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What do you use your watch for?

bobjonesco

bobjonesco

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 7, 2017
277
1,019
Perth
So over the years, I’ve had the 1st gen, 3rd gen and recently the 5th gen. Every time I’ve sold them after a few weeks of use, because I just can’t see the appeal of them. Kudos to Apple‘s marketing team for making me excited about the new watch by the way.

It just seems to introduce an extra level of complexity to my life that I don‘t need. Pretty happy with just my iPhone XS in my pocket and AirPods Pro.
 
Work:
Notifications, Messages, Mail, Things, Weather, Siri for larger calculations, pedometer, Calendar events.

Home:
Notifications, Messages, Weather, AllLists, Timer, Intervals, Music, Homekit control

I find it immensely useful as at work communication on the go is a must and quick access to a ton of info helps me be as successful as possible. It also helps me to know whether a notification is something that requires urgent attention or is just my wife asking me to pickup something on the way home.

At home I find it nice to have. It's crucial to my marathon training though. I love running with it.
 
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When I'm out and about, I leave my phone in my pocket (where it's safe) and use my watch/AirPods to do whatever I need to do, which is 85% music, 75% fitness, and the rest is messaging/calling.

It avoids me being like everyone else I see around me--always buried in their smartphones...Nothing's that important that I can't just wait till I get home. Then my phone can be an e-reader, remote control for my home entertainment system, or email inbox.
 
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Aside from seeing a metric for exercise and messages, my new fascination is with sleep tracking. Between the Apple Watch and reading Why We Sleep, I’ve been able to change my behaviors to get more quality sleep. I can’t wait to see what Apple does for healthcare and wearables in the future.
 
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Even with AutoSleep (claiming 23% sleep credit and 9 hours plus) It still can't give me a reason why if I wake up at 1-3AM to use the bathroom, I suddenly can't sleep and feel as wide-awake as a child with a sugar high.
 
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Notifications, activity tracking (which I do that a lot more than I was expecting I would with this watch, I’m definitely more motivated to get into shape now, and I have the greatest fitness tracker to do it with!), obviously telling the time, a quick way to check the weather before a bike ride, some messaging, and short phone calls.
 
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I use the cell call service and text messaging service daily on my watch (I don't like carrying my phone). I also use my watch for exercising 5 days a week running, biking, and swimming. If I'm using the running app, and a listen to a downloaded music playlist, my watch dies around 4:10 minutes and my original airpods die around 3:40-3:50 minutes.
 
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Fitness, messages, and paying. I love that the majority of the drive-up ATMs now support NFC and I can just use my watch to get cash..
 
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  1. Tell the time without having to pull out my iPhone (I know this is obvious)
  2. Vet text messages that come in and respond to those that warrant a response right away
  3. Use the remote app to control my Apple TV 4K
  4. Check the weather forecast, grocery list via Things app (again so I don't have to take my iPhone out of my pocket
  5. Control streaming music on Spotify
  6. Check daily outlook via calendar
I used to always hate wearing watches. I would occasionally buy decent watches in the past (ie. Fossil) but they would lose their appeal over time and end up sitting in a drawer collecting dust. The Apple Watch is something that I use everyday and have yet to lose it's appeal to me. Obviously it helps that it tells more than the time.
 
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For me it gives me freedom. I run my own business. Replying late to an email would lose me more that the price of the SS model if I miss a customer and they go elsewhere. I need to be contactable 24/7 for sales and customer care. I actually spent the day at the beach the other day, first time in ages. For me, the watch needs to allow me to write emails using a keyboard such as FlickType. Cant stand scribble and some emails are private so siri no good in a public place, plus other people dont want to hear me composing an email. Hopefully watchOS7!
 
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Heart rate because I have hypertension and anxiety attacks.
I wish they can implement blood pressure in their new watches later on.
Currently have Heart Analyzer and HeartWatch as my main trackers and report generators.
Any other recommendations?
 
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likewise with the hypertension and heart rate stuff
but I had a pleasant experience. driving to a friend's house and didn't have my Gramin!!!!!!!!! aaiiieeee.
on the phone, I pressed the address and a map came up but not Apple Maps. no voice prompts!!!!! more aaiieee. then it came time for a turn and the watch buzzed, I looked at it and it showed me the turns with each buzz. I was impressed because I didn't know it did that at all. no more aaiieee. will still use Garmin as the main though. aahhh, the joys of exploration, lol.
 
