Thoughts after a few months’ use

[TechnoMonk]

All fair, albeit (of course) subjective points from OP.

Personally, I love my AW 6. I was worried I’d ignore the health/fitness stuff after a week but ever since I got it I’ve become a lot more active and I will go for a walk/run/cycle if I haven’t closed my rings.
The gamification is great imo.
Since my partner got hers, we’re either doing stuff together or compete against one another.
And my screen time on my phone has decreased a good bit as well.

So yeah, sounds like it’s just not the thing for you, OP. Nothing wrong with that, though.

Competing with friends is lot more fun than I thought. Gamification of fitness was one of the best decisions Apple made with watch.

 

[Jackbequickly]

Sales have shown the Apple Watch to be a giant success. It is not for everyone but millions and millions love it.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I really wish Apple would just make a fitness band that had almost no screen (maybe one line for time/timers?) and amazing battery life and a form factor that would just disappear.

What I've learned, even with my Garmin, is that I might just be a band user as I prefer to collect all the data and view it all on my iPhone (the Apps).

I'd consider a Garmin band in the future if they get a bit better. Reviews on the Vivo bands aren't amazing.

I remember absolutely loving my, very primitive in hindsight now, Nike Fuel Band from over a decade ago now.

 

[Howard2k]

FitBit still make a relatively basic tracker.

 

[TechnoMonk]

I really wish Apple would just make a fitness band that had almost no screen (maybe one line for time/timers?) and amazing battery life and a form factor that would just disappear.

What I've learned, even with my Garmin, is that I might just be a band user as I prefer to collect all the data and view it all on my iPhone (the Apps).

I'd consider a Garmin band in the future if they get a bit better. Reviews on the Vivo bands aren't amazing.

I remember absolutely loving my, very primitive in hindsight now, Nike Fuel Band from over a decade ago now.

You can get a Fitbit.

 

[turbineseaplane]

You can get a Fitbit.

I don’t want a Fitbit

I want an Apple designed band

(I thought that would be obvious from my post, since I said exactly that)

 

[the future]

I don’t want a Fitbit

I want an Apple designed band

(I thought that would be obvious from my post, since I said exactly that)

And I want an Apple ultrawide retina desktop display. Alas, neither will happen.

 

[ndouglas]

Please quote one post where the poster was „personally offended“. If you post your opinion in a forum, you have to expect that some folks will (respectfully) disagree; nothing else happened here.

Fair enough, not trying to argue about that, perhaps it’s not the best word choice, but that is the impression I got from many posts, if not most… wasn’t referring to you or anyone in particular.

 

[TechnoMonk]

I don’t want a Fitbit

I want an Apple designed band

(I thought that would be obvious from my post, since I said exactly that)

I want Ferrari to make a bike to ride on the dirt trails.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I want Ferrari to make a bike to ride on the dirt trails.

That's totally the same thing
Great comparison!

/s

 

[Piscestg]

I use Auto sleep.

You got my attention. I always monitor my sleep. I’ve been using Apple’s programs for all my health data. Does the Auto Sleep app put your sleep data into the Apple Health file? I wouldn’t want to lose my previous sleep data but I would like to collect those time I take a short nap after a poor night’s sleep.

 

[mlody]

I am also finding myself to be a relatively light Apple Watch user, and probably could live without Apple Watch, but there are few use cases that I use it that keep me with it; they are:
- Apple Pay - love it, don't remember the last time I pulled my phone out to use ApplePay
- Reminders app / Shopping list - wife and I use shared shopping lists, watch is perfect for running down the list and checking items off as you put them into basket
- Basic Home controls / Siri (when walking the dogs out - hey Siri open the garage door / her Siri close the garage door)
- workout app to track bike rides (seasonal activity unfortunately)
- Basic notifications (calendar, find my, weather alerts)

I am actually pissed at Apple because the other functionality that I used a lot was approving screen time for my daughter, but Apple decided to completely f... that up and broke in iOS 15, so that does not longer work.

Outside of that I have very little use for my watch. I don't use it for sleep tracking (don't give a rats crap about sleeping), the whole game of closing rings is not for me (I guess I am getting old for that to care).

Because of my light use, I still use and enjoy my S4 SS and have no plans whatsoever to upgrade. Last year, I did the whole Apple battery replacement service, so I hope I can get 2-3 more years out of this watch before needing to replace it. This is also the year, that I am considering to not even upgrade to the next watchOS version as I don't want Apple to gimp my watch/performance, assuming that they will even support the next watchOS version on S4 to being.

 

[TechnoMonk]

You got my attention. I always monitor my sleep. I’ve been using Apple’s programs for all my health data. Does the Auto Sleep app put your sleep data into the Apple Health file? I wouldn’t want to lose my previous sleep data but I would like to collect those time I take a short nap after a poor night’s sleep.

From what I understand Auto Sleep uses the data from Apple Health. Apple already provides the data to the apps. I do see naps in the apple health.

I was T-boned by a distracted driver who ran Red and hit right at my door. I am tracking sleep closely on the advice from Neurologist to monitor sleep to identify patterns of nightmares/ PTSD symptoms at night. I wake up multiple times at night usually after bad dreams, it was much worse in Jan- March, but slowly making progress.

Here is the same snapshot from Auto Sleep.




