Questions About New Apple Watch

[pooleman]

So yesterday after 5 weeks of moaning, whining, and lamenting my 42mm Space Gray Sport arrived. I have to say I really love the Watch. I was worried that I would be disappointed simply due to the amount of hype. I have to say I really don't care about notifications and such on the Watch. My iPhone is never outside arms reach and every notification I get goes to the phone, iPad and Mac Mini so having it ding on the Watch isn't needed. I will not be using the Watch for phone calls or Siri, etc. I primarily want to use the Watch as a watch (go figure) and a fitness tracker.

I need advise on the best way to set up my Apple Watch to accurately track fitness and movement with as little impact on battery as possible. I will be taking my phone with me on pretty much every run (to be honest I just jog, and not well, I'm basically a fat ass). I currently have all notifications turned off but I will turn them on during jogs so that the iPhone can stay in the pocket or flip belt. I use Runtastic to chart my time and distance and am happy that the Watch has a companion Runtastic App that will show me me distance and time at a quick glance.

So what is the best way to set up the Watch and phone? What is the best way to integrate Runtastic with the native Apple Health App on the iPhone 6 Plus?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

 

[sgw086]

So yesterday after 5 weeks of moaning, whining, and lamenting my 42mm Space Gray Sport arrived. I have to say I really love the Watch. I was worried that I would be disappointed simply due to the amount of hype. I have to say I really don't care about notifications and such on the Watch. My iPhone is never outside arms reach and every notification I get goes to the phone, iPad and Mac Mini so having it ding on the Watch isn't needed. I will not be using the Watch for phone calls or Siri, etc. I primarily want to use the Watch as a watch (go figure) and a fitness tracker.

I need advise on the best way to set up my Apple Watch to accurately track fitness and movement with as little impact on battery as possible. I will be taking my phone with me on pretty much every run (to be honest I just jog, and not well, I'm basically a fat ass). I currently have all notifications turned off but I will turn them on during jogs so that the iPhone can stay in the pocket or flip belt. I use Runtastic to chart my time and distance and am happy that the Watch has a companion Runtastic App that will show me me distance and time at a quick glance.

So what is the best way to set up the Watch and phone? What is the best way to integrate Runtastic with the native Apple Health App on the iPhone 6 Plus?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Best way to maximize battery life while using fitness features in my opinion is to invest in a Bluetooth heart rate monitor. During dedicated workout the apple watch will default to this instead of running the watches built in heart rate monitor the whole time. After an hour and 10 minutes or so workout I only have about a 12% battery drain. Throughout the rest of the day receiving notifications using Siri to dictate texts etc I still have between 30-50% battery by the time it goes on the charger. I wake up at 430am and take it off around 830-9 pm.
I don't use third party apps for fitness but it is my understanding that they don't have access to apples heart rate monitor. This may work with a Bluetooth monitor but apples activity app may not be able to pull in the data from your workout to count towards your move and activity goals.

 

[pooleman]

Best way to maximize battery life while using fitness features in my opinion is to invest in a Bluetooth heart rate monitor. During dedicated workout the apple watch will default to this instead of running the watches built in heart rate monitor the whole time. After an hour and 10 minutes or so workout I only have about a 12% battery drain. Throughout the rest of the day receiving notifications using Siri to dictate texts etc I still have between 30-50% battery by the time it goes on the charger. I wake up at 430am and take it off around 830-9 pm.
I don't use third party apps for fitness but it is my understanding that they don't have access to apples heart rate monitor. This may work with a Bluetooth monitor but apples activity app may not be able to pull in the data from your workout to count towards your move and activity goals.

Do the heart rate monitors connect to the iPhone for the Apple Watch?

 

[sgw086]

Do the heart rate monitors connect to the iPhone for the Apple Watch?

