Only me getting tired of the watch and about to sell it? Especially considering iOS 14 widgets and the 5.4" iPhone

[johannnn]

I've owned Series 0, Series 2, Series 4, and now Series 5.

I love the idea of not having to wake up the iPhone screen 100x per day, which often results in me opening up some social media app and then get stuck in the endless scrolling.

I've even toyed with the idea of getting the LTE model next time, and just going to work with the watch, as an experiment to focus on what matters in life and remove some digital clutter in my life.

However, recently, and I don't really know what initiated it, but I'm just "a bit tired" of the Apple Watch.

1. It's way too thick. And given where Apple is heading with always-on display, sleep tracker, possibly glucose tracking etc, I seriously doubt it's gonna be thinner any time soon.
2. Bezels. I love that I can have a photo of my child as wallpaper. But having a non-black wallpaper just highlights that ugly bezel which is still way too large.
3. HomePod. I love my HomePod. But if I go to the music app on my watch, it just gives me the possibility to play on my AirPods. Not my HomePod.
4. AirPods. For whatever reason, most of the time my watch can't connect to my AirPods. The AirPods never have problem with my phone, my Mac, or my iPad. And this has occurred with both 1st gen AirPods and now 2nd gen AirPods, and has occurred with several different watches (see first sentence at the top).
5. Built-in apps leaves a lot to be desired.
   1. I love having all my events on the watch screen. But what if an event gets rescheduled? Well then I have to wake my iPhone to reschedule it.
   2. What if I want to reschedule a todo? Well then I have to wake my iPhone to reschedule it.
   3. I love that I can read emails on the watch. But multiple emails simply don't load on my watch. I'm sure they're formatted in some way that the watch don't support, but hey not everyone sends their emails in plain text.
   4. Apple is pushing Notes.app hard on iOS and iPadOS, and is the app which I think has gotten the most features the last years. But there is no way for me to read my important notes on my watch.
6. 3rd party apps leaves a lot to be desired.
   1. One watch app that everyone seems to love is Things. Don't get me wrong, I love Things, and their watch app is better than most of the competition. But it's still not good in my mind.
      1. It only shows the Today view. That's like a calendar app that only shows today's tasks.
      2. The default for new tasks in the inbox. But like I just said, you can't see the inbox from the watch. So these tasks just disappear from the watch. Recently they added an option for new tasks to go to the Today view, which is good. But most of my tasks I create are not to be performed today.
      3. Things have a cool "evening" feature. Basically, you can tell a todo to be "this evening", to separate tasks that you want to do during the day, and tasks that you want to do in the evening. On iOS and macOS, a line clearly shows which tasks are "day" tasks and which are "evening" tasks. But the Watch don't have this line.
7. Watch faces should be smarter. I loved the idea of the Siri watch face when it was announced. I want the watch to show me a todo when I actually have an upcoming todo. There's not reason for me to have a todo complication if I don't have anything to do today. The same can be said about most apps. But the Siri face have gotten no love at all since it was announced. For example, it keeps suggesting timers for me. Instead of showing my upcoming event in 1h, it asks if I want to create a 45min timer. Why would I? I set 45min timers when I do laundry, but I don't do laundry every day. The watch doesn't recommend new todos, events or anything else, so why suggest timers?
8. Playing with my kid. I have a 2 year old boy that loves to jump on me, throw toys around etc. Even though I have the cheapest sport watch, I'm often afraid of the screen scratching. Most of the times I have a long sleeved shirt to protect it, even now during warm summer days.
9. I don't workout more. Apple is pushing it more and more as a health utility. I'm fortunate that I'm in my 30s and is not overweight at all. And I have a dog which forces me to take long ways everyday. And I'm in a country where sugared beverages are not as common as in US, so a glucose meter wouldn't be super useful either.
10. iOS 14. Since I can't really "do anything" with the watch (see point 4 and 5), my use case of the watch is basically to just glance at it and get an overview of content from specific apps. But iOS 14 just "sherlocked" this feature. I'm on the public beta on my phone and I love it. My home screen has a calendar widget, a reminder widget, a weather widget etc. Basically the first screen is 100% widgets. If I want to use apps, they're on the second screen.
11. iPhone 12 5.4". I find the 11 and the 11 Pro Max a bit too large to always have in my pockets. I normally leave my phone on a table, and therefore I love to still be able to get notifications etc on my wrist. But the heavily rumored 5.4" phone coming this fall sounds too good to be true. At almost the size of the SE 2020, it can easily be in my pocket all day without getting in the way.

TLDR. I have worn the watch every day for 5 years. I love that I simply use my phone less every day. I just wished it would have matured more as a platform during these 5 years. I want it to be more independent from the phone. I want to do super simply things like renaming a todo or view a note. So far, I haven't really seen any alternative to wearing the watch. But I'm seriously considering "replacing" my watch with the iPhone 12 5.4" rumored phone together with widgets in iOS 14.

