It ’s been a twelvemonth since I ’ve had my Apple Watch . The things I complained about at the startare still an issuing , and they mostly moil down to the fact that even runningnative apps , this is the tedious Apple product I ’ve used for a longsighted fourth dimension . Still , I ’ve charged the barrage fire almost every night , and fag the Apple Watch almost every twenty-four hour period . I ca n’t help it ; I ’ve come up to rely on the footling thing . It does n’t do anything my iPhone ca n’t do , of course , but some of those little labor are fit in particular well to my wrist joint , and the lookout man has wormed its way into my unremarkable modus operandi so deep that I ’m genuinely pitiful on the rare day when I accidentally leave it plugged into its charger all day .
To prove my arrant dependence on this ready to hand trivial contrivance , I humbly submit this list of the things I utilise my Apple Watch for , virtually every day that I ’m wearing it . They ’re not big thing , they ’re not “ game record changer , ” and whether or not they add up to the gadget’snew starting priceof$299is up to you . I do agree with Apple that the ticker is the society ’s most personal ware , so everyone ’s understanding to own one — or not — will be likewise pretty personal . But in person , I ’m glad I have it .
1. Setting timers and alarms
Pizza reheats for about 5 minutes in the oven . My son gets iPad time in 15 - bit increments . I necessitate to forget here 10 minutes from now . “ Hey Siri , set a timer for 10 minutes , ” I grumble into my watch . Yes , I could yelp “ Hey Siri ” at my iPhone and set a timekeeper that way , but the timer buzzing right on my wrist is impossible to dismiss .
I use alarms for things I need to do at the same time every day , or every weekday , or every hebdomad — watchOS can handle them all . Again , the iPhone does this just fine , but setting them is quick with Siri , and I enjoy having an alarm clock I ’m wearing on my arm . Bonus : The “ Snooze ” and “ Dismiss ” buttons are crystal - clear on the Apple Watch , unlike the tap - to - snooze , swipe - to - dismiss gestures on the iPhone ’s ringlet screen .
Sometimes I tap the Apple Watch . Sometimes it taps me .
2. Wrist-tap directions
I used to always use Waze in the automobile . Now I ’m just as likely to pick Apple Maps for directions because I get laid how it solicit my wrist before each turn , so I can turn off the annoying navigation phonation that would otherwise break up my euphony and podcasts . I can even glance down at my wrist to see the name of the next street I ’m turning on , and how far forth that is , although I wish the whole outgrowth was a little speedier . But it ’s less distracting than trying to look at my iPhone projection screen . I ’ve manage to sail to post I ’ve never been before with the pilotage voice turn off , just by wait for the wrist joint - tap : 10 fast taps before a right round , six taps that amount in three distich before a left spell .
3. Tracking Workouts
I love theWorkouts app . I have tracked every spin class I ’ve ever taken , every ride on my extremist - dorkyFitDesk stationary wheel , every jog I ’ve huffed and puffed through since receive the Apple Watch — oh , and a twelvemonth ’s Charles Frederick Worth of concerts . I be intimate going to a show I know where I ’m going to dance my seat off , and then starting a workout powerful as the circle takes the stage . It never break amuse me that my best - ever workout medallion is for get in particular fetid on the lawn at a Phish show .
In sheath you ’re inquire , at the Phish concert I burn off 566 calories in just one set , with an average heart rate of 123 beats per moment .
4. Closing the Activity rings
The Activity ringshave kept me more busy than any Fitbit or Jawbone physical fitness tracker I ’ve tried . I have intercourse how the Apple Watch tracks three goals ( standing , strike , and exercise ) , and something about the visual of closing a circle is just more compelling to me than try out to stumble 10,000 stair . verbalise of steps , I also do it how the Apple Watch primarily tracks calories over steps , since that ’s get me to think more about the nutritionist’s calorie I ’m consume , now that I ’ve come across just how hard they are to incinerate . The bottom line is that the Activity app is the matter that incur me to wear the Apple Watch every day , and the main reason I ’m distressing on Clarence Day I forget . ( Bonus : Lately , when I get the water tap on my wrist telling me to stand , I grab my hand weight and stand up for a minute of reps . My Fitbitnevergot me to do that . )
5. The Modular face
The Modular face can have third - party complication too , and tap a complication is the flying way to set up the stand for app .
I hate the Apple Watch ’s habitation screen of tiny app icons you ca n’t veil . So I just never use it . Most of the functions I need on my Apple Watch I can add to the Modular watch face as tortuousness . Mine looks like this : natural process , time , calendar , temperature , battery life , and timekeeper . comfortably yet , I can tap those complications ( except the sentence and the battery life ) to jump immediately into those vigil apps . It ’s not the coolest - looking watch face , but it ’s the most useful by far .
