If you visit your smart device’s app store, there’s no shortage of choices. In fact, these days there’s seemingly an app for anything. Need to keep track of your budget? There’s an app for that, as they say. Need to book a dog sitter? There’s an app for that, too. You can even get food delivery, meditation, fitness tips, and much more. But did you know there are also a variety of new and newish sleep apnea detection apps available for consumer use? There’s even a snoring app that will detect snoring as you sleep. But are these apps any good, and should you use them for an untreated sleep apnea diagnosis?A recent study by Baptista and Colleagues found that many of the sleep apps available on consumer smart devices pose some challenges. First of all, many of them are not accurate, with a reported 88.3% sensitivity and an 80% specificity. While these numbers do seem high, they simply aren’t reliable, nor are they as accurate as clinical polysomnography tests conducted by sleep specialists.That much being said, these apps can be useful to prescreen for sleep apnea, however, there is a concern in the medical community that too many false positives may overwhelm sleep testing clinics with patients who believe they have sleep apnea, according to a recent article in Pulmonary Advisor.But they do have their benefits. To begin with, they are a starting point for a diagnosis of sleep apnea. Sleep apnea affects approximately 14 percent of men and five percent of women in the United States, many of whom don’t even realize they have it. Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder that causes the airway to collapse during sleep. This causes snoring, shortness of breath, the stopping and restarting of breathing, reduced blood oxygen levels, and can even contribute to morbidity, as well as many serious illnesses such as Alzheimer’s Disease, heart disease, some cancers, diabetes, and more. So should you try a sleep apnea app? Honestly, it couldn’t hurt, especially if you notice you feel tired during the day despite getting an adequate number of hours of sleep. This can at least give you an idea of what could be wrong. These apps can also be especially handy for those without a regular sleep partner.If you have tried a sleep apnea app, how do you like it? If you’re ready for a formal diagnosis, or if you already have a diagnosis and are interested in getting a mandibular sleep device from Dr. Peterson, please contact the office. Mandibular sleep devices are used in lieu of CPAP therapy and are often found to be more comfortable, thus they are used more frequently and are more effective in the long run.