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Is Apollo Neuro Legit? Here’s How This Wearable Can Improve Focus, Sleep, & Resilience to Stress

This Science-Backed Wearable Can Improve Focus & Sleep While Reducing Stress

July 3, 2024

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Stress and anxiety are at an all-time high. Nearly 40% of Americans are having trouble falling asleep. Meanwhile, more and more people are struggling with focus and concentration. Apollo Neuro, a buzzy new wearable, promises to address all these issues.

Ever felt the profound calming effect of a hug after an upsetting situation? Or noticed how you feel instantly relaxed the second your partner holds your hand? There’s no denying that physical touch has a direct effect on our nervous system — it triggers the release of oxytocin, a hormone that promotes positive feelings while reducing stress and anxiety. But let’s face it — not everyone has access to this physical contact on-demand, whenever we need it most. That’s where Apollo Neuro comes in: Think of it as a wearable hug.

Apollo founder Dr. David Rabin, MD, PhD, is a neuroscientist and board-certified psychiatrist who studied the effects of chronic stress, as well as the impact of different vibration frequencies on the body. To date, there have already been seven clinical trials with promising results in over 1,700 subjects who used Apollo Neuro.

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But what is the science behind Apollo Neuro? How quickly can you feel the benefits? And is it worth the investment? I tested the wearable for a full month to find out — here’s my unfiltered Apollo Neuro review.

How to Use the Apollo Neuro

The Apollo Neuro costs $349 and there are three different ways to wear it: on your wrist like a watch, around your ankle, or clipped to your shirt. (Fair warning: if you opt for the ankle, be prepared for some jokes about being on house arrest.) I like to switch between all three depending on my mood or what my goal is. I find having the Apollo Neuro closer to my chest is helpful during times when I’m dealing with a lot of stress and anxiety, but when I’m sleeping, it’s more comfortable to wear on my wrist.

Apollo has 12 vibes, each with a different purpose: Energy, Social, Focus, Recover, Calm, Unwind, Sleep, Love, Good Morning, Good Evening, Joy, and Power Nap.

Setting up your Apollo requires downloading the app and entering some information about your daily schedule — including your typical wake time, bedtime, and when you’re most productive or social. The app will generate a suggested schedule for your vibes, but you can always tweak the timing and the duration according to your preferences. Vibe sessions can range from 15 minutes to two hours, depending on your needs. You also have control over the intensity of the vibes.

My schedule involved: Good Morning vibes to wake me up at 8:30 a.m., Focus vibes to help me get in a flow state at work around 11:15 a.m., Calm vibes at 4:20 p.m. when I like to do my mid-day meditation, Unwind vibes at 11:30 PM, and then Sleep vibes to help me drift into dreamland around 12:30 a.m. On days when I’m attending networking events, meetings, or otherwise have to be “on,” I might use Social vibes.

The Benefits of Apollo Neuro

In clinical trials, Apollo Neuro users experienced a 40% reduction in stress and anxiety, and a 25% gain in concentration and focus.

One 2022 study revealed that Apollo Neuro is the first wearable proven to improve heart-rate variability (by up to 11%). Higher heart rate variability is associated with greater resilience to stress.

Another study (sponsored by Apollo) found that Apollo users can experience up to a 19% increase in deep sleep, up to a 14% increase in REM sleep, and up to a 6% increase in total sleep time.

And in a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover clinical trial, Apollo vibrations were shown to improve cognitive performance under stress — with a 25% increase in focus and concentration, on average.

In another study, when people completed guided mindfulness recordings, both experienced and newbie mediators who used Apollo Neuro were able to achieve deeper meditative brain states when wearing the Apollo Neuro. Additionally, those without meditation experience were able to access meditative brain states 50% faster with Apollo Neuro.

Other research suggests that Apollo may help to reduce feelings of anxiety, and even enable your body to recover faster from athletic activities.

My experience definitely reflected some of these same benefits.

The first thing I noticed is that I felt a lot more present and grounded when I wore the Apollo Neuro. Every time a new vibes session started, I had a moment of “Oh right, here I am. This is what I’m doing right now.” It felt the same as when I’m doing a meditation and am able to gently pull my focus back to the here and now after getting distracted by a thought. This also helped me to stay focused while working rather than constantly getting side-tracked.