6. Dictating Reminders
await a arcsecond , there ’s no Reminders app on the Apple Watch ! Nope , but I use Siri on the Apple Watch as a remote control for sending new reminders to my iPhone ’s Reminders app the moment I think of them . If I say “ append to my Things lean , ” it break down on a list that gets automatically import into my Things to - do app — yes , Things has its own Apple Watch app , but I ’m more likely to do it this way . If I ever get my married man to share a Reminders listing with me , I could even tote up thing to his inclination — uh , I meanourlist .
7. Finding my iPhone
I ’m only slightly embarrassed to admit I do this just about every day . I put my iPhone down somewhere in my single - story , 1100 - square understructure domicile , and 10 minute after I have no idea where I leave it . Before the Apple Watch , I would pace around await , getting disappointed , and eventually vex my husband to call the darn thing . Now I abstract up on my vigil grimace to glimpse , and tap the wizardly iPhone - locating button in the Control Center . My iPhone pings . I find it . My family wheel its eye at me . Everyone ’s felicitous .
Now Playing father constant use , at home , at employment , and when I do n’t desire to dig out my iPhone during a commute .
8. Now Playing
The Now playacting glance is incredibly useful . I do n’t keep any music synced to the Apple Watch itself , because I do n’t have Bluetooth earphone that I like . as luck would have it , Now Playing can see to it whatever ’s playing on my iPhone , and my iPhone is the generator of most of my music and podcast listening . The Apple Watch lets me pause , tight - forward , see to it the volume , and even Heart or Add song if I ’m listening to Apple Music . tip the name of the song launches Apple Music , once again keeping me away from that dwelling house screen . I do n’t have to nonplus with Apple apps , either ; Now Playing works just great with Spotify , Casts , Soundcloud , even YouTube .
9. Not missing texts
My husband and I share a car , which entail he gives me a lot of rides . He used to spend a lot of time waiting outside my office wondering if I was on my way down or if I just had n’t ascertain his schoolbook . Now I see all his texts , and I have a happy response ready to go .
Now that nobody call anymore ( which is fine with me ! ) , I ’m obsess with getting school text mighty forth .
10. Apple TV Remote
I do n’t miss my Apple TV remote enough to vex a Tile on it , although I ca n’t expect for Apple to release one you’re able to “ page ” from your telephone , or presume I say your Apple Watch . ( My Logos did hide it in his toy garbage truck once , after all . ) But even when I know where my Apple TV remote is , sometimes it’sway across the whole entire room , so I use the Remote app on my Apple Watch instead . It does everything but the Siri and bid features .
It ’s a shame the app did n’t mould with the new Apple TV immediately at launching , butit does as of tvOS 9.1 , and I use it all the sentence . I go for theforthcoming Apple TV appthat Eddy Cue announce on John Gruber ’s podcast back in February has an equally handy Apple Watch component too .
11. Telling the time, duh
I did n’t wear a vigil before I get my Apple Watch , not since college . In the twelvemonth since I ’ve go this spotter , I peek at the time on it before looking almost anywhere else . On days I forget my Apple Watch , I find myself looking at my wrist constantly , expecting to find out what time it is . It ’s a little affair , but I forget how overnice it is .
Astronomy , aka the spin - the - planet vigil face .
12. Spinning the planets
My Logos is 4 . When I get my Apple Watch he was 3 . He ’s reasonably good about bedtime , but of course there ’s a whole ritual of acts he ’d like performed in a certain order , and one of them — we do n’t do it every night , but sometimes — is what he name , “ Can I spin the major planet ? ”
We are both nestle in his bed when he asks , and I hale - wardrobe the watch face screen and switch from my uber - operational Modular face to the beautiful Astronomy one . He loves it . He loves how a immature Zen lights up on Oakland , where we are , and he screw how if you lightly tap the sieve , you ’re able to spin the Earth with your finger , to see how it ’s daytime on one half and nighttime on the other , with little orange glowing spots to indicate big city . He loves twirling the Digital Crown to go forward in clip , and see the sun and the shadow swoop over North America , and the slight divot in the West Coast , where we are .
He loves tapping the moon image and check the moon zoom into perspective , the same way it look in the sky that Nox . He loves looking at the whole solar system , spin the Digital Crown some more to see the orbits , listening to me excuse how a twelvemonth on Mercury is really short and a year on Neptune is so long . He says that being 4 is taking a really tenacious time , and I endeavor to insure him that every age is exactly the same , even though I know that is n’t true . He still thinks the moonshine is a planet , the biggest planet of all . I inquire what questions he ’ll demand me about the moon , the world , and the universe when he ’s 5 , or the yr after that , or even just next hebdomad . It can get a slight tiring keeping my arm prop up up while he fiddle with my Apple Watch and we talk about these thing . But it ’s something I ’m really beaming we can do .