Anyone else in the same boat?

 

[Janeilfen]

Nope. Not me. Best gadget available in my opinion. It has its shortcomings but then so does everything else. I’d have one just to be able to use Apple Pay. Mind you, since Covid-19 I haven’t used that at all.

 

[frankenhooker]

Not at all. It’s just part of my day to day now. I’ve really cut down on my screen time use on my phone, which is why I bought it, it’s encouraging me to go out running when there would be days I wouldn’t bother. I would go as far as to say it’s why I’ve stuck with iPhone. Arguably one of the best bits of tech I’ve bought.

 

[tomtattoo]

Regarding the widgets: For me it is quite the opposite. Installed beta14 and tried all widgets but why should I look at my iphone for weather, todo etc if I have a watch with the right complication?

 

[TiggrToo]

I'm still totally in awe of my Series 3 and am looking forward to seeing if this is the year I upgrade.

 

[ukms]

I’m not in the same boat but sounds like you’ve convinced yourself anyway. Some of your points are fair comment but others are just picky IMHO.

Enjoy the new phone.

 

[The Game 161]

Apple Watch is why i have no choice but to have an iphone no matter what. It’s the most useful product available as far as I’m concerned. Fitness wise it’s unmatched. Certainly when you are competing with other people

 

[Expos of 1969]

I've owned Series 0, Series 2, Series 4, and now Series 5.

I love the idea of not having to wake up the iPhone screen 100x per day, which often results in me opening up some social media app and then get stuck in the endless scrolling.

I've even toyed with the idea of getting the LTE model next time, and just going to work with the watch, as an experiment to focus on what matters in life and remove some digital clutter in my life.

However, recently, and I don't really know what initiated it, but I'm just "a bit tired" of the Apple Watch.

1. It's way too thick. And given where Apple is heading with always-on display, sleep tracker, possibly glucose tracking etc, I seriously doubt it's gonna be thinner any time soon.
2. Bezels. I love that I can have a photo of my child as wallpaper. But having a non-black wallpaper just highlights that ugly bezel which is still way too large.
3. HomePod. I love my HomePod. But if I go to the music app on my watch, it just gives me the possibility to play on my AirPods. Not my HomePod.
4. AirPods. For whatever reason, most of the time my watch can't connect to my AirPods. The AirPods never have problem with my phone, my Mac, or my iPad. And this has occurred with both 1st gen AirPods and now 2nd gen AirPods, and has occurred with several different watches (see first sentence at the top).
5. Built-in apps leaves a lot to be desired.
   1. I love having all my events on the watch screen. But what if an event gets rescheduled? Well then I have to wake my iPhone to reschedule it.
   2. What if I want to reschedule a todo? Well then I have to wake my iPhone to reschedule it.
   3. I love that I can read emails on the watch. But multiple emails simply don't load on my watch. I'm sure they're formatted in some way that the watch don't support, but hey not everyone sends their emails in plain text.
   4. Apple is pushing Notes.app hard on iOS and iPadOS, and is the app which I think has gotten the most features the last years. But there is no way for me to read my important notes on my watch.
6. 3rd party apps leaves a lot to be desired.
   1. One watch app that everyone seems to love is Things. Don't get me wrong, I love Things, and their watch app is better than most of the competition. But it's still not good in my mind.
      1. It only shows the Today view. That's like a calendar app that only shows today's tasks.
      2. The default for new tasks in the inbox. But like I just said, you can't see the inbox from the watch. So these tasks just disappear from the watch. Recently they added an option for new tasks to go to the Today view, which is good. But most of my tasks I create are not to be performed today.
      3. Things have a cool "evening" feature. Basically, you can tell a todo to be "this evening", to separate tasks that you want to do during the day, and tasks that you want to do in the evening. On iOS and macOS, a line clearly shows which tasks are "day" tasks and which are "evening" tasks. But the Watch don't have this line.
7. Watch faces should be smarter. I loved the idea of the Siri watch face when it was announced. I want the watch to show me a todo when I actually have an upcoming todo. There's not reason for me to have a todo complication if I don't have anything to do today. The same can be said about most apps. But the Siri face have gotten no love at all since it was announced. For example, it keeps suggesting timers for me. Instead of showing my upcoming event in 1h, it asks if I want to create a 45min timer. Why would I? I set 45min timers when I do laundry, but I don't do laundry every day. The watch doesn't recommend new todos, events or anything else, so why suggest timers?
8. Playing with my kid. I have a 2 year old boy that loves to jump on me, throw toys around etc. Even though I have the cheapest sport watch, I'm often afraid of the screen scratching. Most of the times I have a long sleeved shirt to protect it, even now during warm summer days.
9. I don't workout more. Apple is pushing it more and more as a health utility. I'm fortunate that I'm in my 30s and is not overweight at all. And I have a dog which forces me to take long ways everyday. And I'm in a country where sugared beverages are not as common as in US, so a glucose meter wouldn't be super useful either.
10. iOS 14. Since I can't really "do anything" with the watch (see point 4 and 5), my use case of the watch is basically to just glance at it and get an overview of content from specific apps. But iOS 14 just "sherlocked" this feature. I'm on the public beta on my phone and I love it. My home screen has a calendar widget, a reminder widget, a weather widget etc. Basically the first screen is 100% widgets. If I want to use apps, they're on the second screen.
11. iPhone 12 5.4". I find the 11 and the 11 Pro Max a bit too large to always have in my pockets. I normally leave my phone on a table, and therefore I love to still be able to get notifications etc on my wrist. But the heavily rumored 5.4" phone coming this fall sounds too good to be true. At almost the size of the SE 2020, it can easily be in my pocket all day without getting in the way.

