Do you use your Apple Watch for fitness tracking, or only for the other features?

What do you use your Apple Watch for?

  • Total voters
    130
The Cockney Rebel

The Cockney Rebel

macrumors 68040
Hello all.

I haven't been for my daily walks for a few days, as I've been quite depressed.

I'm currently looking at my watch, sitting on the side.

And it made me wonder, is it of much use if I don't use the fitness tracking features?

Posing the question to you: Do you use your Apple Watch for fitness tracking, or does that not interest you/fit into your lifestyle?

I'd be interested to see the results of the poll.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas.
 
The Cockney Rebel said:
Hello all.

I haven't been for my daily walks for a few days, as I've been quite depressed.

I'm currently looking at my watch, sitting on the side.

And it made me wonder, is it of much use if I don't use the fitness tracking features?

Posing the question to you: Do you use your Apple Watch for fitness tracking, or does that not interest you/fit into your lifestyle?

I'd be interested to see the results of the poll.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas.
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear that. I know you don’t feel like it but going for a walk or doing fitness really helps against depression. If going outside is too much, see if you can do some exercise inside. Hope you get better soon.

As for the topic itself, health tracking and fitness is the main use, then notifications.
 
While I marked "everything", my thing of fitness tracking is making sure I close my rings for standing and movement, which I always exceed. I can't always make it for the exercise count. What is just as important for me is my sleep data. I wear an AW 24 hours a day and since I usually don't sleep very good I'm interested in that data as well as my heart rate while sleeping.

I hope you feel better. Some extra movement may help and when I'm down I try to focus on good memories and what I enjoy in life. Best wishes.
 
anodibu said:
Sorry to hear that. I know you don’t feel like it but going for a walk or doing fitness really helps against depression. If going outside is too much, see if you can do some exercise inside. Hope you get better soon.

As for the topic itself, health tracking and fitness is the main use, then notifications.
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Thank you for the kind words, and response.

Wishing you well.
 
Piscestg said:
While I marked "everything", my thing of fitness tracking is making sure I close my rings for standing and movement, which I always exceed. I can't always make it for the exercise count. What is just as important for me is my sleep data. I wear an AW 24 hours a day and since I usually don't sleep very good I'm interested in that data as well as my heart rate while sleeping.

I hope you feel better. Some extra movement may help and when I'm down I try to focus on good memories and what I enjoy in life. Best wishes.
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Many thanks.

Interestingly, when I go for my walk, it's the exercise ring that I'm mostly interested in closing. I actually turned off the stand reminders, and for a little while I haven't closed my move or stand rings.

Do you find exercising difficult?

Maybe try walking, as that can be good for clearing your mind.

Wishing you a merry Christmas.
 
The Cockney Rebel said:
Many thanks.

Interestingly, when I go for my walk, it's the exercise ring that I'm mostly interested in closing. I actually turned off the stand reminders, and for a little while I haven't closed my move or stand rings.

Do you find exercising difficult?

Maybe try walking, as that can be good for clearing your mind.

Wishing you a merry Christmas.
Click to expand...
I always have 16 to 20 stand hours a day and 150% to 200% plus on my movement. That often comes as a result of our grandson. He has a medical condition so we have him some days of the week. Exercise in itself is difficult due to being busy with him. When we don't have him I'm usually busy with home stuff. My wife and I usually have things to do. While that gets me my stand time and movement, it doesn't always raise my heart rate enough to help my exercise time. But days like yesterday I closed all the rings by a lot because we took him to the mall. My knees and back barked some but I got my numbers. Ha.

I have lost weight in the last year and all my other vitals and counts are good.

Thank you and Merry Christmas to you also.
 
skottichan said:
I was obese, and using the tracking helped me lose just shy of 150lbs. I also use the timer when cooking or waiting for the 3D printers to print. My wife and I use the walkie talkie function. So yeah, I tend to use it for everything.
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Dang that's great. Good for you!
 
I've had the series 4, 6 and now the 7.

I've used the Fitness on all of them most days of the week.

I use Strava on the watch as i ride to work in London most days of the week, 14 miles there and then 14 miles back to Essex. I use the Workout app for walks and anything else.

But yeah, other then that i do use most functions of the watch, nothing much is wasted.
 
