Sleep Number 360 Smart Bed Review (2024)

There are many ways to track your sleep these days, from fitness trackers to smartwatches, but perhaps nothing is better suited for the job than your mattress itself. At least, that's the idea behind Sleep Number's 360 Smart Bed, which incorporates biometric sensors to help you snooze better. You use an app on your smartphone to view your sleep trends and health metrics, and to gain insight on how you can sleep better. It's a hefty investment, at $3,896.62 for the model we tested. But if you have the money to spend, the 360 Smart Bed is a comfortable, effective, and highly customizable way to improve your quality of sleep.

A Mattress for Every Type of Sleeper

The 360 Smart Bed is available in a number of iterations and sizes. You can choose between full-split, top-split, and no-split mattresses, depending on whether you sleep alone or with a partner, in sizes ranging from twin to California king. Prices start at $1,399 and go as high as $5,699 for the mattress itself; adding a base costs extra.

We tested a full-size, no-split p5 mattress with a FlexFit 1 base. With home installation and delivery included, it came to a total of $3,896.62. The p5 is a medium-support mattress with a four-inch comfort layer and a profile height of 10 inches. More premium models, like the i8 and i10, come with higher profiles and thicker comfort layers, and are made of cooling materials. You don't have to buy a base (especially if you'd like to keep your existing bed frame), but keep in mind that you can't use these mattresses with box springs.

At a glance, the 360 Smart Bed looks like your standard spring mattress. But a close look underneath reveals a motor and air tubes, which are used to adjust the firmness to suit your taste. In terms of design, it features a simple gray woven top, which you won't see once it's covered in sheets and blankets.

Setup and App

Since the mattress comes with home delivery and installation, all you have to do is download the SleepIQ app for Android or iOS. You'll be prompted to create an account, connect the mattress to your home Wi-Fi network, and enter the unique barcode on the air pump. (Make sure that you're connected to a 2.4GHz network, as the mattress doesn't support 5GHz Wi-Fi.) After that, you can set up your sleep goal and enter personal details like gender, height, and weight.

All that's left is to find your Sleep Number. Your Sleep Number is between 0 and 100, in increments of five, and it determines the bed's firmness. The app will prompt you to fill its air chambers all the way up to 100, which is its firmest setting. From there, it will deflate until you find your optimal comfort level. It can be a bit tricky to find the exact number that works for you, so Sleep Number recommends experimenting with a few settings if you're not comfortable after a few nights.

The SleepIQ app has been streamlined since we tested the Sleep Number it bed (which the 360 line appears to replace). For starters, it's much easier to navigate. At the bottom, you'll find five tabs: Sleep, Insights, Bed Control, Feed, and Settings. Sleep is where you'll find a detailed breakdown of your night, including your SleepIQ score, your Sleep Number, your heart rate, and your breaths per minute. The Insights tab is where you'll find a longer-term look at your data. For instance, you can toggle between your average SleepIQ score over a month, or view your average time spent in bed.

Bed Control works like a remote. It's where you can tweak your Sleep Number, as well as turn on the Responsive Air feature. This automatically adjusts firmness depending on your movements, so if you move onto your side, it'll adjust accordingly to provide more cushioning. Likewise, if you move onto your back, it'll firm up for extra support. If you get an adjustable FlexFit base, this is also the tab where you can adjust head or leg positions.

The Feed tab is a list of articles, as well as tips for using the bed and app. Lastly, the Settings tab is where you can set routines, manage notifications and connected apps, and edit your profile. As far as third-party app support goes, you can link up with your Apple Health, Fitbit, MapMyFitness, Microsoft Health, Nest, and Nokia accounts to get better insights about your sleep.

Performance

I tested the 360 Smart Bed for about two months, with the Responsive Air feature turned on. Thanks to the adjustability, I found it to be one of the most comfortable beds I've ever slept on.

I track my sleep across multiple platforms, and according to my data, I found that I tossed and turned much less over my two-month period testing the 360. I also noticed my usual neck and shoulder pain disappeared after a few nights. That alone will be worth the cost of admission for some.

To test its accuracy in the tracking department, I wore a Fitbit Versa to bed and compared its results with those from the mattress. While the data corresponded for the most part, I found the Versa to be slightly more accurate, as it was able to better differentiate between things like time spent in bed reading, but not sleeping, whereas the mattress logged most of it as sleep. Anecdotally, I can say knowing this discouraged me from lounging in bed, which is a good step toward building healthier sleep habits, even if it wasn't intended. And you can always manually edit your SleepIQ data if necessary.

As a chronic insomniac, I found the SleepIQ number to be quite helpful. Your score is calculated based on how close you are to hitting your sleep goal. If you sleep significantly less, or overshoot your goal, it'll have a negative impact. You can also log your activity and caffeine intake, which helps create a more holistic picture of how your lifestyle impacts your sleep.

That said, I wish there was better context for my breathing and heart rate. While I can see that information clearly in the app, and know that it helps the bed determine the quality of my sleep, it didn't really help me learn more about myself health-wise.

As for third-party app integration, I hooked the mattress into my Fitbit account, but had some issues seeing my activity data appear in the app. I reached out to Sleep Number, which tried helping me troubleshoot this, but was unable to get it working as of this writing. As the SleepIQ app is still undergoing updates, I don't consider this a huge drawback, especially since you can manually add activities into the app itself.

The Best Night's Sleep?

If you're looking for a better night's sleep, the Sleep Number 360 Smart Bed will likely get you there on its sheer comfort factor alone. It also provides your personal sleeping metrics, as well as insights into how to build better sleep habits. It requires a bit of active participation on your part, but of all the sleep tech I've tested so far, it's been the most effective at improving my overall sleep quality.

That said, it's quite a hefty investment—you're looking at $1,400 at the bare minimum. This is softened by a 100-day trial period and a 25-year limited warranty, but it's a heck of a lot more expensive than your average fitness tracker or smartwatch. But keep in mind you have to remember to wear a tracker to bed every night, which not everyone finds comfortable, and is probably the same time you usually charge it.

For a less expensive (albeit less comfortable) alternative, we recommend the Eight Sleep Smart Mattress. It isn't adjustable like the Sleep Number, but it tracks similar metrics for a significantly lower cost. You can get it in a mattress bundle, or the just the tracking device itself, earning our Editors' Choice for its functionality and versatility.