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bobjonesco said:
It just seems to introduce an extra level of complexity to my life that I don‘t need. Pretty happy with just my iPhone XS in my pocket and AirPods Pro.
Click to expand...
I don't need, or want, a bulldozer, but I don't go to bulldozer forums just to tell them that. Apparently your needs and wants are different than that of people who buy the watch. Isn't it great to have a choice of what to buy?
 
Have quick access to notification and basic info. On Workdays I have it configured so I can always see my next meeting, weather, quick access to e-mail and notifications.

Going out with my dog with just my watch and Airpods Pro, leaving phone at home is a god send, as I have access to music, and can get important calls and notifications if needed.
 
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bobjonesco said:
So over the years, I’ve had the 1st gen, 3rd gen and recently the 5th gen. Every time I’ve sold them after a few weeks of use, because I just can’t see the appeal of them. Kudos to Apple‘s marketing team for making me excited about the new watch by the way.

It just seems to introduce an extra level of complexity to my life that I don‘t need. Pretty happy with just my iPhone XS in my pocket and AirPods Pro.
Click to expand...


I’m on my second AW (Gen 3 GPS). I can’t imagine not having it now. But I don‘t believe an AW is for everyone.

Since you’ve actually owned and used three different Apple Watches, and not felt the need to keep any of them, then that seems like pretty good evidence that the AW is not for you. Makes sense to me.
 
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bobjonesco said:
So over the years, I’ve had the 1st gen, 3rd gen and recently the 5th gen. Every time I’ve sold them after a few weeks of use, because I just can’t see the appeal of them. Kudos to Apple‘s marketing team for making me excited about the new watch by the way.

It just seems to introduce an extra level of complexity to my life that I don‘t need. Pretty happy with just my iPhone XS in my pocket and AirPods Pro.
Click to expand...

Honestly, I felt the way you Did in the beginning when the Apple Watch launched in April 2015. All I saw was, as an extension of your iPhone with notifications and some basic ‘health’ features. Ultimately, I even considered selling my first GEN Apple Watch, But I wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt to see if it would offer more the longer I wore it. Plus, I knew there would be more advancements for the Apple Watch, as it would be probably released on an annual basis, and I’m glad I did, because it’s amazing how much it actually transformed into something beyond what Apple didn’t envision it to be. I mean, I don’t think Apple even really knew the future of the Apple Watch, Tim Cook even mentioned that I believe in an interview ‘post April 2015 launch’.

The Apple Watch is what you want to make of it, if you can’t find use for it or you already have a negative mindset about it, then it will never benefit you no matter how much you want to keep it.
 
bobjonesco said:
So over the years, I’ve had the 1st gen, 3rd gen and recently the 5th gen. Every time I’ve sold them after a few weeks of use, because I just can’t see the appeal of them. Kudos to Apple‘s marketing team for making me excited about the new watch by the way.

It just seems to introduce an extra level of complexity to my life that I don‘t need. Pretty happy with just my iPhone XS in my pocket and AirPods Pro.
Click to expand...

Helps me not miss important calls. Let’s me know when my wife is talking to me without needing to pick up my phone. Monitors my sleep and lets me know how much sleep I’m getting every night. Monitors my activity throughout the day and encourages me to keep exercising. Helps me gauge how good of a workout I got when I go running (treadmill or outside). I can go running with my AirPods and stream music while I jog without an iPhone on my hip. It lets me know if my heart rate is too high or too low. I use it to get an immediate 5 day readout of the weather, sunset sunrise, and date. I like that I can travel to the other side of the USA and not have to change it. It unlocks my MBP when I wake it up from sleep. It inputs my Administrator password when prompted on Mac OS. I can use it to more easily do Apple Pay. It helped me during a power outage as a flashlight one night.

I’ve used an Apple Watch for years. Couldn’t imagine life without it.
 
I use my Apple Watch as a speakerphone while I‘m driving! Works great and I can keep my hands on the steering wheel and eyes on the road And talk to my wife.
 
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