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Favorite thing having your AW?

D

Dualvansmommy

macrumors member
Original poster
So I just gifted myself new AW series 5 for this Xmas.

In anticipation of this, I’d like to know what YOU love most about your watch and can’t live without after having it?

Any related apps any of you recommend to make it more functional and useful??
 
It’s hard for me to pick one feature, it’s such a multi tool in so many ways, I don’t even really use the watch so much just for messages, but I like tracking my health, the timer/stopwatch is really useful for workouts, I like how you can control the music.

But if I had to choose my favorite feature, the band switching really makes the watch customizable to _your_ personality with the different materials/colors and band designs.
 
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First and foremost, the Workout app.

Apple Pay + Suica comes in a close second.

The Weather and Activity apps are tied for third.
 
1) Using Apple Pay to take public transport.

2) Accessing my passwords via the 1Password app on my watch.

3) At work as a teacher, having my timetable and schedule viewable on my wrist via the Siri watch face.

4) Using Siri for quick queries (such as calculating the discounted price of a product).

5) Being able to view photos and notes via the photos and bear app respectively.

6) Receiving calls.

7) Controlling music and podcast playback.

It’s a neat remote that lets me perform select tasks more easily compared to my phone.
 
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This is a basic thing that is taken for granted, but to me a killer feature is being able to see Now Playing info on my wrist about music playing on my phone without having to remove it from my pocket.
 
gigatoaster said:
So if you put 2 fingers on it, guess what happens!!!
Click to expand...
..... nothing. Maybe you need certain options on or off for whatever it is you like.

I just like the ability to have a lot of information right there. Time, date, weather, exercise rings etc and I have different faces with different complications set up for different tasks. In the gym I can have music, workouts and the rings and that's it. Out walking I can have maps, compass, weather. And then at work it can be weather, battery, reminders. It's like having multiple watches with a specific purpose and that is worth the money alone for me.
 
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The rings and general movement tracking. I’m more active now which is the whole reason I bought it, so I’m happy. Everything else is cool but really not that big of a deal for me.
 
So many and not in order or exhaustive!

  • Tapping my wrist when usingApple Maps navigation to indicate a turn
  • Timers for cooking
  • Calls
  • Audio books on walks without phone
  • Hue widgets for lights
  • Ecobee app for temp control
  • Photo remote
  • Reminders notifications
  • Find my friends (all have AW)
  • Messages (❤️ beat from wife is a wonderful feeling on a bad day)
 
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I bought the watch to primarily listen to audiobooks without my phone, but then discovered it’s impossible as you can’t sync audiobooks from your own personal library.

I also bought the AirPods Pro only to discover there’s no way to skip back or forward 15 seconds like you can on the phone and watch - it goes to the beginning or end of the book! Apple don’t seem to be taking into account that not everyone want to listen to music, some of us prefer audiobooks.
 
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pumazooma said:
..... nothing. Maybe you need certain options on or off for whatever it is you like.

I just like the ability to have a lot of information right there. Time, date, weather, exercise rings etc and I have different faces with different complications set up for different tasks. In the gym I can have music, workouts and the rings and that's it. Out walking I can have maps, compass, weather. And then at work it can be weather, battery, reminders. It's like having multiple watches with a specific purpose and that is worth the money alone for me.
Click to expand...

Keep the two fingers on it for a couple of seconds.
 
It never works when I try it (2 fingers on the watch face) but it works every time my dogs put their paws on it. Like, when I'm napping.
 
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Congrats on your purchase, hopefully you're settling in and enjoying the new watch!

I haven't worn a traditional watch since 2017 when I got my Apple Watch. I like the haptic feedback of the notifications on my wrist. There are times when my phone is on vibrate/silent and in my pocket, or on my desk and I'd never know someone was calling, texting, emailing, etc. Flight changes and Uber are also types of notifications where the haptic feedback stands out in my mind as being helpful. Alarms too. I can set my alarm from my phone and get haptic feedback on the wrist. Phone can be in another room, or you can set it from your watch.

Health in general. I've used it for sleep tracking, to help promote physical fitness, and archive that data which I can review and act on. When I'm walking or biking, I can look down at my wrist to see my progress. Of course it also tells time 😛 And on the note of Health, I've found HealthView a better alternative to Apple's Health. HealthView gives a significantly improved way of viewing the various types of health data that Apple Watch can capture.

The apps I use most off the top of my head are in no particular order:

Cyclemeter
Bose SoundTouch--control volume and presets
Carrot Weather
Breathe
Workout
SleepWatch
AutoSleep & HeartWatch
Can be used with camera apps as a remote to snap a photo
UConnect to start/stop lock/unlock my vehicle
Home to power on/off devices
Apple Pay
Stand Reminders--I work at home and work at my desk, so being mindful of standing and moving is great.
 
Wando64 said:
Oh, it speaks the time when I do it. (AW4 6.1.1)
I had no idea it did this until I read the post above.
Click to expand...
Doesn't do it for me, but I am on watchOS5, is that why?

My best feature is Siri, which is also the main reason I bought it. It is MUCH more precise than my phone, and raise to speak is just magic! Apple Pay has to be the best 'wow, didn't expect to like it that much!' feature. Otherwise, I love that I don't look at my phone all time anymore.
 
  • Just being able to glance at my wrist and determine in seconds if a text is important or can be ignored.
  • Apple Pay on the watch is ridiculously convenient.
  • I track a lot of things with Hindsight (third party app).
  • I use Siri constantly to set reminders.
 
Too many features to just pick one but the main ones are (not in order):

Apple Pay on my wrist. No need to get anything out of my bag.

Flashlight on my wrist

Ability to ping my phone when I can’t find. It

Triaging my notifications. I can see if something is important or I can ignore it.

Being able to see when I get a call and answering it even if my phone is in another room or downstairs.

Using Siri on my wrist to set reminders

Having reminders on my wrist helps me to remember to do something more than on my phone. I can set it to keep reminding me every hour until I get it done. On my phone it would just get lost in long list of notifications.


Using it to control my Apple TV’s.
 
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1. Checking off shopping lists on my watch (Reminders)
2. Checking in places I want to memorize using Swarm.
3. Set water consumption to 7 glasses a day and check it right off one by one using Siri Shortcut phrase by Streak app.
4. Listening to Podcasts or music on Apple Music while jogging.
 
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