Can someone explain nightstand mode to me?

[WarHeadz]

What the hell is the point? Why would I want to use a tiny screened device with a tiny little speaker as an alarm clock? Mind you, it doesn't even stay lit up. Isn't the iPhone with it's far superior speaker and large screen that can stay on all night with one of the million alarm clock apps a MUCH better alarm clock than the Watch? Am I missing something? Or is this really the most useless feature of WatchOS 2?

 

[BarracksSi]

Most useless feature (IMO) and most likely to create contentious MR forum threads.

 

[BarracksSi]

And, fwiw, for me, the AW makes a better alarm while it's on my wrist than the iPhone does. That's counting alarm apps like Carrot and the wake-and-shake app (although that one is pretty good, except it broke with iOS 8).

 

[zmunkz]

+1 most useless feature of os2

But at least it has a shred of utility, unlike os1 most useless feature of sending your heartbeat to someone.

 

[Theophil1971]

+1 most useless feature of os2

But at least it has a shred of utility, unlike os1 most useless feature of sending your heartbeat to someone.

Really? Well, I like it. The backlight doesn't stay on, so the room stays dark. If I wake up and need to see the time, I just bump the watch and it shows. The alarm is pleasant, and effective to wake me up. Works better for me than my phone.

 

[seadragon]

I also like it. I prefer complete darkness when sleeping and I used to turn my clock radios away from me for that reason. Now, i just literally touch the watch and it lights up for a few seconds. Perfect for me.

On a side note, I used to have periods of slight insomnia where I would wake up in the middle of the night and then not be able to get back to sleep. One of the things I had read that might help was to not have a clock at the bedside so that you can't tell what time it is. I removed my clock and to my surprise, it worked. I started sleeping much better. It turns out that some people (like me) look at the time and then their mind starts thinking about getting up soon or what the day is going to bring.

 

[Michael CM1]

I can only guess that this is something a few people thought would help people who travel a lot or something. I hadn't worn a watch in more than a decade, so I was used to just using a provided clock or just glancing at my phone if I needed such a thing. I guess it might pay off a time or two, but for at home I bought a nice tilted stand (well, $20 nice) to charge my phone on to keep it from sliding off the glass plate on top of my nightstand. In other words, it's useless to me at home.

But it probably didn't take too much time to work on and I guess could come in handy. Well, at least could be used. That's my best shot at explaining it.

 

[Enygmatic]

Here's what I don't understand... what does it matter? The fact that it DOESN'T stay on permanently means that - literally - you don't even have to concern yourself with it. You don't even have to see it. Act like there IS no Nightstand mode and enjoy your life. If you like it, it's there; if not, the screen is black, and you're sleep anyway.

For others, who don't have dedicated stands, or who just charge the Watch on its side nightly, it's a simple feature that may come in handy if you just wish to see the time, and don't want to have to reach for your phone in the dark, or actually grab the Watch and mess with tiny buttons.

 

[Donoban]

What the hell is the point? Why would I want to use a tiny screened device with a tiny little speaker as an alarm clock? Mind you, it doesn't even stay lit up. Isn't the iPhone with it's far superior speaker and large screen that can stay on all night with one of the million alarm clock apps a MUCH better alarm clock than the Watch? Am I missing something? Or is this really the most useless feature of WatchOS 2?

Hey man, how it works is like this.

You touch it to display the time.

If you set an alarm, it will gradually begin to illuminate in the minutes leading up to your alarm, then it will stay lit while the alarm sounds or is in snooze mode.

I think it's brilliant personally, but I don't have a bedside clock so it's great to have something.

 

[Julien]

Hey man, how it works is like this.

You touch it to display the time.

If you set an alarm, it will gradually begin to illuminate in the minutes leading up to your alarm, then it will stay lit while the alarm sounds or is in snooze mode.

I think it's brilliant personally, but I don't have a bedside clock so it's great to have something.

For an alarm a progressive nature sound is the BEST. I use Rise or Nightstand on my iPad/iPhone and nothing beats the 'easy' wake up of rain or waves gradually getting louder. I wish Apple would offer these types of alarms.