Last edited:
Just got an OG SE from Wal Mart for $150 this Black Friday. So far I’ve used it to close my rings, and that’s about it. I used to keep my phone on me at all times to count my steps (10k per day goal) but I got really sick of having my phone attached to me. I’ve really liked the simplicity of the watch, and the rings feature seems more robust than just tracking steps. I do glance at the weather and the date on my watch face, but I have almost all notifications (except calendar and Reminders) turned off on all my Apple devices.

I also hope you feel better soon and can get back to your desired activities. This is a festive season for a lot of people (my family included!) but it’s a stark reminder that a lot of people suffer during this time of year as well. Happy holidays and Merry Christmas! (If you’re an audiobook person, Apple released LaVar Burton’s reading of A Christmas Carol for free on Books recently. That might be something fun to listen to while you walk!)
 
MisterSavage said:
"Everything" for me. I would buy it for Apple Pay alone. It's crazy convenient to be able to pay for something by just double tapping a button on your wrist.
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I recently got an M2 MBA, after having no Mac for a while.

I love the feature that unlocks the computer with the watch :).
 
I got the S3 with the intention of using it to track sleep data and it went great using AutoSleep, and now with my S6 am still sleeping with the AW now for the better part of 3 years
 
I use mine for everything apart from running and cycling, where I use my Garmin. So, Fitness workouts are on the watch, for example.
 
The Cockney Rebel said:
Hello all.

I haven't been for my daily walks for a few days, as I've been quite depressed.

I'm currently looking at my watch, sitting on the side.

And it made me wonder, is it of much use if I don't use the fitness tracking features?

Posing the question to you: Do you use your Apple Watch for fitness tracking, or does that not interest you/fit into your lifestyle?

I'd be interested to see the results of the poll.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas.
Click to expand...
Good habits are hard to form and easy to abandon. Best of luck to you for getting yourself focused on closing your rings again.
A calendar of closed rings is quite the motivation.
 
Since I live in London, my primary use if for payments on busses on trains. I use it as a wallet in general but transport is the big life changing feature. I also use it for fitness tracking and for receiving messages while home when my phone is usually in my bedroom charging.

This Monday I stayed at a hotel in York with automated check in and no reception staff. (crazy) I accidentally left my phone in the room while going out for a walk at night. When I came back I needed a code from my email to enter the hotel. Luckily I was able to download that email on the watch and get the code on my wrist otherwise I would have been locked out. It is useful in some unexpected situations. I always have it on.
 
You forgot "other"
I do not use it at all for fitness tracking, but I also don't use it for "Everything else" - it is simply a watch, with timers, very custom alerts, apple pay and a flash light. I don't use about 98% of what its for :-D
 
Sorry you've been depressed. It's challenging to get out of a rut like that, but just going outside and doing a walk can start the break out of it. Get some natural vitamin D if it's sunny (or just take supplements as it there's a correlation of low vitamin D levels with depression). You can also just use the "Other" workout on the watch and do some light stretching.

I've had my 7 for 18 months and use it for just about everything: fitness, sleep tracking, and notifications. Being able to set timers by just raising my wrist and using Siri to set the timer is really nice. Helps while cooking with dirty hands or giving Covid tests to my family without having to touch my phone. Being able to adjust AirPods volume without having to touch my phone is also very handy.

Hope you have a Merry Christmas.
 
erthquake said:
Sorry you've been depressed. It's challenging to get out of a rut like that, but just going outside and doing a walk can start the break out of it. Get some natural vitamin D if it's sunny (or just take supplements as it there's a correlation of low vitamin D levels with depression). You can also just use the "Other" workout on the watch and do some light stretching.

I've had my 7 for 18 months and use it for just about everything: fitness, sleep tracking, and notifications. Being able to set timers by just raising my wrist and using Siri to set the timer is really nice. Helps while cooking with dirty hands or giving Covid tests to my family without having to touch my phone. Being able to adjust AirPods volume without having to touch my phone is also very handy.

Hope you have a Merry Christmas.
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Many thanks.

Same to you, too 👍.
 
anodibu said:
Sorry to hear that. I know you don’t feel like it but going for a walk or doing fitness really helps against depression. If going outside is too much, see if you can do some exercise inside. Hope you get better soon.

As for the topic itself, health tracking and fitness is the main use, then notifications.
Click to expand...
That's a very kind and compassionate response. We need more of that around here. Also, love your TOOL avatar.
 
You should have added a vote for using it exclusively for the fitness functions. I think some people may fall into that category.
 
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