TLDR. I have worn the watch every day for 5 years. I love that I simply use my phone less every day. I just wished it would have matured more as a platform during these 5 years. I want it to be more independent from the phone. I want to do super simply things like renaming a todo or view a note. So far, I haven't really seen any alternative to wearing the watch. But I'm seriously considering "replacing" my watch with the iPhone 12 5.4" rumored phone together with widgets in iOS 14.

Anyone else in the same boat?

I don't have an Apple watch as I have never liked how they looked and have little need for what they do. You make some excellent points. Point 8 really tells me it is time for you to get rid of the watch. In the summer weather (which we cherish in Sweden and Finland) you are choosing what to wear - long sleeve shirt - to protect your watch (which has a limited lifespan compared to a "normal" watch) and not based on weather and comfort. Good lord, shake your head and focus on what is really important in life. It sure isn't tech gadgets.
[automerge]1595005901[/automerge]

Apple Watch is why i have no choice but to have an iphone no matter what. It’s the most useful product available as far as I’m concerned. Fitness wise it’s unmatched. Certainly when you are competing with other people

What do you mean competing with other people? Timing a race?
[automerge]1595006152[/automerge]

Apple Watch is why i have no choice but to have an iphone no matter what. It’s the most useful product available as far as I’m concerned. Fitness wise it’s unmatched. Certainly when you are competing with other people

I was criticized here a week or two ago for saying that you need an iPhone if you have a watch. I was told no you don't. Yet you are agreeing with my statement. What is the reality?

 

[ApfelKuchen]

While I wouldn't say "it's only you," I don't think there are a lot of people with your complaints/concerns.

It's certainly not me. I tend to focus on the "what is," rather than dream about the "what may be." Everything is flawed, if you want to seek out those flaws. I prefer to focus on what my various tools currently do for me. From that perspective, I'm happy with both Watch and iPhone.

This sounds like complaints about a significant other/spouse. If you expect that person to be more than he/she actually is, or expect that person to change to meet your expectations.... it's not good for the relationship. The dissatisfaction is likely to keep growing, you may take all the good things in the relationship for granted, and you're likely to lose sight of the reasons you were attracted in the first place.

Continuing with this metaphor... You started up an affair with the Watch because your iPhone (significant other) was too big and inconvenient. Now the Watch itself seems too big and fat. Now you're thinking, if you ditch that significant other for a newer, slimmer model, you don't need to have a relationship on the side with the Watch.... Until, of course, something starts to bother you about the new iPhone.

 

[Apple_Robert]

While I could sell or give away my Apple Watches and still live a meaningful life, I am happy using the watch as it has added productivity to my life, not to mention enhanced it in some areas. I like the Apple Watch more than I do the iPhone..

 

[mnsportsgeek]

I don't workout more. Apple is pushing it more and more as a health utility. I'm fortunate that I'm in my 30s and is not overweight at all. And I have a dog which forces me to take long ways everyday. And I'm in a country where sugared beverages are not as common as in US, so a glucose meter wouldn't be super useful either.

It’s a common misconception that sugar is the cause of diabetes. It is mainly caused by genetics and an unhealthy lifestyle. The result of this is a body that can’t process sugar correctly.

 

[QCassidy352]

TLDR. I have worn the watch every day for 5 years. I love that I simply use my phone less every day. I just wished it would have matured more as a platform during these 5 years. I want it to be more independent from the phone. I want to do super simply things like renaming a todo or view a note. So far, I haven't really seen any alternative to wearing the watch. But I'm seriously considering "replacing" my watch with the iPhone 12 5.4" rumored phone together with widgets in iOS 14.

