My first 24 hours with Apple Watch...

[iRondi]

I have used AW for a full day. Some random thoughts from new user:

I didn't expect to like the notifications feature as much as I do. I have to find the sweet spot for apps from which I want to receive notifications. I am sending emails to archive frequently so it's helping my general email organization.

Yesterday I got a semi emergency call from my son and I surely would have missed without my watch. I keep my iPhone in handbag and am notorious for having it on silent mode. The only bad part about it was that I was at Whole Foods and just about ready to order a beer (I had actually ordered it and guy was just about to pour) when I received call and had to leave immediately to pick up son. So I missed having my beer.

I love the activity app. It's the primary reason I bought AW - to monitor some health data. Last night when I went upstairs and was getting ready for bed, I had met 2 of the goals but had 13 minutes left for exercise. I really wanted all three rings so I got those 13 minutes in (actually probably closer to 17 minutes, as it didn't initially register my activity ... maybe heart rate has to increase?).

I'm not used to wearing a watch, so I'm still getting use to the feel.

This is going to end up costing me way more than the $250 I paid for watch. I have already bought an extra band, a bluetooth headset. Then I had to buy new running shoes. I will probably get about 5 more bands (maybe more). I still need to get a holder for nightstand and probably a second charger. I have also decided I need a new nightstand. However, if this saves me even one trip to the ER for SVT (rapid heart rate) episodes, that's about $2500 - 4000 right there. High deductible insurance and co-pays add up (10% of 10,000 is still a lot of money).

I used my watch at Target to provide my Target Redperks card. Easier than having to find on phone. My first outing was to sport store for trainers and the cashier remarked that she loved my watch. Then it was off to Target and the cashier was impressed with scanning Redperks card from watch. I think I have to choose between having Apple Pay on but having a passcode vs. not using Apple Pay and not having a passcode. I wish I could use Apple Pay without a passcode.

 

[swarlos]

I have used AW for a full day. Some random thoughts from new user:

I didn't expect to like the notifications feature as much as I do. I have to find the sweet spot for apps from which I want to receive notifications. I am sending emails to archive frequently so it's helping my general email organization.

Yesterday I got a semi emergency call from my son and I surely would have missed without my watch. I keep my iPhone in handbag and am notorious for having it on silent mode. The only bad part about it was that I was at Whole Foods and just about ready to order a beer (I had actually ordered it and guy was just about to pour) when I received call and had to leave immediately to pick up son. So I missed having my beer.

I love the activity app. It's the primary reason I bought AW - to monitor some health data. Last night when I went upstairs and was getting ready for bed, I had met 2 of the goals but had 13 minutes left for exercise. I really wanted all three rings so I got those 13 minutes in (actually probably closer to 17 minutes, as it didn't initially register my activity ... maybe heart rate has to increase?).

I'm not used to wearing a watch, so I'm still getting use to the feel.

This is going to end up costing me way more than the $250 I paid for watch. I have already bought an extra band, a bluetooth headset. Then I had to buy new running shoes. I will probably get about 5 more bands (maybe more). I still need to get a holder for nightstand and probably a second charger. I have also decided I need a new nightstand. However, if this saves me even one trip to the ER for SVT (rapid heart rate) episodes, that's about $2500 - 4000 right there. High deductible insurance and co-pays add up (10% of 10,000 is still a lot of money).

I used my watch at Target to provide my Target Redperks card. Easier than having to find on phone. My first outing was to sport store for trainers and the cashier remarked that she loved my watch. Then it was off to Target and the cashier was impressed with scanning Redperks card from watch. I think I have to choose between having Apple Pay on but having a passcode vs. not using Apple Pay and not having a passcode. I wish I could use Apple Pay without a passcode.

Are you talking about passcode on your watch? You don't need to enter your passcode each time you want to use Pay the only time you have enter the passcode for the watch is when you take it off your wrist and put it back on. Even then if you have the watch set to unlock when you unlock your iPhone then you never have to enter your passcode.

