Called the Index Sleep Monitor, the $170 armband is worn overnight and promises advanced sleep analytics without the need for a screen.

Unlike Garmin’s traditional smartwatches that double as fitness trackers, this new product focuses solely on sleep and recovery. Wrapped around the upper arm like a cuff, it quietly tracks metrics like blood oxygen levels, breathing rate, heart rate variability, skin temperature, and sleep stages—all critical for understanding how well your body recovers each night.

The screen-free design is intentional. Garmin is tapping into a growing trend: users want powerful wellness data without the distraction of screens or notifications, especially when winding down. The Index Sleep Monitor syncs seamlessly with the Garmin app and works alongside other Garmin wearables, allowing users to see a complete picture of both daytime performance and nighttime recovery.

What’s more, it comes with a “smart wake” alarm, using subtle vibrations to wake you during your lightest sleep phase—helping you feel more refreshed without a blaring alarm.

The launch signals Garmin’s push into the booming sleep-tech market, and directly challenges rivals like Whoop, Apple, Samsung, and now Polar, all of whom are racing to win over wellness-focused consumers. In fact, Polar announced its own screen-free tracker just days ago, citing consumer demand for “distraction-free” tracking.

For Garmin, the timing couldn’t be better. The company recently reported record-breaking first-quarter revenues of $1.54 billion, and has been aggressively expanding its lineup with new watches and a subscription model aimed at deeper personalization.

This device is also a strategic move to capture users who may not enjoy sleeping with bulky smartwatches or who already use Garmin’s daytime wearables but want deeper overnight insights.

As global health-consciousness rises and sleep becomes a top metric of long-term well-being, the fight for your nighttime wrist real estate is heating up. And Garmin, it seems, wants you dreaming in data.