Prospective AW owner - a few questions....

[dbrewood]

Guys fistly godo to be here. I'm a long time occasional Apple user (testing software on iPhone 4S through to 6S) who has recently decided to give up on Windows Phone and Android and go full Apple.

Recent purchases include iPhone X, Air Pods, Ipad Pro (with smart keyboard), Apple TV 4K and finally a Pencil.

Historically for a wearable I've used a Microsoft Band, then migrated to a Samsung Gear S3, and lastly (and currently) a Fitbit Ionic.

The Gear S3 I loved and used it with a Galaxy Note 8 (still owned), but with Samsung reducing support for flagship devices to around 2 years I decided to go the whole hog with Apple. High prices but butter support.

So that is the background. I'm a 55 year old male, techno addict, and IT manager, looking to improve my fitness levels (hence the Ionic) and as I've gone Apple I'm considering going for a Series 4 AW when (if) it launches in September (or failing that a S3 LTE model).

My concerns / questions are:

• Battery Life - The Ionic can last days on a single charge but my working regimen is to put a the watch on charge each morning for 35 minutes (shower time) and if that gets me fully charged and through a day I'm happy. Can similar be achieved with an AW or would additional charging be needed?
• Night time - I need to wear the watch at night to see the time, due to poor eyesight bedside mode would not work for me, and I guess the plan is to put it into Theatre mode at night. Question, is that was done what battery charge loss would be experienced overnight?
• Heart Rate detection - I'm heavily tattooed (black & red) on my left arm and the S3 could never read my pulse through the ink. The Ionic has no such problems and tracks with no issues. Am I likely to experience any difficulties with the AW?
• Apple Pay - when a purchase is made via the watch do you get an electronic receipt or notification on the iPhone?
• Bar Code App - I frequent Costa Coffee in the UK (similar to Starbucks) and on the Ionic I use a Barcode application which allows me to present my Club Card QR code to claim rewards points. Is a similar app available for the AW that could be used to present the code?
• Can the AW be charged using a regular (phone) QI charger?
• If a 2FA Authenticator request is triggered by the Microsoft Authenticator App on the iPhone can the watch see the request and respond to authenticate it?
• I'm a big fan of the Audible audio book system, can the AW be used to pause / playback of the audio of an audio book?
• Similar to the above can the AW pause / play / FF / RW Amazon Music playback?
• When using the Fitbit system one gets reminders to 'move' if one has not achieved 250 steps in an hour (you can define the start & end hours), does the AW offer a similar system?
• On the Gear S3 & Ionic watch faces can be produced by third parties, I know that this is not an option on the AW, however those watches can therefore have 'health monitoring' that allow a constant display of steps walked, floors climbed, calories burned, and active time. Can any AW faces gives this sort of information, possibly using complications? If not via that method can any of that data be easily seen on the AW?

Any info would be appreciated.

 

[Knowlege Bomb]

Guys fistly godo to be here. I'm a long time occasional Apple user (testing software on iPhone 4S through to 6S) who has recently decided to give up on Windows Phone and Android and go full Apple.

Recent purchases include iPhone X, Air Pods, Ipad Pro (with smart keyboard), Apple TV 4K and finally a Pencil.

Historically for a wearable I've used a Microsoft Band, then migrated to a Samsung Gear S3, and lastly (and currently) a Fitbit Ionic.

The Gear S3 I loved and used it with a Galaxy Note 8 (still owned), but with Samsung reducing support for flagship devices to around 2 years I decided to go the whole hog with Apple. High prices but butter support.

So that is the background. I'm a 55 year old male, techno addict, and IT manager, looking to improve my fitness levels (hence the Ionic) and as I've gone Apple I'm considering going for a Series 4 AW when (if) it launches in September (or failing that a S3 LTE model).

My concerns / questions are:

• Battery Life - The Ionic can last days on a single charge but my working regimen is to put a the watch on charge each morning for 35 minutes (shower time) and if that gets me fully charged and through a day I'm happy. Can similar be achieved with an AW or would additional charging be needed?

Yes. When I was using sleep tracking on my watch, I would charge it while in the shower in the morning and I never saw it below 50% even after doing workouts most days.

• Night time - I need to wear the watch at night to see the time, due to poor eyesight bedside mode would not work for me, and I guess the plan is to put it into Theatre mode at night. Question, is that was done what battery charge loss would be experienced overnight?