 

[IphoneIssues]

What I took away from this is Whole Foods serves beer. Noted

The passcode should only activate once after you first put the watch on. If it activates after that, and the watch is still on, the watch sensor is probably sliding around your wrist a little and losing contact with your skin for a second.

I just started using Apple Pay a couple days ago. VERY convenient.

 

[iRondi]

Are you talking about passcode on your watch? You don't need to enter your passcode each time you want to use Pay the only time you have enter the passcode for the watch is when you take it off your wrist and put it back on. Even then if you have the watch set to unlock when you unlock your iPhone then you never have to enter your passcode.

Thank you for sharing this. I have to sometimes put in passcode but never know when. I changed setting to these. I did turn on the erase data after 10 failed attempts. Was kind of nervous about doing that in case I forget my passcode. I doubt I would forget it and even if it did erase data, I have pretty much everything on iCloud.
[doublepost=1458310151][/doublepost]

What I took away from this is Whole Foods serves beer. Noted

The passcode should only activate once after you first put the watch on. If it activates after that, and the watch is still on, the watch sensor is probably sliding around your wrist a little and losing contact with your skin for a second.

I just started using Apple Pay a couple days ago. VERY convenient.

The Whole Foods serves beer might vary by state. I'm not sure if every state allows stores to serve beer/wine. I live in North Carolina. We have to go to ABC Store to buy hard liquor and you can't buy any alcohol before noon on Sunday. I'm from California, so this is odd to me. But yeah, our Whole Foods has both beer and wine. Daily specials, different beers. It was St. Patrick's Day. Beer is obligatory.

 

[Cnasty]

It was St. Patrick's Day. Beer is obligatory.

I like your style.

 

[IphoneIssues]

Thank you for sharing this. I have to sometimes put in passcode but never know when. I changed setting to these. I did turn on the erase data after 10 failed attempts. Was kind of nervous about doing that in case I forget my passcode. I doubt I would forget it and even if it did erase data, I have pretty much everything on iCloud.
[doublepost=1458310151][/doublepost]

The Whole Foods serves beer might vary by state. I'm not sure if every state allows stores to serve beer/wine. I live in North Carolina. We have to go to ABC Store to buy hard liquor and you can't buy any alcohol before noon on Sunday. I'm from California, so this is odd to me. But yeah, our Whole Foods has both beer and wine. Daily specials, different beers. It was St. Patrick's Day. Beer is obligatory.

I'm in Jersey. There are literally liquor stores all over the damn place. In this town alone, I know of about 6. There's a Whole Foods 5-10 minutes from me, so I imagine it's the same way.

 

[sean000]

I have had similar occasions when the Apple Watch saved the day. Thankfully no true emergencies yet, but I am now more confident that I will be reachable if something urgent comes up. We have a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old, so there have already been times when something unexpected came up, and the Watch allowed me to respond or take action right away. In the past I had a bad habit of leaving my iPhone on silent as well, which meant I frequently missed a call since the phone wasn't where I would feel it vibrate. There have also been times when I have been in a noisy environment where I wouldn't have heard my iPhone ringing, but I sure notice it on my watch.

I have also found that the motion face can immediately calm a screaming toddler throwing a tantrum. I try to save it for the really bad tantrums so it doesn't lose the impact, but it sure works when they see the butterflies on the watch.

I hope you finally got your beer for St. Patrick's Day!

Sean

 

[iRondi]

I am going to put some more follow up questions here. I changed my settings to the above - so that it is unlocked with phone. Even so, I had to enter passcode over six times (I was wearing the watch, never took off). It seemed random as to when I would look at my watch and have to enter passcode vs not.

Which brings me to second point. When I was setting up my watch, I said to check for updates of OS. It said I had the latest OS. I didn't actually look to see what I had vs. what is newest. After wearing for about two days, last night I received message that there is now new os to install - and it was 2.1 (I had 2.0.1). So that made me check to see what is the latest. I see there is a 2.2 beta. How do you beta version? Wondering why my watch didn't say to update to 2.1 when I first received and checked for updates. So one thing I don't know is if my passcode issue is possibly related to 2.0.1 (but if that were the case, others may have experienced this with that OS version).