No you connect it via Bluetooth to your apple watch

 

[mikepepe86]

Best way to maximize battery life while using fitness features in my opinion is to invest in a Bluetooth heart rate monitor. During dedicated workout the apple watch will default to this instead of running the watches built in heart rate monitor the whole time. After an hour and 10 minutes or so workout I only have about a 12% battery drain. Throughout the rest of the day receiving notifications using Siri to dictate texts etc I still have between 30-50% battery by the time it goes on the charger. I wake up at 430am and take it off around 830-9 pm.
I don't use third party apps for fitness but it is my understanding that they don't have access to apples heart rate monitor. This may work with a Bluetooth monitor but apples activity app may not be able to pull in the data from your workout to count towards your move and activity goals.

Did it take a few days for your battery to level out??? I'm having real battery drain throughout the day. It's dying on me before my day is done. What's your standby/usage time if you don't mind me asking? If I don't workout but like the fitness info regarding calories, steps, etc should I turn off the activity monitoring in the AW App?

 

[sgw086]

Did it take a few days for your battery to level out??? I'm having real battery drain throughout the day. It's dying on me before my day is done. What's your standby/usage time if you don't mind me asking? If I don't workout but like the fitness info regarding calories, steps, etc should I turn off the activity monitoring in the AW App?

The battery will last longer after you figure it out and the new factor wears off. Battery drain initially is probably from messing and playing with it.

 

[Ben_Dover]

So yesterday after 5 weeks of moaning, whining, and lamenting my 42mm Space Gray Sport arrived. I have to say I really love the Watch. I was worried that I would be disappointed simply due to the amount of hype. I have to say I really don't care about notifications and such on the Watch. My iPhone is never outside arms reach and every notification I get goes to the phone, iPad and Mac Mini so having it ding on the Watch isn't needed. I will not be using the Watch for phone calls or Siri, etc. I primarily want to use the Watch as a watch (go figure) and a fitness tracker.

I need advise on the best way to set up my Apple Watch to accurately track fitness and movement with as little impact on battery as possible. I will be taking my phone with me on pretty much every run (to be honest I just jog, and not well, I'm basically a fat ass). I currently have all notifications turned off but I will turn them on during jogs so that the iPhone can stay in the pocket or flip belt. I use Runtastic to chart my time and distance and am happy that the Watch has a companion Runtastic App that will show me me distance and time at a quick glance.

So what is the best way to set up the Watch and phone? What is the best way to integrate Runtastic with the native Apple Health App on the iPhone 6 Plus?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

First of all, congratulations! You finally have it! (I see you all the time here)

The first few days will seem that your battery is running low on battery fast. That's from your excitement from playing with it, tweaking here and there, demo your watch etc.

I advise you to use the watch as it is intended. In my experience, I like notifications but to only very select apps. I have my necessities on my glances like weather calendar activity Etc. and so far I only had used the activity plus the workout app that came with it. I'm not a serious runner. I only run 4-6 miles daily as a stress reliever. The workout would tell you your hr distance pace calories and that's it I think. I don't need much detail. I don't care for gps. Accurate or not still I have an idea what went down.

At the end of the day, with screen bright to max, hey Siri and hr enabled, strongest taptic not prominent, mute, using music I still end up with 30-40% battery enough to use at night to monitor my sleep and wake me up.

 

[Mumbles01]

Just finished my first work out with the watch on. Roughly 2 hours and it drained about 12% with checking my heart rate about 7 times through out the duration.
Which at first I thought was pretty decent. Until I realized that I forgot to set up my excersize routine on the watch. I'm guessing with that on it will burn a bit more battery.
Side note. Idk exactly what the issue is but when checking my heart rate during workout it went as high as 150 & as low as 54. Which I thought was wayyyy off.
Time will tell I guess.

 

[pooleman]

First of all, congratulations! You finally have it! (I see you all the time here)

The first few days will seem that your battery is running low on battery fast. That's from your excitement from playing with it, tweaking here and there, demo your watch etc.

