Handwashing feature

[henry72]

Who is finding this feature useful? It’s more useful than I expected, especially during this time. I find myself wanting to complete the 20 second just like closing my rings everyday.

Love seeing the thumbs up 👍

 

[Madonepro]

Instead of focusing on the 20 secs, focus instead on the actual act of washing your hands.

 

[Itinj24]

I don’t get a ding or vibration when the 20 second cycle is complete so I find myself looking at the watch every few seconds while washing to see how much time is left.

 

[itsmilo]

I disabled it because often it wouldn't get my hand washing up until like 10+ seconds so 30 seconds can become a minute and it also kept activating when I was riding my bike on a bumpy road which would probably take a hit on my battery. Same with cleaning dishes actually.

 

[henry72]

Instead of focusing on the 20 secs, focus instead on the actual act of washing your hands. If you follow the steps in the picture, you'll pass the 20 secs, and more importantly you'll have washed your hands in a way that surgeons do just before performing surgery.
View attachment 963770

Good advice thanks

 

[henry72]

I disabled it because often it wouldn't get my hand washing up until like 10+ seconds so 30 seconds can become a minute and it also kept activating when I was riding my bike on a bumpy road which would probably take a hit on my battery. Same with cleaning dishes actually.

Haha yea. I was washing my face and it activated...

 

[twinlight]

I tried it for a few days but turned it off as it got activated all the time at work and also every time I do the dishes or something like that. Getting it to tell me to wash my hands five times a day? No problem.. five times every hour.. naah.

 

[matrix07]

I like it. I don’t mind it comes up 7-9 seconds into the whole thing. Most of the time I didn’t think about it but then can finish it anyway. Very useful for someone like me who’s always done very quick.

 

[henry72]

Interesting how some people can activate it while doing dishes. Do you wear your watch on your left or right hand?

 

[JulianL]

I like it and I'm amazed at how accurate it is in terms of detecting when I'm washing my hands but not giving false positives. The only false positives I've had have been a couple of times when I've rinsed off and cleaned a teaspoon under the tap in my kitchen and in fairness that was exactly like hand washing as I held the teaspoon in my right hand and rubbed it with a dish cloth held in my left hand.

My only issue with it is that I do follow the procedure Madonepro posted so I stop moving my wrists briefly after step 7 to turn the tap on. I'm usually at about 17 or 18 seconds by then but the handwashing feature sometimes thinks that because I've stopped moving my wrists I've stopped that hand washing cycle so it reports my times as too low. This means that now I keep doing more of steps 2 through 7 to run down the 20 second timer and only then do I move on to step 8.

The bit of the Handwashing time that I probably like most in this Covid-19 age is the reminder to wash my hands when I get home after having gone out. That feature is really reliable too although I'd quite like an option for that alert to be more aggressive, taking over the screen and refusing to go away and pinging and vibrating every 30 seconds or so until dismissed or it detects a hand wash. Obviously a key phrase there is "an option for" since I realise many might prefer it to be more discrete as it is now but personally I would have that option enabled if it was available.

 

[JulianL]

I disabled it because often it wouldn't get my hand washing up until like 10+ seconds so 30 seconds can become a minute and it also kept activating when I was riding my bike on a bumpy road which would probably take a hit on my battery. Same with cleaning dishes actually.

I'm pretty sure the behaviour is different for me. Like you it sometimes takes a while to decide that I am washing my hands, 10+ seconds not being unusual, but for me it seems to "backdate" the time to when it first detected that I might be washing my hands so if I hear the ping 10 seconds after starting to wash my hands and glance down at the timer on the screen it doesn't show 20 seconds to go, it shows the countdown already at 10 or 12 or whatever, even as low as 6 sometimes if it's taken it 14 seconds to make up its mind about whether I really am washing my hands or not.

 

[Otflyer]

I don’t use it as it activates while brushing my teeth.

 

[Knowlege Bomb]

I don’t use it as it activates while brushing my teeth.

I think this wouldn't be an issue for most people as watches are generally worn on the weak hand (and/or people brush with their strong hand).

 

[artfossil]

I really wanted to like the hand washing feature but (1) it hardly ever activates for me and (2) when it does activate, it stops counting when I am properly washing my hands and (3) it stops counting when I turn off the water and I refuse to waste water by keeping the water running while washing my hands.

So I just continue counting in 5 second intervals X 4.

 

[Knowlege Bomb]

I turned it on this morning after seeing this thread and am actually pretty impressed. The one washing session I've had it kicked in about three seconds after I started washing. I watched the timer and when I saw it had reached about three seconds left I started rinsing at which point the timer paused until I went back to the scrubbing motion.

Neat.

 

[Darth.Titan]

I’ve never had the hand washing feature activate. I forgot it was part of the update to be honest. Just washed my hands for 60 seconds and nothing. 🤷‍♂️

 

[michsu]

You need to activate the feature. It’s not on by default.

 

[Runs For Fun]

Yep. It has definitely forced me to wash my hands longer.

 

[cdcastillo]

I found the counting down satisfactory, however I don't really need it because I usually wash my hands longer than 20 seconds (following the recommendations posted by Madonepro).

What I think might be useful to lots of people, however, is the "getting home reminder" to wash your hands. It usually kicks in while I'm still in the car, organizing the arriving home part of my routine.

 

[iMacDragon]

Only once or twice has it actually activated when washing hands for me.. usually it's a mistrigger when doing dishes or something.. so not very useful to me.

 

[Apple_Robert]

It has worked pretty well for me, even though there can be a slight delay at times.

 

[Aspasia]

Interesting how some people can activate it while doing dishes. Do you wear your watch on your left or right hand?

It always activates when I'm washing dishes, pots, pans, cleaning the sink, etc. My watch is on my left hand. My dominant hand is right.

And sometimes when I'm actually washing my hands, it doesn't notice.

 

[ericg301]

I don’t use it as it activates while brushing my teeth.

they should add a 2 minute tooth brushing timer too.

 

[Apple_Robert]

they should add a 2 minute tooth brushing timer too.

I agree. It would be a nice addition to the health focus.

 

[Darthbajan]

It works okay for me but I turned it off. Just make sure you’re not running the water for the full 20 seconds either. That’s super wasteful.