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Some basic questions for a new owner

maflynn

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
Original poster
May 3, 2009
73,698
43,768
Well I took the plunge, and I now own a space gray apple watch sport. Overall, I'm immersed by the build quality. I find it very confusing and I've been googling all sorts of things as I try to figure out how to use it.

Here's some questions that I hope I can get answered

iMessage/txt notifications.
It seems to me that I found some mention that the notifications will only pop up on the watch (visibly showing) when the phone is locked, i.e., its asleep. Is there anyway to get that same level of activity when the phone is on?

Email notifications - I'm not always getting any email notifications, I'm not sure if I'm doing anything wrong or have different expectations.

Run keeper app (not sure if anyone is using this app)
  1. When I open it up on the watch to start a run, it only shows walk, no running option. Open up the app store for the watch and it shows running. I uninstalled the app from both the watch and phone, and reinstalled it and that seemed to fix the issue.
  2. Does it show distance and metrics when running, my first run, I'm not sure if I'll take both the apple watch (and iPhone) and my Fitbit Surge. I may just to compare but I don't want two watches and an iPhone on my arm for a 7 mile run. Knowing the distances and my pace will be helpful.

Activity app (on the iPhone) seems to record only information on the watch, does it not do anything on the phone? Seems kind of confusing, I have a health app on the phone that does about the same thing as the activity app.

Overall my very early impressions are a great build quality, confusing UI that has taken some time to get used too, but overall I'm getting a feel for it. Poor battery life, but then I knew that going into the purchase. I'll see how well it does tomorrow when I'm working.
 
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maflynn said:
iMessage/txt notifications.
It seems to me that I found some mention that the notifications will only pop up on the watch (visibly showing) when the phone is locked, i.e., its asleep. Is there anyway to get that same level of activity when the phone is on?
Click to expand...
I guess the idea is that if your phone is unlocked you are looking at it so there's no point giving you double notification. But I don't know if there's a way to change that behavior.

maflynn said:
Email notifications - I'm not always getting any email notifications, I'm not sure if I'm doing anything wrong or have different expectations.
Click to expand...
As long as your iPhone is set to notify you about them (each mail account has separate settings) they should show up on your Watch as well. Try restarting both the phone and the watch. And that's good way of solving most problems where data isn't properly being synced between the two.

maflynn said:
Activity app (on the iPhone) seems to record only information on the watch, does it not do anything on the phone? Seems kind of confusing, I have a health app on the phone that does about the same thing as the activity app.
Click to expand...
Activity app on the Watch doesn't exactly record any data. It just collects data from various sources and displays it as those pretty rings. You can use Workout app on your Watch to record your workouts.

But I agree that it is confusing to have many apps for the same thing. But the difference between Activity and Health is that Activity just shows you information about how active you are. Which is just one part your "health". The Health app shows every possible piece of information the iPhone has ever managed to collect about your health. And it does that in a "here's this Excel file containing every possible data point" kind of way while the Activity app is more prettier and limited in the content and features it has.
 
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The workout app will learn your stride (I believe it is an initial 20 training period) and can function w/o the iPhone. you can download up to 2 GiGs of music to the watch directly and with the proper bluetooth headphones it will play music w/o the iPhone.
 
I just got back from an 8 mile run. I used the runkeeper app. I'm not sure if I like that app on the watch. I know the watch comes with a workout app, I may try that out next.

Great advice on the manual - RTFM as they say :D

ZebraDude said:
The workout app will learn your stride (
Click to expand...
My stride changes depending on the type of run, I wonder how that will work. For instance my run today, my stride was generally fairly normal, but as my legs fatigued, my stride decreased
 
maflynn said:
seems to me that I found some mention that the notifications will only pop up on the watch (visibly showing) when the phone is locked, i.e., its asleep. Is there anyway to get that same level of activity when the phone is on?
Click to expand...

The only way I know of is to jailbreak your phone, and then install this tweak. As someone said, the assumption is when your phone is in use, you'll see the notifications on your phone, and don't need to get double notifications.

teidon said:
Activity app on the Watch doesn't exactly record any data. It just collects data from various sources and displays it as those pretty rings.
Click to expand...

From what I can tell, Activity App only shows data from the watch. That is, if you walk around with only your phone without wearing your watch, that doesn't move the activity rings.
 
maflynn said:
Email notifications - I'm not always getting any email notifications, I'm not sure if I'm doing anything wrong or have different expectations.
Click to expand...
If you stop getting notifications from messages or email, the easiest fix is (on your iPhone) going to Settings>Notifications>Email/Messages and toggling allow notifications "off" and "on."
Hopefully this bug will be fixed in OS2.
 
The Watch is smarter than you think. You won't get notifications/mail alerts while you're using your iPhone because that's redundant. They'll still appear in the respective apps on the Watch when you open them though.

You can use this to your advantage when messaging back and forth with someone. Rather than have your phone out staring at it waiting for the person to reply, put it to sleep and you can resume whatever you were doing as it'll come through on your Watch.
 
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Jack426 said:
If you stop getting notifications from messages or email, the easiest fix is (on your iPhone) going to Settings>Notifications>Email/Messages and toggling allow notifications "off" and "on."
Hopefully this bug will be fixed in OS2.
Click to expand...

