Advice/suggestions/tips for a new Apple Watch owner?

[Hopes]

With my very first Apple Watch ordered, but not here yet (have to wait a LONG TIME).....I would dearly love your help!

If you could give me your best tips and tricks for the watch, what you use it the most for, and any other information/advice that you might like to share I would be extremely grateful!

I need something to pass the time during this long wait. LOL! I want to be able to use the watch to its fullest potential but need to know everything it’s capable of!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Mac'nCheese]

With my very first Apple Watch ordered, but not here yet (have to wait a LONG TIME).....I would dearly love your help!

If you could give me your best tips and tricks for the watch, what you use it the most for, and any other information/advice that you might like to share I would be extremely grateful!

I need something to pass the time during this long wait. LOL! I want to be able to use the watch to its fullest potential but need to know everything it’s capable of!

Thanks in advance!

Why is it so long a wait? I thought they were down to one week shipping.

 

[Hopes]

Why is it so long a wait? I thought they were down to one week shipping.

When I ordered it said Nov 29th is when it would be ready for pick up.

 

[Mac'nCheese]

When I ordered it said Nov 29th is when it would be ready for pick up.

Well fingers crossed for you, sometimes they come in earlier.

 

[Hopes]

Well fingers crossed for you, sometimes they come in earlier.

Thank you! I hope that happens. But we will see. Thought I would pass the time learning as much as I can about the watch and everything it can do

 

[rmw49]

The first watches had nothing that interested me but, as soon as I saw the watch face of the series 4, I knew I was going to buy one. I don't get many phone calls on my iPhone and I am not overly interested in Instagram or Facebook and have never used Twitter but I do keep my 69 year young body fit by cycling at least 200 kilometres a week and doing regular gym work (at home).
So I went to the local store and got a silver aluminium 44mm cellular with white sports strap. The first couple of days I just couldn't get on top of it at all and was all for taking it back and saving my money. However I read up about it and also got cellular connected for €5 a month here in France with Orange and now, just over three weeks later, it is the first thing I put on in the morning and the last thing I take off at night and I exercise even more just to fill the rings. With a cellular connection (that took a long call to Orange to sort out but was done and easily in the end) I now leave my iPhone at home and it's such a joy not to have its weight in my pocket. Instead of having to drag it out when I get a message or notification I just turn the watch over, it lights up and there is all the information. I dictate a reply when necessary and it's all done. The same with Apple Pay and store cards (I use the app Stocard for those) as well as my shopping list. No hunting for the phone. All on the watch. I use runtastic for cycling (although I do keep my iPhone still in my cycling vest back pocket. Haven't yet tried a ride without the phone but will soon). The odd phone call is easy to take because the speaker is well loud enough to not to need AirPods.
So I now couldn’t live without the watch but could easily live without the iPhone. It is possible to do so many things with this lovely piece of technology on my wrist and I hope Apple never make a round one (I'm sure they won't as there are so many lovely square ordinary watches).
It took me some time to get it really set up as to how I like it for me and I was helped by dredging through the usual drudge of stupid forum comments and watching Youtube videos, and found lots that have helped me with different faces and also apps to use.
Hope you enjoy your watch when it arrives.

 

[Hopes]

Thank you so much for your detailed insight. I truly appreciate it. I haven’t worn a watch in wel over 15+ years so I’m sure it will take some getting used to and I will have to play around with it. I will be primararly using it to watch my sons medical condition which had me
Looking at my phone 24/7. Can’t wait to play with it! Won’t be getting it until end of this month though. Feels like an eternity.

 

[staggerlee41]

Congrats on your purchase I think you're really going to enjoy the Series 4. As far as usage, my initial intent was to use it for stand notifications (I work at a desk all day), fitness and the general notifications like email and text messages. I have found it to be great for Apple Pay, boarding passes for air travel, travel notifications, grocery list via reminders, controlling volume on my Bose system, quick check of temperature/weather, alarm (set on iPhone also provides haptic feedback on my wrist), and sleep tracking. There's probably a few other things I'm missing.

I would highly recommend reading up on how to improve battery life, there are many articles out there by searching Google. Know that once you first get it, you are likely to chew through the battery for the first several days, it will settle down after that and by 5-7 days you should start to see battery life that you should expect long term.

