This wearable device wants to read your mind to decide when to wake up

If you’ve ever been startled from a deep sleep by a blaring alarm, you know how difficult mornings can be. Muse’s newest release aims to make that experience a little less painful. The company has just announced Smart Wakeup, a new feature for its Muse S Athena headset. It tries to identify the brightest time in your sleep cycle and, instead of waking up at a certain time, wakes you up when it really makes sense.

To be clear, this is not a completely new idea. Many applications for sleeping and sleep tracking Wearable devices already offer smart alarms. However, most of the existing alternatives are based on movement or heart rate. Muse’s approach, meanwhile, relies on electroencephalogram (EEG) sensors, which track brain activity directly rather than estimating it. The feature is based on thousands of tracked nights, which the company used to match brain activity data with how users reported feeling in the morning.

To use Smart Wakeup, you’ll set a wakeup window before bed, and throughout the night, the headband will monitor your sleep through its built-in EEG sensors. When it detects a lighter stage of sleep within your default wake-up window, it will use gentle sound cues to help you wake up. The goal is to prevent users from undoing a good night’s sleep with a poorly timed alarm.

Smart Wakeup also fits into Muse’s broader sleep toolset, which already includes guided sessions and features aimed at propelling users into deeper rest. It also works for naps, so it’s not just limited to nighttime use.

However, there are some pitfalls. Smart Wakeup only works if you’re wearing a Muse S Athena headband in bed, which isn’t exactly the most effortless setup. Not everyone will sleep comfortably with a strap around their head. It’s also locked behind a subscription, requiring a Muse Premium plan that costs $13 per month. If those aren’t deal breakers, the new feature will roll out on August 15.