And the Blood oxygen sensor in AW has been a life saver. I schedule my Hyperbaric Oxygen sessions for Concussion therapy based on my Blood oxygen levels. It’s amazing to see how oxygen can make your concussion symptoms better or worse.
Apple Watch isn’t a professional medical device, but it’s great to have it on wrist to analyze the trends and use it to schedule therapy sessions based on the data.

 

[Piscestg]

From what I understand Auto Sleep uses the data from Apple Health. Apple already provides the data to the apps. I do see naps in the apple health.

This is great. Thanks so much for the info, screenshots and great explanation. I will purchase the app today.

I usually don't sleep well so the watch helps me see what's going on. I get around 5 to 6.5 hours a night, sometimes I'm lucky for a little more. Sometimes I will take a nap for an hour at the most around noon, but not all the time as I know that can affect night sleep.

I'm sorry to hear about your sleep problems due to the nasty accident. Hopefully your progress with the PTSD and nightmares will continue. I've never had PTSD but when I was a kid and young adult I would sometimes have the same recurring nightmare. Luckily I outgrew it I guess, but it was a horrible experience each time. I'm sure yours is a lot worse.

That's great how the oxygen sensor helps you too with your concussion therapy. I keep track of all the health data from my watches. Even the wrist temperature seems to give me an idea if a cold or whatever is coming up. I'm a man so I don't need to know if I'm ovulating. Ha.

You're right, Apple Watch isn't a pro medical device but it sure helps us keep an eye on things that could become a problem.

Thanks again and I wish you well.

 

[TechnoMonk]

This is great. Thanks so much for the info, screenshots and great explanation. I will purchase the app today.

I usually don't sleep well so the watch helps me see what's going on. I get around 5 to 6.5 hours a night, sometimes I'm lucky for a little more. Sometimes I will take a nap for an hour at the most around noon, but not all the time as I know that can affect night sleep.

I'm sorry to hear about your sleep problems due to the nasty accident. Hopefully your progress with the PTSD and nightmares will continue. I've never had PTSD but when I was a kid and young adult I would sometimes have the same recurring nightmare. Luckily I outgrew it I guess, but it was a horrible experience each time. I'm sure yours is a lot worse.

That's great how the oxygen sensor helps you too with your concussion therapy. I keep track of all the health data from my watches. Even the wrist temperature seems to give me an idea if a cold or whatever is coming up. I'm a man so I don't need to know if I'm ovulating. Ha.

You're right, Apple Watch isn't a pro medical device but it sure helps us keep an eye on things that could become a problem.

Thanks again and I wish you well.

I have AW6, glad to know you like temperature in AW8. Hope you figure out with sleeps, sending good vibes. My neck shoulder and head are all wrecked, it is probably gonna take 6-12 months to recover. AW does help me in gauging my progress and trends. This is huge for me at times to remind me the progress I have made and not go full doom and gloom.
I would love to see BG monitor on AW, it will be a game changer with out prescription.

 

[Piscestg]

I have AW6, glad to know you like temperature in AW8. Hope you figure out with sleeps, sending good vibes. My neck shoulder and head are all wrecked, it is probably gonna take 6-12 months to recover. AW does help me in gauging my progress and trends. This is huge for me at times to remind me the progress I have made and not go full doom and gloom.
I would love to see BG monitor on AW, it will be a game changer with out prescription.

I have two AW8 and one AW7. My silver 8 is what I wear to bed. I do find the temp monitor interesting. It did happen to spike last night but we realized that our AC is out. So hopefully that's the reason for the spike. Life in the midwest is getting humid like usual so we'll get a repairman here tomorrow hopefully.

I bought and installed Auto Sleep yesterday. It even showed the short nap the day prior and one earlier in the week. That's really interesting because that tells me the watch had that data as I didn't even have Auto Sleep yet. That make me wonder why Apple won't have nap and daytime sleep posted.

Thanks for the sleep vibes, ha. I need all the help I can get. Sorry about your recovery time. Dang. But keep at it and like you said it's great that you can see your progress. That helps keep things positive for further improvement hopefully. You'll get there.

Luckily for me I wouldn't need a BG monitor at this point, but it would be great for those who could use it. I wonder if Apple will ever get to that point.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[TechnoMonk]

I have two AW8 and one AW7. My silver 8 is what I wear to bed. I do find the temp monitor interesting. It did happen to spike last night but we realized that our AC is out. So hopefully that's the reason for the spike. Life in the midwest is getting humid like usual so we'll get a repairman here tomorrow hopefully.

I bought and installed Auto Sleep yesterday. It even showed the short nap the day prior and one earlier in the week. That's really interesting because that tells me the watch had that data as I didn't even have Auto Sleep yet. That make me wonder why Apple won't have nap and daytime sleep posted.

Thanks for the sleep vibes, ha. I need all the help I can get. Sorry about your recovery time. Dang. But keep at it and like you said it's great that you can see your progress. That helps keep things positive for further improvement hopefully. You'll get there.

Luckily for me I wouldn't need a BG monitor at this point, but it would be great for those who could use it. I wonder if Apple will ever get to that point.

Thanks again for your help.

Apple has nap data, the first snapshot I posted was from Apple health trends. I agree though, there is no easy way to get nap data in Apple health, the screen is buried in the options. I like Auto-sleep, it’s much more intuitive than Apple health. Good luck on your sleep.