I am still figuring out activity tracking. I did the 20 minute calibration thing yesterday. I was frustrated because I had 17 minutes left to work out for activity and I started with stationary bike on highish resistance. I know my heart rate was up. 8 pm started with bike 81 bpm. I don't remember exact times, because I was riding bike for quite a while and didn't see activity move, I moved to stairstepper. I am about 131 during this time. Apple Health shows my resting heart rate is in upper 60s; I think that's lower than it probably actually is. I then went outside and walked briskly for 35 minutes and it moved about 3 min up. My heart rate was in upper 130s. The fit was snug. So by this time I had been exercising probably close to an hour and I still had about 15 more min. I was pretty tired. But I was determined to get all three rings complete. 10 PM I decide to just move around like a crazy person - lunges, side steps, running, push ups, dancing, jumping up and down. I'm just doing anything to get my heart rate up. It does finally start to move and I managed to finish the activity ring. It probably took 25 min to get those last 15 minutes. Maybe that's the ticket to Apple Fitness - make you work way more than you have to. I know this sound crazy, but after I finished all of this, I went to my settings and aged me 10 years (I'm already an old person without this!) with the idea that maybe the watch will recognize a lower activity heart rate. I don't know if the watch bases the level you need to be at from the age you entered or from the resting heart rate it calculates for you. Maybe the update I did will help heart rate. I will see how things go. If I am too quickly getting activity points, I will lower my age.

One other thing is between the biking/stairstepper/walking and the crazy movement, I had to recharge my watch because around 9 pm it was out. I charged for an hour and it got to 78% (pretty fast). When I put back on after charging, that's when activity started registering better. Dunno if it's related.

 

[Gav2k]

I am going to put some more follow up questions here. I changed my settings to the above - so that it is unlocked with phone. Even so, I had to enter passcode over six times (I was wearing the watch, never took off). It seemed random as to when I would look at my watch and have to enter passcode vs not.

Which brings me to second point. When I was setting up my watch, I said to check for updates of OS. It said I had the latest OS. I didn't actually look to see what I had vs. what is newest. After wearing for about two days, last night I received message that there is now new os to install - and it was 2.1 (I had 2.0.1). So that made me check to see what is the latest. I see there is a 2.2 beta. How do you beta version? Wondering why my watch didn't say to update to 2.1 when I first received and checked for updates. So one thing I don't know is if my passcode issue is possibly related to 2.0.1 (but if that were the case, others may have experienced this with that OS version).

I am still figuring out activity tracking. I did the 20 minute calibration thing yesterday. I was frustrated because I had 17 minutes left to work out for activity and I started with stationary bike on highish resistance. I know my heart rate was up. 8 pm started with bike 81 bpm. I don't remember exact times, because I was riding bike for quite a while and didn't see activity move, I moved to stairstepper. I am about 131 during this time. Apple Health shows my resting heart rate is in upper 60s; I think that's lower than it probably actually is. I then went outside and walked briskly for 35 minutes and it moved about 3 min up. My heart rate was in upper 130s. The fit was snug. So by this time I had been exercising probably close to an hour and I still had about 15 more min. I was pretty tired. But I was determined to get all three rings complete. 10 PM I decide to just move around like a crazy person - lunges, side steps, running, push ups, dancing, jumping up and down. I'm just doing anything to get my heart rate up. It does finally start to move and I managed to finish the activity ring. It probably took 25 min to get those last 15 minutes. Maybe that's the ticket to Apple Fitness - make you work way more than you have to. I know this sound crazy, but after I finished all of this, I went to my settings and aged me 10 years (I'm already an old person without this!) with the idea that maybe the watch will recognize a lower activity heart rate. I don't know if the watch bases the level you need to be at from the age you entered or from the resting heart rate it calculates for you. Maybe the update I did will help heart rate. I will see how things go. If I am too quickly getting activity points, I will lower my age.

One other thing is between the biking/stairstepper/walking and the crazy movement, I had to recharge my watch because around 9 pm it was out. I charged for an hour and it got to 78% (pretty fast). When I put back on after charging, that's when activity started registering better. Dunno if it's related.