I don't recall specific percentages but it was under 10% user overnight and I always had a sleep tracking app running.

• Heart Rate detection - I'm heavily tattooed (black & red) on my left arm and the S3 could never read my pulse through the ink. The Ionic has no such problems and tracks with no issues. Am I likely to experience any difficulties with the AW?

Can't answer this as I don't know anybody with sleeves that wears one.

• Apple Pay - when a purchase is made via the watch do you get an electronic receipt or notification on the iPhone?

Yes.

• Bar Code App - I frequent Costa Coffee in the UK (similar to Starbucks) and on the Ionic I use a Barcode application which allows me to present my Club Card QR code to claim rewards points. Is a similar app available for the AW that could be used to present the code?

Can't speak for Costa but I know the Starbucks app works great on the watch.

• Can the AW be charged using a regular (phone) QI charger?

Negative.

• If a 2FA Authenticator request is triggered by the Microsoft Authenticator App on the iPhone can the watch see the request and respond to authenticate it?

Can't answer this.

• I'm a big fan of the Audible audio book system, can the AW be used to pause / playback of the audio of an audio book?

Yes.

• Similar to the above can the AW pause / play / FF / RW Amazon Music playback?

Can't say for sure but I would assume so. Works fine on my Audible as well as Pandora and Music.

• When using the Fitbit system one gets reminders to 'move' if one has not achieved 250 steps in an hour (you can define the start & end hours), does the AW offer a similar system?

The Apple Watch will remind you at 10 minutes to the hour if you haven't received a stand credit for that hour. Not sure what the threshold for achieving that is though.

• On the Gear S3 & Ionic watch faces can be produced by third parties, I know that this is not an option on the AW, however those watches can therefore have 'health monitoring' that allow a constant display of steps walked, floors climbed, calories burned, and active time. Can any AW faces gives this sort of information, possibly using complications? If not via that method can any of that data be easily seen on the AW?

I've seen complications that display steps throughout the day but if I remember correctly the reason I stopped using it was because the app has to be opened to update the complication. This has probably changed as it's been a couple of years since I tried one. Honestly though, I stopped worrying about step count once I got addicted to closing the rings instead.

Any info would be appreciated.

Answers in bold above.

 

[Shirasaki]

Answers in bold above.

Apple Watch awards stand credit if the user moves around a minute in an hour. Or, if you move around for a minute, you will get one hour stand credit.

 

[matrix07]

Guys fistly godo to be here. I'm a long time occasional Apple user (testing software on iPhone 4S through to 6S) who has recently decided to give up on Windows Phone and Android and go full Apple.

Recent purchases include iPhone X, Air Pods, Ipad Pro (with smart keyboard), Apple TV 4K and finally a Pencil.

Historically for a wearable I've used a Microsoft Band, then migrated to a Samsung Gear S3, and lastly (and currently) a Fitbit Ionic.

The Gear S3 I loved and used it with a Galaxy Note 8 (still owned), but with Samsung reducing support for flagship devices to around 2 years I decided to go the whole hog with Apple. High prices but butter support.

So that is the background. I'm a 55 year old male, techno addict, and IT manager, looking to improve my fitness levels (hence the Ionic) and as I've gone Apple I'm considering going for a Series 4 AW when (if) it launches in September (or failing that a S3 LTE model).

My concerns / questions are:

• Battery Life - The Ionic can last days on a single charge but my working regimen is to put a the watch on charge each morning for 35 minutes (shower time) and if that gets me fully charged and through a day I'm happy. Can similar be achieved with an AW or would additional charging be needed?
• Night time - I need to wear the watch at night to see the time, due to poor eyesight bedside mode would not work for me, and I guess the plan is to put it into Theatre mode at night. Question, is that was done what battery charge loss would be experienced overnight?

Mine was like 5% loss overnight while using Theater Mode & sleep tracking app.

• Heart Rate detection - I'm heavily tattooed (black & red) on my left arm and the S3 could never read my pulse through the ink. The Ionic has no such problems and tracks with no issues. Am I likely to experience any difficulties with the AW?

You have to wear it on your right. Many people wearing it that way. There's a setting specifically for that.