I don't think that's the OP's issue, which is really a non-issue. They won't come through while the iPhone is in active use.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
I don't think that's the OP's issue, which is really a non-issue. They won't come through while the iPhone is in active use.
Click to expand...
Actually, if you re-read what he stated about not receiving email notifications, this is exactly the "issue." Also, you can say it's not an issue (and maybe it isn't, to you), but when my watch isn't receiving notifications (which it's supposed to do) it is an issue. By the way, I know my watch won't notify when my iPhone is unlocked or when any of my iDevice's are currently unlocked and in use. :rolleyes:
 
Jack426 said:
By the way, I know my watch won't notify when my iPhone is unlocked or when any of my iDevice's are currently unlocked and in use. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

My watch notifys me when I'm using my iPad. I'll see a notification pop up on my iPad, then the watch will buzz too.
 
Jack426 said:
Actually, if you re-read what he stated about not receiving email notifications, this is exactly the "issue." Also, you can say it's not an issue (and maybe it isn't, to you), but when my watch isn't receiving notifications (which it's supposed to do) it is an issue. By the way, I know my watch won't notify when my iPhone is unlocked or when any of my iDevice's are currently unlocked and in use. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

He said he wasn't always getting email notifications, indicating that he was wrongly expecting them when the iPhone is unlocked and in use. If he doesn't know this happens with iMessage/text notifications, he won't know any better with email notifications.

Night Spring said:
My watch notifys me when I'm using my iPad. I'll see a notification pop up on my iPad, then the watch will buzz too.
Click to expand...

I think he was talking about email, not iMessages. Two different animals.
 
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Night Spring said:
My watch notifys me when I'm using my iPad. I'll see a notification pop up on my iPad, then the watch will buzz too.
Click to expand...
That's interesting... When using my MacBook, if I have email or iMessages open, I'll only be notified on it.

My iPhone and watch were both notifying me at one point in time, but I found out that they weren't in sync anymore. I can't comment about my iPad, I haven't used it in forever. :D
 
Jack426 said:
That's interesting... When using my MacBook, if I have email or iMessages open, I'll only be notified on it.

My iPhone and watch were both notifying me at one point in time, but I found out that they weren't in sync anymore. I can't comment about my iPad, I haven't used it in forever. :D
Click to expand...

Is this what you're talking about?
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
I think he was talking about email, not iMessages. Two different animals.
Click to expand...

I don't know which "he" you are referring to, but I was responding to Jack, not the OP. Jack said If any of your iDevices is in use, then your watch doesn't get notifications. I'm saying that, Email, iMessage, third-party notifications, it doesn't matter. If my iPhone is unlocked, the notifications don't come to my watch. If, however, my iPhone is locked and my iPad is unlocked, then the notifications come to both my iPad and my watch.
 
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maflynn said:
Email notifications - I'm not always getting any email notifications, I'm not sure if I'm doing anything wrong or have different expectations.
Click to expand...
The default is for mail notifications is "Mirror my iPhone." Switch it to custom and then turn on all of your email accounts below.
 
exxxviii said:
The default is for mail notifications is "Mirror my iPhone." Switch it to custom and then turn on all of your email accounts below.
Click to expand...

I believe he was asking why he wasn't getting email notifications on his Watch while his iPhone was unlocked and in use, but that's the intended behavior and can't be changed.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
I believe he was asking why he wasn't getting email notifications on his Watch while his iPhone was unlocked and in use, but that's the intended behavior and can't be changed.
Click to expand...
He said he is not getting any email notifications; that was a separate issue from his question about iMessage notifications with the phone in. Mirror my iPhone will cause no email messages if you don't have any VIPs.
 
exxxviii said:
He said he is not getting any email notifications; that was a separate issue from his question about iMessage notifications with the phone in. Mirror my iPhone will cause no email messages if you don't have any VIPs.
Click to expand...

No, re-read the OP. He said he wasn't always getting email notifications, not that he wasn't getting any.

However, the OP should clarify exactly what he means as it's poorly worded.
 
Just curious what you're finding confusing about the UI. I was expecting it to be when I got my Watch because that seems to be the meme out there but it didn't take me long to figure it out at all. Dan Benjamin said something similar on Jim Dalrymple's latest podcast. He couldn't figure out why everyone was saying it was confusing. The only thing I don't like is when you're in an app and you click the crown twice it takes you to the center of the app constellation rather than the watch face. But apparently watchOS 2 fixes this. Other than that I haven't had any major issues with my device. Battery life has been better than expected though I haven't been using the workout app for extended periods. That seems to be the biggest battery drainer.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
No, re-read the OP. He said he wasn't always getting email notifications, not that he wasn't getting any.

However, the OP should clarify exactly what he means as it's poorly worded.
Click to expand...
Correct I'm only getting some. When I have time later, I'll reboot both the phone and watch
 
The some messages problem is likely the "Mirror my iPhone" setting. Give that a look.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
Keep in mind you should get notifications on Watch only when your iPhone is locked.
Click to expand...
That was the biggest point of confusion for me.

I think I'm all set with email notifications now. I think a reboot and reset of the connects fixed that for me. I'm not sure why but as my emails trickle in, I get notified on my watch (as long as the phone is locked).

I was working with the notifications last night, specifically the text messages and it wasn't until late at night did I stumble onto the fact that the phone had to be locked to get the notifications.

Still, for some reason the emails were not coming through, I'd get maybe 1 out of 10 notifications for some reason but all is good at this point :)
 
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