If your getting the password triggered whilst wearing it it's either losing contect with your skin (watch to lose), it's faulty or you have a dark tattoo in that area.

Activity will be squiffy till you resolve the above issue really.

 

[maxsix]

So I missed having my beer.

Rumor has it that Apple is working on a fix to avoid this tragic loss...

 

[IphoneIssues]

I am going to put some more follow up questions here. I changed my settings to the above - so that it is unlocked with phone. Even so, I had to enter passcode over six times (I was wearing the watch, never took off). It seemed random as to when I would look at my watch and have to enter passcode vs not.

Which brings me to second point. When I was setting up my watch, I said to check for updates of OS. It said I had the latest OS. I didn't actually look to see what I had vs. what is newest. After wearing for about two days, last night I received message that there is now new os to install - and it was 2.1 (I had 2.0.1). So that made me check to see what is the latest. I see there is a 2.2 beta. How do you beta version? Wondering why my watch didn't say to update to 2.1 when I first received and checked for updates. So one thing I don't know is if my passcode issue is possibly related to 2.0.1 (but if that were the case, others may have experienced this with that OS version).

I am still figuring out activity tracking. I did the 20 minute calibration thing yesterday. I was frustrated because I had 17 minutes left to work out for activity and I started with stationary bike on highish resistance. I know my heart rate was up. 8 pm started with bike 81 bpm. I don't remember exact times, because I was riding bike for quite a while and didn't see activity move, I moved to stairstepper. I am about 131 during this time. Apple Health shows my resting heart rate is in upper 60s; I think that's lower than it probably actually is. I then went outside and walked briskly for 35 minutes and it moved about 3 min up. My heart rate was in upper 130s. The fit was snug. So by this time I had been exercising probably close to an hour and I still had about 15 more min. I was pretty tired. But I was determined to get all three rings complete. 10 PM I decide to just move around like a crazy person - lunges, side steps, running, push ups, dancing, jumping up and down. I'm just doing anything to get my heart rate up. It does finally start to move and I managed to finish the activity ring. It probably took 25 min to get those last 15 minutes. Maybe that's the ticket to Apple Fitness - make you work way more than you have to. I know this sound crazy, but after I finished all of this, I went to my settings and aged me 10 years (I'm already an old person without this!) with the idea that maybe the watch will recognize a lower activity heart rate. I don't know if the watch bases the level you need to be at from the age you entered or from the resting heart rate it calculates for you. Maybe the update I did will help heart rate. I will see how things go. If I am too quickly getting activity points, I will lower my age.

One other thing is between the biking/stairstepper/walking and the crazy movement, I had to recharge my watch because around 9 pm it was out. I charged for an hour and it got to 78% (pretty fast). When I put back on after charging, that's when activity started registering better. Dunno if it's related.

I would leave the beta stuff alone. You can end up with more problems. Better to just wait for the official release.

Were you opening and closing exercise sessions while you were exercising? If you just ride an indoor bike without opening up an indoor bike session in the exercise app, it's going to be far less accurate. Even with some of the specific exercise sessions opened while doing that particular exercise, they're known to be off a bit. When I run with it, it's within 10 calories of the treadmill. When I use an elliptical or something else, it's off. Others have reported the same thing.

 

[iRondi]

If your getting the password triggered whilst wearing it it's either losing contect with your skin (watch to lose), it's faulty or you have a dark tattoo in that area.

Activity will be squiffy till you resolve the above issue really.

No tattoos. I have tried to pay attention to fit. I seem to be between two notch holes. I have the small/med band. The third smallest is quite tight. The fourth smallest is slightly loose. Maybe I can switch to med/large band and try tightest setting.

And are you from UK? Not many Americans say whilst.

 

[Gav2k]

No tattoos. I have tried to pay attention to fit. I seem to be between two notch holes. I have the small/med band. The third smallest is quite tight. The fourth smallest is slightly loose. Maybe I can switch to med/large band and try tightest setting.

And are you from UK? Not many Americans say whilst.

I am indeed from the uk.