I chose a GPS only model as I have my phone with me when I leave the house. I prefer to keep mine on silent mode and only get the haptic feedback, which as I mentioned will work in conjunction with your iPhone's alarm.

Here's a good starting point for reading content. Once you get it, make sure you play with it and get to know where settings are on the phone and on the watch.

https://support.apple.com/guide/watch/welcome/watchos

Also there's a lot of information posted here on the forum that are worth a read if you are so inclined.


Enjoy it!

 

[Hopes]

Congrats on your purchase I think you're really going to enjoy the Series 4. As far as usage, my initial intent was to use it for stand notifications (I work at a desk all day), fitness and the general notifications like email and text messages. I have found it to be great for Apple Pay, boarding passes for air travel, travel notifications, grocery list via reminders, controlling volume on my Bose system, quick check of temperature/weather, alarm (set on iPhone also provides haptic feedback on my wrist), and sleep tracking. There's probably a few other things I'm missing.

I would highly recommend reading up on how to improve battery life, there are many articles out there by searching Google. Know that once you first get it, you are likely to chew through the battery for the first several days, it will settle down after that and by 5-7 days you should start to see battery life that you should expect long term.

I chose a GPS only model as I have my phone with me when I leave the house. I prefer to keep mine on silent mode and only get the haptic feedback, which as I mentioned will work in conjunction with your iPhone's alarm.

Here's a good starting point for reading content. Once you get it, make sure you play with it and get to know where settings are on the phone and on the watch.

https://support.apple.com/guide/watch/welcome/watchos

Also there's a lot of information posted here on the forum that are worth a read if you are so inclined.




Enjoy it!

Thank you so much for the tip about the battery life. That would for sure be something that would bother me if I had not know. Thanks you for the link as well. I’m all about getting all the information I can during this agonizing waiting period! LOL

 

[Oleksi]

Waiting for the Feast, as a rule, better than the Holiday. So, enjoy this time!

 

[Closingracer]

For me it’s a tool. I love my watch but their is nothing that makes it “fun”. I use my watch for a few things.


Workouts at the gym ( well why I bought it but haven’t gone much because of life)

Pokémon Go. I walk around at work and use it to hatch eggs

Tell the time and my heart rate



Notifications and see who calls because I can’t with my phone in my pocket

 

[tgara]

I need something to pass the time during this long wait. LOL! I want to be able to use the watch to its fullest potential but need to know everything it’s capable of!

Thanks in advance!

Download a copy of the Watch User’s Guide in the Apple Book Store, read it cover to cover, then read it again. I assure you, this will be the best use of your wait time.

 

[44267547]

Download a copy of the Watch User’s Guide in the Apple Book Store, read it cover to cover, then read it again. I assure you, this will be the best use of your wait time.

I find reading Apple’s ‘Tips’ is far more tedious and monotonous, I would actually recommend YouTube videos that have really helpful turtorials, and some user video’s are relatively short and straight to the point. I learned _way_ more from users ‘hands on videos’ versus the copied script Apple will inform you of.

 

[testcard]

Unboxing videos are always a good way to get you drooling! YouTube is a great source for reviews and tips & tricks. I came across this review yesterday from someone who's had a Series 4 for a month.

 

[sosumi99]

These are my favorite features on the Watch:

• Finding my iPhone by tapping on the button in Control Center to make the iPhone beep (can't tell you how often this has helped me when the phone slipped between cushions on the couch)
• Encourage me to be more active ("Close the rings!")
• Walkie-talkie with my wife so we don't shout at each other across the house
• Going out to play, bike, swim, or walk with my kids and leaving the phone home. I got the LTE version specifically for this. It allows me to have peace of mind (because people can still call me) and I'm not tempted to check my phone all the time and can devote my full attention to the kids.
• Unlock my laptop when I sit down (I don't have a TB, so this is much better than typing the password)
• Notifications -- quick glance to see the new message or email and go on with my day. If I had my phone I'd be tempted to fiddle more.

 

[chabig]

I got a Series 4 for Christmas, but when I went to set it up the Watch app didn't see my backup from my Series 3. It turns out that my Series 3 Watch was updated to 5.1.2, but the Watch I opened on Christmas was manufactured with 5.1.1. You can only restore from backups made with the same OS version or earlier. So the solution was to set up the Series 4 as new, update it, unpair it, and then restore from the Series 3 backup.