• Apple Pay - when a purchase is made via the watch do you get an electronic receipt or notification on the iPhone?
• Bar Code App - I frequent Costa Coffee in the UK (similar to Starbucks) and on the Ionic I use a Barcode application which allows me to present my Club Card QR code to claim rewards points. Is a similar app available for the AW that could be used to present the code?

Check with them if their app compatible with Apple Wallet. If it is, you're good to go.

• Can the AW be charged using a regular (phone) QI charger?
• If a 2FA Authenticator request is triggered by the Microsoft Authenticator App on the iPhone can the watch see the request and respond to authenticate it?
• I'm a big fan of the Audible audio book system, can the AW be used to pause / playback of the audio of an audio book?

Yes.

• Similar to the above can the AW pause / play / FF / RW Amazon Music playback?

Yes, Now Playing works when you're playing audio from any app.

• When using the Fitbit system one gets reminders to 'move' if one has not achieved 250 steps in an hour (you can define the start & end hours), does the AW offer a similar system?
• On the Gear S3 & Ionic watch faces can be produced by third parties, I know that this is not an option on the AW, however those watches can therefore have 'health monitoring' that allow a constant display of steps walked, floors climbed, calories burned, and active time. Can any AW faces gives this sort of information, possibly using complications? If not via that method can any of that data be easily seen on the AW?

Any info would be appreciated.

Answer in bold above.

That's quite a few questions. :O
People from other systems will try to find a way to fit the new system into their old habit at first, but when you embrace the new system that's when it shines. For example, in the future you might ditch Amazon music for Apple Music & it will be great .. especially when you're having LTE watch.

 

[dbrewood]

Thanks for the responses guys to feed back further, replies in red (if I've got to grips with the editor)

Knowlege Bomb

• Battery Life - The Ionic can last days on a single charge but my working regimen is to put a the watch on charge each morning for 35 minutes (shower time) and if that gets me fully charged and through a day I'm happy. Can similar be achieved with an AW or would additional charging be needed?

Yes. When I was using sleep tracking on my watch, I would charge it while in the shower in the morning and I never saw it below 50% even after doing workouts most days.

So from what you are advising here it may be possible to fully charge the watch next morning whilst I'm in the shower (35 mins) if the prior day ends up with a charge or around 50%? That is viable I guess.

Knowlege Bomb

• Night time - I need to wear the watch at night to see the time, due to poor eyesight bedside mode would not work for me, and I guess the plan is to put it into Theatre mode at night. Question, is that was done what battery charge loss would be experienced overnight?

I don't recall specific percentages but it was under 10% user overnight and I always had a sleep tracking app running.

Again that would work for me. As a matter of interest which sleep tracking app did / do you use?

Knowlege Bomb

• Apple Pay - when a purchase is made via the watch do you get an electronic receipt or notification on the iPhone?

Yes.

My thanks.

Knowlege Bomb

• Bar Code App - I frequent Costa Coffee in the UK (similar to Starbucks) and on the Ionic I use a Barcode application which allows me to present my Club Card QR code to claim rewards points. Is a similar app available for the AW that could be used to present the code?

Can't speak for Costa but I know the Starbucks app works great on the watch.

The problem is that Costa do not have an AW app at all (hmm saying that they might, is there a way to view what AW apps are available with out owning the watch?). Then again they don't on the Ionic but I solve that issue by using a third party Barcode app and input the code used to generate the QR code, hence the original query

Knowlege Bomb

• Can the AW be charged using a regular (phone) QI charger?

Negative.

Darn, Apples sandboxing strikes again!

Knowlege Bomb

• I'm a big fan of the Audible audio book system, can the AW be used to pause / playback of the audio of an audio book?

Yes.

• Similar to the above can the AW pause / play / FF / RW Amazon Music playback?

Can't say for sure but I would assume so. Works fine on my Audible as well as Pandora and Music.

Thanks muchly, sounds like it will be viable then

Knowlege Bomb

• When using the Fitbit system one gets reminders to 'move' if one has not achieved 250 steps in an hour (you can define the start & end hours), does the AW offer a similar system?

The Apple Watch will remind you at 10 minutes to the hour if you haven't received a stand credit for that hour. Not sure what the threshold for achieving that is though.

• On the Gear S3 & Ionic watch faces can be produced by third parties, I know that this is not an option on the AW, however those watches can therefore have 'health monitoring' that allow a constant display of steps walked, floors climbed, calories burned, and active time. Can any AW faces gives this sort of information, possibly using complications? If not via that method can any of that data be easily seen on the AW?