I also found some of the vibes — especially calm, unwind, and recover — to feel extremely helpful on stressful days. In one instance, during an argument with my partner, my Apollo happened to kick on right as I started feeling triggered. The soothing vibrations almost served as a “halt” button on my fight or flight system, and I was able to take a breath and respond in a calmer and more authentic way rather than getting activated and fueling the argument to escalate.

I can’t tell whether I’m necessarily sleeping better with Apollo as I don’t tend to have trouble falling or staying asleep to begin with. However, I love that I can schedule the Apollo to wake me up in the morning. It’s so much nicer to ease into the day with gentle vibrations than with a blaring alarm, which usually sends my heart rate surging. (Plus, unlike my traditional alarm clock, the Apollo doesn’t wake up my sleepy spouse.)

Apollo Neuro SmartVibes

What do you get when you combine AI with Apollo? SmartVibes. Upgrading to SmartVibes, which costs $199 for an annual membership, enables the Apollo to start learning and then predicting what vibes will benefit your body most throughout the day. As a result, you get a more personalized vibes schedule. The idea is that every day, your mood, energy levels, sleep quality, social activity, and physical demands can change and fluctuate. SmartVibes adapts and responds to whatever you need on any given day.

Since Apollo offers a one-month free trial for SmartVibes, I decided to give it a try.

One of my favorite aspects of SmartVibes is the sleep trends data report. According to my report, after using the Apollo for two weeks, I was getting an average of 20 more minutes of sleep per night — which is pretty impressive. Another cool feature is that SmartVibes can detect when you’re stirring during the night and respond by emitting vibrations that help nudge you back to sleep. According to the company, Apollo SmartVibes customers have been experiencing up to 60 minutes more sleep each night.

To create this personalized experience, Apollo leverages its own sleep metrics, a daily mood/feelings log that you fill out, and OURA Ring health data. I definitely feel like having an OURA Ring will help you to best capitalize on SmartVibes’ capabilities, and I don’t currently own one. That said, if you’re diligent about filling out the daily mood log, that can be valuable information for the Apollo to know what vibes to deliver and when.

Pro Tips to Get the Most Out of the Apollo

The only issue I ran into while using the Apollo was remembering to charge it. To Apollo’s credit, I found that I can usually get two full days of use before I need to recharge it. I’d advise making it a habit to put Apollo on the charger whenever you’re taking a shower — that way it doesn’t happen to die on you when you need it most. You could also set a daily alarm — for a time when you don’t have vibes scheduled — that reminds you to recharge it.

Don’t forget to play around with different intensities for the vibes to see what works for you. Ideally, you want to be able to feel the vibrations — but they shouldn’t be overwhelming or distracting, either. It might take a little trial and error to find that sweet spot, and I found that it ranges depending on the mode I’m in. For example, I like a higher intensity Recover vibe to wake me up in the morning, but a lower intensity Focus vibe when I’m in the middle of work.

Of course, it’s totally up to you how often you use the Apollo Neuro. But keep in mind that clinical studies have shown wearing the Apollo daily for at least 90 minutes during the day and 90 minutes at night will yield the best results.

Also, if you tend to wake up frequently in the middle of the night, try just tapping the side buttons on the Apollo and it will replay the sleep vibe to help you fall back asleep.

The Bottom Line

Even within just the first week of using Apollo Neuro, I noticed an improvement in my ability to cope with stress and anxiety, and my mindfulness during everyday interactions. While I can’t be sure, I think this is partly due to the fact that the vibrations helped to ground me in the present so that my mind didn’t get carried away ruminating over something I said earlier that day, or what might happen tomorrow.

I also found I was generally calmer in the mornings after waking up with the Apollo versus my conventional alarm. I recently did some cortisol testing and found that my levels of this “stress hormone” are higher than normal early in the day, and based solely on how I’ve been feeling in the morning after using the Apollo as my alarm, I suspect that it might help.

I didn’t experience any negative side effects or downsides while using Apollo Neuro, but rest assured that the company offers a 30-day, risk-free trial. In other words, since you have the option to return it if you aren’t wowed by the effects, there isn’t really much to lose here.

So, is Apollo Neuro worth it? I think it depends on the state of your mental and emotional health, your resilience to stress, and how much you struggle when it comes to sleep, focus, and concentration. But if like many other Americans — myself included — your nervous system could use a daily hug or two, it’s an investment I’d definitely consider.

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