Hi, I’m thinking of getting a Watch 3 as a communication and monitoring device for a elderly relative, who lives a few miles away, with WiFi, who has limited walking, my question is how long would the battery last with minimal use, like one app running and 5 minutes cell use per day ?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Watch 3 Advice pls
- Thread starter davidjames1701
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I have a Watch 3. I am not sure it is the best communication device for an elderly person unless they are very familiar with tech. But as to how long the watch will last - I would recommend wearing it all day and night then charge it each morning. It will still have approx. 50%-70% charge but it is better than going two full days and chancing it dying.
Lisa
Lisa
Thanks for your advice guys, considering, my idea may turn out to be impracticable, as among other things, the watch would have to auto answer a call, can this be done ?
Not as far as I know; you have to touch the relevant icon appearing on your screen to answer a phone call, just like with any mobile phone.
Unless Siri can be invoked to answer phonecalls, I dunno. I've never tried that.
Nope - Siri does not answer calls - or at least I can't get her to do it. I even asked nicely. 
Oh, and I do have a calling plan for my Watch 3.
Lisa
Oh, and I do have a calling plan for my Watch 3.
Lisa
Thanks Guys, I think Siri could be a lot better than it is, it’s development seems to have been sadly neglected by Apple in my experience, i was just wondering if the watch could be just set to auto answer a call, without having to rely on Siri, it must only be a fairly simple software change, this could be a important advantage for disabled people neededing care and monitoring, for instance, after a fall, when needing to alert someone for help, or similar when they cannot make a call because of limited movement of fingers etc.
I started thinking about this after reading a story on Apple News recently about a guy wearing a Apple Watch who was diagnosed with Atriol Fibrulation, after being alerted by his watch !
I started thinking about this after reading a story on Apple News recently about a guy wearing a Apple Watch who was diagnosed with Atriol Fibrulation, after being alerted by his watch !
You can't have Siri "Answer" a call on the Apple Watch, but you CAN have Siri "Make" a call. It also has SOS capability.
If you have an "auto answer" feature, it would mean potentially answering calls that the user is unaware of, and the caller speaking to nothing. IE, user is napping, for example.
The caller could then misinterpret, thinking there is some sort of emergency for example since they're not hearing any activity on the other end... (Maybe not if there's loud snoring, lol.)
As previous poster mentioned, siri can be invoked (by voice command on newer watches or by pressing in and holding the crown on all versions) to MAKE a call, including emergency services, if the user has fallen and so on. (If there is no LTE hardware/connection this feature needs an iphone nearby-ish to work.)
Ok thanks, need to look into this deeper, this watch would be always connected to WiFi, just wondering if Siri can be set to call a certain number, if it’s activated, by say a press, and saying a certain word ?
WatchOS 5 will have improved voice commands as you may have read, so if there indeed is a WIFI connection and the paired iphone is in range, your relative would just have to raise their wrist and speak something like, "call Bill", and the watch would call Bill, if he is in the address book.
Apparently you can also give commands like, "call my daughter", if you've previously told Siri who your daughter is. I've never actually tried this though. I'm not much for speaking to my electronics; I feel stupid every time I do it...
WatchOS 5 will have improved voice commands as you may have read, so if there indeed is a WIFI connection and the paired iphone is in range, your relative would just have to raise their wrist and speak something like, "call Bill", and the watch would call Bill, if he is in the address book.
Apparently you can also give commands like, "call my daughter", if you've previously told Siri who your daughter is. I've never actually tried this though. I'm not much for speaking to my electronics; I feel stupid every time I do it...
Interesting Lenny, thanks, I’m not great at speaking to electronics to, nearly abused Siri a few times driving when she will not play the right track, think i may need to pay a visit to a Apple Store and get their help ?
You can have him/her tell Siri to “Call my son”, “Call my daughter”, “Call 911” or whatever. Like Lenny said, OS5 will be even better because it doesn’t need Hey Siri anymore.
The only thing Siri can’t do is answering the phone so your elderly relative will need to learn to tap that round bright green her/himself, which isn’t hard.