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What do you use your Apple watch for?

SpartaMAC

SpartaMAC

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 27, 2021
52
68
NJ
I am just curious what everyone uses the Apple watch for? My first Apple watch is seethe series 5 and tomorrow my series 7 will be delivered. I thought if I listed what I use it for I can get some additional feedback and other things I am not aware of. Id like to use it to its full potential.

My uses:

Duo to approve of remote access
Under armor walking/Hiking app - keep track of the distance walked
Weather
email alerts from both work and personal. if i need to reply I use my iPhone
texting
heart monitor - I have a heart condition
voice memos - to remind myself
find devices
tips app

And naturally tell what time it is
 
Probably in this order:

Time
Date
Exercise tracking (walk, bike)
Remote for Spotify and AppleTV
Timer
Reminders
Text / email (rarely)
 
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The health monitoring and fitness tracking has been extremely important to me since a HA early in 2020. There are all manner of health tracking metrics if you dig in.

Weather
Notifications from cctv at front of house
General notifications
 
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Stalking my Activity rings throughout the day and, of course, for tracking my runs in the stock Workout app.

I glance at text notifications throughout the day.

Give Siri the occasional command to power on/off lights and Apple TV.

ApplePay anywhere it's accepted.

I also use it a lot to control playback on my podcasts from my wrist. The skip feature is very handy for when I want to skip over the ads without taking my phone out of my pocket.

Doesn't seem like a whole lot, given what all it can do. But it's basically an extension of my iPhone experience and if I ever find myself out and about without it I immediately feel its absence.
 
Last edited:
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Caliber26 said:
Mostly for stalking my fitness rings throughout the day and, of course, for tracking my runs on stock Workout app. But aside from that, it's most there so I can glance at text notifications throughout the day and give Siri the occasional command to power on/off lights and Apple TV. Oh, and Apple Pay. I certainly use it quite a bit for that.

Doesn't seem like a whole lot, given what all it can do. But it's basically an extension of my iPhone experience and if I ever find myself out and about without it I can certainly feel its absence.
Click to expand...
OMG.. TY for reminding me of Apple Pay.. I use my watch 99% of the time to pay for things. TY
 
To add to what you already listed:
  • stand alerts - I had no idea how long I was going without standing up at work.
  • reading/sending texts
  • setting reminders with Siri (do this several times a day)
  • Apple Pay
  • setting timers
  • answering phone calls
  • tracking workouts
 
  • Apple Pay. Pretty much the main reason I got my first ever Apple Watch last year was due to masks making phone payments less convenient. I suppose I have at least that to thank the pandemic for - introducing me to Apple Watch.
  • Activity, stand & workout tracking i.e. closing all 3 of my activity rings every day.
  • Answering phone calls.
  • Reading texts. I usually reply on my phone.
  • Maps for walking directions when visiting places I don’t know.
  • Quick access to Shazam to identify music in pubs, on TV etc.
Once I get round to setting some extra stuff up I also plan to use it for some basic home automation stuff such as front door lock & control of lights.
 
JulianL said:
  • Apple Pay. Pretty much the main reason I got my first ever Apple Watch last year was due to masks making phone payments less convenient. I suppose I have at least that to thank the pandemic for - introducing me to Apple Watch.
Click to expand...
Once I got my Apple Watch I completely stopped using my phone to pay for things in person. It's just so convenient to pay with the watch.
 
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I have not made a list, but a couple of things come to mind in addition to previous posts:
phone calls
message alerts that come more quickly than iP and more discreetly when in a meeting or that wake me when on a 8+ international flight
AP all the time every day
Absolutely depend on voice memos
I use the wallet with all the membership cards
I cannot fly without electronic boarding passes to get through TSA PreCheck, boarding gate, lounge, and apps like Flighty that alert me to gate changes
Keep track of time zones during international travel
Listen to music walking dog, trying to drown out loud voices in a lounge or when a flight is boarding
More immediate access to a range of apps that frees me from having my iP
calendar alerts
temperature
etc.
 
