[Closed] Apple Watch users tips and tricks?

Love my Watch but never really sought out apps just for the sake of it. My Tide Times Pro is handy if you’re coastal (have a watch face for showing local tide, wind speed/direction etc). Otherwise mainly just use it for notifications, taking calls without getting phone out of pocket, playing music when running without phone (using Apple Music rather than Spotify obviously!) and pinging my phone when I’ve lost it down the back of the sofa!! There’s a camera app you can use as a viewfinder/remote for your phone that I’ve used a few times but I normally forget about it tbh

Use Siri a lot, stuff like adding diary entries, timers & general calculations.

Maps are great for city streets but don’t use it otherwise on Watch. Not found battery life a problem tbh, charge it up every day or two, not exactly a chore!

I trialled a 4 several months go. Really wanted to like it but found it pretty superfluous TBH. Adding reminders via Siri (or whatever voice method I used) was probably the only positive element.

I say this as a big fan of iOS and Mac OS, but was very underwhelmed by the Watch.

That doesn't help though does it ...

My tip was to swap strap to stretchy one as the Nike one pinches the hairs. My 3 is fine but I barely use it. Reading messages with phone away and taking calls is all good. Strava app is also a winner when i can’t be bothered with a garmin.

fwiw, I was surprised at how much better the battery life was when I went from 38mm series 2 to 42mm series 3. Happily breeze through 2 days without GPS, or manage 6 hours or so of Strava recording.

App wise I only use darksky (weather) and one to tell me what my electricity rate is (I’m in octopus agile so it changes every half hour).

Thanks all - my initial impressions (after a week of use) use are so so.
It feels more all round health focussed than the Garmin - reminders to stand, daily rather than weekly exercise goals. I'm going to give it another week before I decide.

AW4 here. battery generally lasts 1.5/2 days-ish. I like not having to find my phone to see if a message is worth responding too.

apps/functions i use the most:

messages - can preconfigure quick replies/emojis etc.
workout - tried a few others and come back to this one
camera remote - only just discovered this but pretty useful
dawn patrol - surf logging. garmin now have an equivalent
dark sky - screen complication is handy for a quick glance
sunrise/sunset - screen complication is handy for a quick glance
sleep tracking seems good in the new watchOS7
phone locator is pretty useful as even if its on silent it pings.
music + airpods and running without a phone is great.

i've turned off pretty much all the breathe/stand/sleep/handwashing/etc reminders. I'm not 5.

also worth bearing in mind, if your iphone is in range of the watch, it will always use the phone GPS rather than the internal.

For Workout Apps (inc hiking with maps on the watch screen) WorkOutDoors is the daddy. Tons of configuration options which can seem overwhelming but once you’ve got it how you like it’s superb.

I had one of the early versions thinking it would be great and better than the watches I already owned, turned out it was no better and I sold it and went back to my garmin and casio combo. It didn't do anything unique except give me another way to interact with my phone but in a manner which was reduced and annoying thus driving me to using my phone.

The worst thing was it just became something else to look at, lift wrist to check for notification, if there was Id then need to pick up my phone to reply, or if there wasn't just repeat again in 5mins time.

The worst thing was it just became something else to look at, lift wrist to check for notification, if there was Id then need to pick up my phone to reply, or if there wasn’t just repeat again in 5mins time.

you realise you can put the Watch into "do not disturb mode" which will prevent these notifications? I suppose it depends how you like to use your phone/technology etc. If you're disciplined enough not to want to check your phone every time a notification comes in then fair play! Personally I like being connected the majority of the time - it's a huge boon to me, not a millstone like it is to some people - and I like to see messages ASAP as often they're important! In this scenario, it's WAY less hassle just to orient my wrist a few degrees to glance at a notification rather than fish my phone out of my pocket. (And yeah, of course you can reply from the Watch! Either a pre-programmed message, emoji, voice control or the scribbly thing for physically writing a short message. Do it all the time!)

It really is worth taking the time to tune notifications a bit - both for what alerts on your phone, and what's also allowed to go through to your watch. Lots of apps are way too chatty these days, I try to keep notifications to things I actually care about.

I'm still wearing my Apple Watch everyday and it's an original series 1!

Still gets charged everyday, still useful. I only wear a different watch if I know it's going to get wet

Couple of things I particularly like recently;

- Apple Pay. Originally felt like a tosser paying for things with a watch, but it's far more convenient than getting a phone out of your pocket. Particularly if you are in a shop and therefore your face mask prevents Face ID working. A microscopic positive of Covid is that people seem to be more aware that there is no spending limit on Apple Pay compared to old skool contactless

- Microsoft Authentication. If your work place happens to use Microsoft Authenticator for 2 factor authentication, then it's nice to just have to tap the watch rather than dealing with the phone when the notification comes through.