If your having an issue with the s/m try the m/l strap as the holes are slightly different in terms of spacing. There is an overlap in wrist size from 160-185mm if you fall in that range then either will fit you.

Gav

 

[iRondi]

I am indeed from the uk.

If your having an issue with the s/m try the m/l strap as the holes are slightly different in terms of spacing. There is an overlap in wrist size from 160-185mm if you fall in that range then either will fit you.

Gav

That is what I was thinking - a different hole configuration might work.

I am visiting Kent this coming week.
[doublepost=1458399584][/doublepost]

I would leave the beta stuff alone. You can end up with more problems. Better to just wait for the official release.

Were you opening and closing exercise sessions while you were exercising? If you just ride an indoor bike without opening up an indoor bike session in the exercise app, it's going to be far less accurate. Even with some of the specific exercise sessions opened while doing that particular exercise, they're known to be off a bit. When I run with it, it's within 10 calories of the treadmill. When I use an elliptical or something else, it's off. Others have reported the same thing.

I did use the exercise app when I was walking but not with the other stuff.

Post walking pre lunges/etc, I read to make sure watch fitting well -- which I think it was and also that hand movement tends to make it inaccurate. I may have been moving my hands a lot. I tried to not move them so much and that seemed to help.

 

[Gav2k]

That is what I was thinking - a different hole configuration might work.

I am visiting Kent this coming week.
[doublepost=1458399584][/doublepost]

I did use the exercise app when I was walking but not with the other stuff.

Post walking pre lunges/etc, I read to make sure watch fitting well -- which I think it was and also that hand movement tends to make it inaccurate. I may have been moving my hands a lot. I tried to not move them so much and that seemed to help.

Kent is 5 minutes from me.

As for hand movements do not change the way your naturally moving. As I said everything will be more accurate when you've a decent fit.

 

[matt9013]

Hopefully once you get a good fit these problems start to fix themselves.

Truthfully though, if fitness was your main concern I would have gone with a Fitbit. AW isn't the best fitness tracker out there and actually not even one of the best. Hopefully Apple can get the fitness aspect into gear for the next AW or WatchOS as they are very far behind other fitness trackers.

 

[iRondi]

Hopefully once you get a good fit these problems start to fix themselves.

Truthfully though, if fitness was your main concern I would have gone with a Fitbit. AW isn't the best fitness tracker out there and actually not even one of the best. Hopefully Apple can get the fitness aspect into gear for the next AW or WatchOS as they are very far behind other fitness trackers.

For me, I am less interested in precise data; I don't really care if fitbit says I burned 330 and apple watch says 300. I don't care if fitbit says I walked 3 miles and apple watch says 2.5.

What I care most about is the accountability and encouragement to be active. Also, the heart rate monitoring is important to me. By the time I spend 150-200 for a fitness tracker with a heart rate monitor, I'm more than half way to apple watch, which has other features I like. I paid $250 for my watch.

Now, when it is absolutely not tracking fitness -- as it was last night -- that is frustrating. Of course, there is a learning curve for me for figuring this stuff out. So while I didn't just buy the AW for fitness, i am hopeful I can sort issues so that I get better tracking. I am fine with "good enough" tracking of fitness.

 

[matt9013]

For me, I am less interested in precise data; I don't really care if fitbit says I burned 330 and apple watch says 300. I don't care if fitbit says I walked 3 miles and apple watch says 2.5.

What I care most about is the accountability and encouragement to be active. Also, the heart rate monitoring is important to me. By the time I spend 150-200 for a fitness tracker with a heart rate monitor, I'm more than half way to apple watch, which has other features I like. I paid $250 for my watch.

Now, when it is absolutely not tracking fitness -- as it was last night -- that is frustrating. Of course, there is a learning curve for me for figuring this stuff out. So while I didn't just buy the AW for fitness, i am hopeful I can sort issues so that I get better tracking. I am fine with "good enough" tracking of fitness.

OK, that's fair. I'm also hoping Apple can get issues sorted out and really make the AW a great fitness tracker. They hired all those fitness people so they must have been doing something for Apple.