 

[barjam]

What the hell is the point? Why would I want to use a tiny screened device with a tiny little speaker as an alarm clock? Mind you, it doesn't even stay lit up. Isn't the iPhone with it's far superior speaker and large screen that can stay on all night with one of the million alarm clock apps a MUCH better alarm clock than the Watch? Am I missing something? Or is this really the most useless feature of WatchOS 2?

I think it is a brilliant feature and I love it. I haven't had an alarm clock of any sort by my bed for well over a decade due to light pollution. This new feature gives me something I can lightly tap to see the time with a nice alarm as needed that is super easy to set as I take my watch off at night.

Not all features are for all people.

 

[MrMister111]

Why can't there be an option...

1) yes I want time displayed all the time (It's plugged in so should be fine)

2) only show time when tapped, stay on for 1, 2, 3... mins...

3) disable nightstand

 

[lionsy]

I think it's just one of those things that was added after a software developer said "Wouldn't it be neat if....!" but the implementation with the lack of option to leave it on is strange.

I suspect we'll see changes to it with the next significant update, although I'm surprised it wasn't changed during the beta, because people had the same complaints when it first became available.

 

[Night Spring]

I suspect we'll see changes to it with the next significant update, although I'm surprised it wasn't changed during the beta, because people had the same complaints when it first became available.

As people in this thread have pointed out, it's not a must-have feature, so fixing it probably wasn't a priority. They had lots of other things that needed fixing during the beta.

 

[JT2002TJ]

I like it, but I get where others wouldn't. I thing it should be a feature that can be activated or deactivated. The always on makes a ton of charging bases designed from watchOS 1 display incorrectly. Best of both worlds, make it a feature that is up to the user.

 

[Bazooka-joe]

I find nightstand quite useful. I just tap the bedside table and it displays the time. It's quite bright so I wouldn't want the display on all the time

 

[JT2002TJ]

I think the discussion can be summed up by:

Some people like it, some people don't. It is useful to enough that it isn't a feature that should be removed. To best please the masses, it should be a feature that can be turned on and off as needed.

 

[Roller]

I'd find it useful if it worked consistently for me. Sometimes, moving the watch displays the time as it's supposed to; other times, nothing, and tapping the watch face brings up the unlock screen.

 

[seadragon]

For those that don't like the nightstand mode, you can turn it off by going into Settings:General:Nightstand Mode.

 

[Shinigami301]

I find it to be a great feature, even more so as I have been traveling the past few days. Works really well for me.

 

[iBighouse]

The watch, so far, has worked GREAT for me in nightstand mode. I was using my iPad for an alarm clock every day. When it went off at 4:55am, I would have to fumble for it to open it and slide the alarm button off to silence it.

But, with the watch, I just hit the side button and it's off. AND, the watch is so sensitive to movement that if I just tap my nightstand top my watch will display the time. So, at least in my instance, I don't even need to touch the watch to wake it up to see the time- just an easy fumbley sleep tap on the nightstand top.

 

[Armen]

What the hell is the point? Why would I want to use a tiny screened device with a tiny little speaker as an alarm clock? Mind you, it doesn't even stay lit up. Isn't the iPhone with it's far superior speaker and large screen that can stay on all night with one of the million alarm clock apps a MUCH better alarm clock than the Watch? Am I missing something? Or is this really the most useless feature of WatchOS 2?

Well you can:

A) reach for your phone, tilt it toward you or pick it up (assumging it's not charging), press the home button, get blinded by the screen in an attempt to read the time and then put it back down.

or

B) tap the screen of the Apple watch that's already pointed in you direction and see the time in green with no blaring background light.

choose

 

[laszlo182]

I love it, it's really nice alarm clock. Especially if you have a watch stand.

 

[J.C]

Watch mode uses the accelerometer so I only need to gently tap my nightstand to have it light up. I actually like the feature just how it is as I usually don't like to see the time if I'm getting up during the night.

 

[JT2002TJ]

For those that don't like the nightstand mode, you can turn it off by going into Settings:General:Nightstand Mode.

I only had iOS 2.0 for like 1 day before I turned in my SS watch for a defect with the screen coating. I JUST got a new replacement (after 16 days). I saw the nightstand switch last night.

On a good note, I was provided a watch OS 1 replacement, I set it up as a new watch, upgraded to 2.0, wiped it, then paired it restoring from my backup right before I handed then the watch. It is nice that it doesn't wipe out previous backups.