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  • Time
  • Track exercise
  • Read notifications
  • Control lights / home
  • Duo
  • Reminders
  • Ping my phone
  • Apple Pay (actually use more than on phone)
  • Change songs
  • Timers and now mult timers
  • Calculator
  • Flashlight
Other things as well and in no order.
Things I never use though…. Walkie-talkie. Forgot that was a thing
 
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Reading/sending text replies
Spotify
Hive - controlling lights in the house
Exercise/Steps
Reminders
Baby tracker (we have a newborn!)
Alarms (silent haptic)
 
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timer
stopwatch
time and date
viewing nest cameras (watch cam)
controlling thermostat (ecobeee)
controlling the lights (home)
checking calendar (fantastical)
checking package tracking (parcel)
controlling sonos speakers (lyd)
weather (carrot)
fitness tracking
loyalty cards (stocard)
apple pay
 
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Using a series 1 (yes I went cheap there)
- Controls for audio
- Heart rate monitoring for running
- general messages
- ping my phone
- normal watch stuff

Used to
- unlock macbook until i stopped using the macbook & having to input passcode is too much work
- time things but now i just use the phone
 
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Exercise tracking
audio over airpods when I don’t feel like carrying phone around
time and date
quick notification glance
Sleep Tracking
Home controls
 
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Apart from time and date (turned off auto launch audio app, because I want to see date from Grocery stores)
> Mainly ALARM, having hard time waking up to sounds, the haptic on wrist really helps.
> Unlock my iPhone with mask > really thankful of having this feature as iPhone does not have finger print
> Alerts, only to see what it is
> Sometimes Apply pay (still my mind go for iPhone with mask and passcode)
> Weather > temperature > just to check if I need any overcoat
> DND > I do go to places where I need full concentration > it's easier to turn on DND with until you leave the location option
> Track activities etc., > its my only friend, feels good when it says your name and appreciate lol
> Prayer time and alerts before 30 minutes of it's start (using separate app iPray)
> I have the watch face with seconds, very important for me sometimes for multiple things
 
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- silent notifications in social settings
- timers
- remote control for music/AirPods during workouts (pro max phone too big to carry with me)
- checking the date multiple times at work
- monitoring heart rate and vo2 max
- checking weather
- checking parcel deliveries
- workouts
- ping my phone
 
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Tracking exercise workouts (obsessed 😃)
Apple Pay (90% of my card payments)
Various notifications
Time
Calendar
ECG and heart rate
Ring security stuff
Blood Oxygen
Map directions for walking

Amazing device and would never be without it ….. that’s why I’m happy to spend money updating each version because of how useful it is to my life.
 
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This thread is pretty comprehensive of my usage. I originally got a S0 Apple Watch as a novelty because I thought it was cool. Over the past several years it has become a really important, but specialized device in my life. I’ve carefully adjusted its notifications and settings so that if it is on the watch it is important. Plus I love having an unobtrusive ambient computing devices that is always gathering data for me.

  • Sleep tracking
  • Heart Rate monitoring and ECG
  • Exercise tracking
  • Tracking my nutrition and water intake with Calory and Waterminder
  • Habit tracking with Streaks
  • Timers and alarms all throughout the day (I don’t use my iPhone for this anymore)
  • Glanceable weather info (I live in an area with wildly inconsistent weather)
Even little things like Stand reminders have been huge. I work at an office all day and didnt’ realize how little I was moving.
 
Apple Pay for me is the most important feature. As stupid as it may sound, whenever i have to use anything else to pay it feels extremely bothersome. Just taking out the wallet and a card feels so bad, when you are used to just quickly pay with the watch. The iPhone also feels a bit awkward to use for this in comparison.

Next would be Apple Fitness.

And i guess unlocking the phone with a Mask on ;)
 
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