I advise you to use the watch as it is intended. In my experience, I like notifications but to only very select apps. I have my necessities on my glances like weather calendar activity Etc. and so far I only had used the activity plus the workout app that came with it. I'm not a serious runner. I only run 4-6 miles daily as a stress reliever. The workout would tell you your hr distance pace calories and that's it I think. I don't need much detail. I don't care for gps. Accurate or not still I have an idea what went down.

At the end of the day, with screen bright to max, hey Siri and hr enabled, strongest taptic not prominent, mute, using music I still end up with 30-40% battery enough to use at night to monitor my sleep and wake me up.

Thanks for the input. I don't think the health app is set up correctly. When I look at recorded steps for the day it shows data from both the iPhone and the apple watch. So I am probably getting double counted for some of those steps.

As far as battery I am currently at 24 hours since being on the charger and have 17% battery left.

 

[Ben_Dover]

View attachment 558239



Thanks for the input. I don't think the health app is set up correctly. When I look at recorded steps for the day it shows data from both the iPhone and the apple watch. So I am probably getting double counted for some of those steps.

As far as battery I am currently at 24 hours since being on the charger and have 17% battery left.

Hmmm... Didn't think of that.

Oh well I don't really bring my phone now when I run.

I just want to complete my circles. Lol.
If it's giving me inaccurate result then that's good for me. I'm working harder haha. I went out cycling the other day for 3kms and I only burned 150 calories apparently. I needed 650 more to burn so I ran, did stepper, walked with my dog oh boy..

 

[pooleman]

Hmmm... Didn't think of that.

Oh well I don't really bring my phone now when I run.

I just want to complete my circles. Lol.
If it's giving me inaccurate result then that's good for me. I'm working harder haha. I went out cycling the other day for 3kms and I only burned 150 calories apparently. I needed 650 more to burn so I ran, did stepper, walked with my dog oh boy..

Ha. The Watch isn't inaccurate, it knows I have 20 lbs to loose so it's intentionally lying to me so that I'll work harder. Those nerds at Apple are truly genius.

 

[pooleman]

I just received an email from Apple saying that my Apple Watch will arrive soon ( I received it two days ago). In the email they invite me to schedule a time for an online personal setup where I will FaceTime with an Apple employee to help me set up my Watch. Never seen anything like this before....

Dear David ******,

Your Apple Watch will be in your hands shortly. Once it is, we can help you get started right in the comfort of your own home with online Personal Setup. It’s a video session* where we show you how to set up Apple Watch with your iPhone, walk you through some key features, and answer your questions. We’ll also point out some great apps, and help you personalize your device.

To take full advantage of your session, you'll need your Apple Watch, iPhone 5 or later, a high-speed Internet connection, and computer or iPad* to view a live video. iPhone requires iOS 8.2 or later.

Schedule online Personal Setup
Of course, you can always visit an Apple Store and request a Personal Setup session with a Specialist.

Thank you for choosing Apple.

 

[Ben_Dover]

I just received an email from Apple saying that my Apple Watch will arrive soon ( I received it two days ago). In the email they invite me to schedule a time for an online personal setup where I will FaceTime with an Apple employee to help me set up my Watch. Never seen anything like this before....

Dear David ******,

Your Apple Watch will be in your hands shortly. Once it is, we can help you get started right in the comfort of your own home with online Personal Setup. It’s a video session* where we show you how to set up Apple Watch with your iPhone, walk you through some key features, and answer your questions. We’ll also point out some great apps, and help you personalize your device.

To take full advantage of your session, you'll need your Apple Watch, iPhone 5 or later, a high-speed Internet connection, and computer or iPad* to view a live video. iPhone requires iOS 8.2 or later.

Schedule online Personal Setup
Of course, you can always visit an Apple Store and request a Personal Setup session with a Specialist.

Thank you for choosing Apple.

I tried it for giggles. Try it.

 

[pooleman]

I tried it for giggles. Try it.

What was yours like?