I also like how the AW can so so much more than a regular fitness tracker. That's why I have a Fitbit charge and will soon have an AW. Best of both worlds for now.

 

[Jefe's MacAir]

You make some great points. My argument has always been that I already wear a watch, I see you didn't, so it's really just way more information at my wrist than what I've been used to for the last 35 years. I'm 47 and have been wearing watches near continuously since about that age. For 35 years I had the time and sometimes the date and if I was lucky, the day. As the years wore on, my watches became more jewelry than tool. I'm thrilled with all the new information available and the future looks bright as far as what will come in.

 

[SueyMac]

I am going to put some more follow up questions here. I changed my settings to the above - so that it is unlocked with phone. Even so, I had to enter passcode over six times (I was wearing the watch, never took off). It seemed random as to when I would look at my watch and have to enter passcode vs not.

I've noticed that sometimes the edge of my shirt cuff will slide under the strap/back of my watch and break the contact between the watch and my wrist, forcing me to re-enter passcode. Do you think that might be the case in your situation?

I actually noticed your pic in another thread (I think the Ladies Only thread) looks like this might be happening.

Just a thought....

 

[sean000]

For me, I am less interested in precise data; I don't really care if fitbit says I burned 330 and apple watch says 300. I don't care if fitbit says I walked 3 miles and apple watch says 2.5.

What I care most about is the accountability and encouragement to be active. Also, the heart rate monitoring is important to me. By the time I spend 150-200 for a fitness tracker with a heart rate monitor, I'm more than half way to apple watch, which has other features I like. I paid $250 for my watch.

Now, when it is absolutely not tracking fitness -- as it was last night -- that is frustrating. Of course, there is a learning curve for me for figuring this stuff out. So while I didn't just buy the AW for fitness, i am hopeful I can sort issues so that I get better tracking. I am fine with "good enough" tracking of fitness.

I owned a Fitbit before the Apple Watch, but not one with a heart rate monitor. I'm with you in terms of not needing anything super precise. I'm not training for competition... just looking for some general tracking to provide an incentive to make the time to exercise more. I don't actually need incentive to exercise... I would go for a two+ hour bicycle ride or a long hike almost every day of the week if I could. With two small children it's more about carving time out of a busy week to exercise. Sometimes that means looking at your log and realizing that you haven't had a good bike ride in three weeks, so it's about time. Most days its just trying to make sure I'm making a habit out of getting my heart rate up here and there... walking or biking for transportation, taking the stairs, etc. I also think the Stand ring is a nice reminder to get up from the desk and take a brisk walk every now and then. Because of those rings I manage to just get the 30 minutes of exercise and 10,000 steps just from walking up and down hills/stairs on most days.

Coming from a Fitbit to an Apple Watch I noticed a couple of things: I wasn't logging as many stairs/flights climbed on the Apple Watch, because the Fitbit had a built-in altimeter while the Apple Watch does not. The iPhone does, so only the Health app shows flights climbed (the Activity app does not). If you don't have your iPhone with you, then flights climbed will not be counted. The other thing was going from a single Fitbit app to the Apple trinity of Activity, Workouts and Health. It's a bit cumbersome at first, but on the plus side you can use many other fitness tracking apps that are designed for specific activities (Strava as one example) and that data can be pulled into the Health app. I guess one other thing is that Apple doesn't have a social network for encouraging fitness, but I never used the social networking features of Fitbit anyway. Strava has a social network of runners and cyclists if I wanted to join something like that.

The accuracy of these devices is somewhat variable from person to person. I wore my Fitbit for several months after getting the Apple Watch and found each device to be extremely close in the number of steps counted. Other people say they get wildly different results. The heart rate sensor is what seems to vary the most for people. It works well for me, but hardly at all for some. It seems like wrist anatomy, position on the arm, tightness of the band, motion of the arm during tracking, tattoos, sweat can all affect the tracking. It's not just Apple Watch...I have read about people with Fitbits having similar problems. In fact Fitbit recommends trying to wear their fitness bands two or three fingers above the wrist-bone if you are having problems getting heart rate readings.

Sean

 

[Armen]

Imagine that. A positive review of the Apple watch.