Anyone else in the same boat?

Definitely agree with the bolded part. WatchOS 7 is a huge disappointment IMO because they really should be taking AW towards independence and the world's smallest consumer computing platform, and instead they are focusing on niche health ideas and ever-more "features" that nag the user like the parent of a forgetful toddler.

That said, no, I am not considering getting rid of my AW because - despite Apple failing to move it along like I wish the would - it remains hands-down the best smartwatch for an iOS user. And yes, I will be getting the 5.4" iPhone 12, but I don't consider that in any way a replacement for a watch.

 

[artfossil]

The Watch is my favorite device since I started using Apple products in 1984. And it’s changed my life in myriad ways for the better.

 

[firedept]

My watch is very important to me. It makes my workday easier to manage. I can respond to just about anything without it interfering in my day. I can even take calls or make calls while I am working. I love it for tracking my fitness. I don't think I could get half of what I get done in a day without it.

 

[Itinj24]

Since you’ve been wearing an AW for such a long time, why not try going a few weeks without it to see how it feels before selling it? This would be the logical thing to do but it seems like you’re looking for some convincing either way.

 

[44267547]

@johannnn

If I had a list as extensive as yours with the amount of ‘gripes‘ you have with the Apple Watch, you simply should abandon it and Move on. Part of it, is maybe you’re ‘overthinking’ the Apple Watch too much to the point where you’re not appreciating the subtleties of watchOS versus just the hardware.

The future of the Apple Watch relies on the AR glasses in tandem, and it’s all about health moving forward. You can only implement so much technology into a ‘wrist computer’, but to the point where consumers have to justify the price point for what they’re spending.

 

[diba]

„But I'm seriously considering "replacing" my watch with the iPhone 12 5.4" rumored phone together with widgets in iOS 14.“

Looking forward to seeing a picture wearing an iPhone 12 on the wrist ...

 

[Kyle76]

Simply put, the Apple Watch (or any device) is not for everyone. You bought it for a reason, or likely several reasons. Are those reasons being met? If not, just let it go. No need to fret over it or try to talk yourself into something that does not add to your life. There are many people who would get very little out of the watch, just as there are many for whom it has become indispensable. You have to decide which camp you are in.

 

[370zulu]

Since you’ve been wearing an AW for such a long time, why not try going a few weeks without it to see how it feels before selling it? This would be the logical thing to do but it seems like you’re looking for some convincing either way.

Bold part here is really a great idea. I am doing this myself.

I have only a single function that I use my AW4 for and that is the heart rate monitoring. To test the idea of getting rid of my AW, I have purchased the Kardia Mobile 6L and protective case to carry with me.

If someone carries their phone everywhere and have a limited use case for an AW, then it may not be a good fit to own the AW.

 

[rillrill]

I’ve been thinking about selling my Apple Watch as well. The glance-able-ness of the watch is nice, but widgets on the iPhone isn’t as bad either. I do miss quickly getting the time. Might buy a cheap wrist watch to see if I like it more. It’s annoying to charge it every night. I can track exercise on my phone for workouts. I don’t know...I’m torn. I hope Apple has something new for the watch this year like freeing the watch from the iPhone. Maybe a watch break will make me miss it.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I’ve been thinking about selling my Apple Watch as well. The glance-able-ness of the watch is nice, but widgets on the iPhone isn’t as bad either. I do miss quickly getting the time. Might buy a cheap wrist watch to see if I like it more. It’s annoying to charge it every night. I can track exercise on my phone for workouts. I don’t know...I’m torn. I hope Apple has something new for the watch this year like freeing the watch from the iPhone. Maybe a watch break will make me miss it.

I don’t think the Apple Watch will be a standalone product for several more years. I wish that weren’t the case. Craig F has even said recently, that Apple doesn’t really have plans to offer pairing with an iPad, even though a iPad with cellular ability can be purchased and tied to a phone account or have a plan independently.

 

[rillrill]

I did see that interview. It’s too bad. I can’t see why they wouldn’t untethered the watch.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I did see that interview. It’s too bad. I can’t see why they wouldn’t untethered the watch.

It would probably take away a lot of phone sales, if that were to occur.

 

[itsmilo]

I only really use mine to check the time or weather and incoming push notifications oh and SOMETIMES to start a cycling work out. Interacting with apps is just way too cumbersome for me. Watch = information iPhone = interaction

Pretty much just use it as a watch and it helps me to check my iPhone less.

So yeah I don’t get „tired“ of it since at the end of the day, it’s a watch. 🤷🏽‍♂️

 

[jagolden]

Really, what do widgets and iPhone size have to do with wearing a watch?
Digging out that phone and unlocking it to look at info vs. flicking up your wrist to get all the basics, there’s zero logic to that.