I've seen complications that display steps throughout the day but if I remember correctly the reason I stopped using it was because the app has to be opened to update the complication. This has probably changed as it's been a couple of years since I tried one. Honestly though, I stopped worrying about step count once I got addicted to closing the rings instead.

Good to know the 10 minute to the hour reminder is there, that is very familiar. Right so a fair learning curve to take on then, I guess if you transitioned over then it must work well enough. I presume you can go into the exercise app itself and see the particulars though?

Shirasaki

Apple Watch awards stand credit if the user moves around a minute in an hour. Or, if you move around for a minute, you will get one hour stand credit.

Okay different to the Ionic where you have to move 250 steps in an hours, but workable.

matrix07

Mine was like 5% loss overnight while using Theater Mode & sleep tracking app.

Again that sounds good, any recommendation for the sleep tracking app?

matrix07

You have to wear it on your right. Many people wearing it that way. There's a setting specifically for that.

Alas that's no solution as it'd drive me nuts changing arms, and the right arm is covered with tattoos too Can the watch be set to only use the PIN to unlock Apple Pay and the rest of the time it stays unlocked? I had tgo do that with the Gears S3.

Thanks for confirming the answers on the other questions

So it looks like my only real issue may be the tattoos.

 

[matrix07]

any recommendation for the sleep tracking app?

AutoSleep.

 

[dbrewood]

AutoSleep.

Thanks muchly for that!

 

[parseckadet]

A couple minor points:

The problem is that Costa do not have an AW app at all (hmm saying that they might, is there a way to view what AW apps are available with out owning the watch?). Then again they don't on the Ionic but I solve that issue by using a third party Barcode app and input the code used to generate the QR code, hence the original query

If you look at an app in the App Store on the iPhone, below the screen shots you'll may see an icon of the watch and the text "Offers Apple Watch App", and a down arrow on the right. Pressing the down arrow will allow you to see screen shots of the Apple Watch app.

Another idea would be to just take a screen shot of the code with your iPhone, and then pull up the screen shot on your watch when you need it. Not ideal, but it could work.

Good to know the 10 minute to the hour reminder is there, that is very familiar. Right so a fair learning curve to take on then, I guess if you transitioned over then it must work well enough. I presume you can go into the exercise app itself and see the particulars though?

There's actually more than the stand reminders. Apple Watch offers a feature called coaching where it will periodically prompt you on how you're doing compared to your average day. So if you're being extra sedentary that day, it will eventually say something along the lines of "You've usually made more progress toward completing your move ring by now." Which brings up another point, while the Apple Watch does measure steps it focuses more on calories, and your daily move goal will be a certain number of calories, not steps. To me this makes more sense, since there are numerous activities that don't involve walking but which do burn calories. As for viewing your progress, the Activity complication can be added to just about every watch face, and there's even an Activity face you can use where your three rings are always displayed.

Alas that's no solution as it'd drive me nuts changing arms, and the right arm is covered with tattoos too Can the watch be set to only use the PIN to unlock Apple Pay and the rest of the time it stays unlocked? I had tgo do that with the Gears S3.

On this note, your tattoos will not interfere with the watch's ability to detect whether it is being worn or not, which is what Apple Pay requires. So that will function just as if you didn't have tattoos at all. But they could affect the accuracy of the watch's ability to measure your heart rate, which would impact its calculation of calories burned and exercise minutes (two of the three activity rings).

 

[dbrewood]

Okay to update on the situation. I ended up getting a nearly new Series 3 AW yesterday and the situation is as follows:

• Costa Coffee app - no dedicated AW support but the app does support adding their club card QR code into the Wallet app so I can get at that from there problem solved.
• Coaching - right that sounds useful I'll look to see if I can work out how to get that turned on. I've added the Activity complication and that is working well.
• Tattoo situation - I've activated Apple Pay on the watch so it will 'lock' if it detects a disconnect from the wrist. I've had to move the watch up my arm by about 5mm compared to where I'd usually wear it. If I place it in my favorite position the sensors sit right on top of a heavy black/red part of the tattoo and it does not sense my wrist is there at all so thinks it is not being worn. So the watch detecting that it is being worn is definitely using the heart sensors. So I'll see how it goes.