Thoughts on apple watches

[Terabith]

Are they motivating, or is it just aggravating to have your watch nag you?  I could see it going either way and either being inspirational or depressing/ heightening anxiety.  

[Indigo Blue]

Until I was unable to do all the things, it was motivating to me. But you can turn certain things off if you want. I don’t use the breathe reminders, for example. I like the activity notifications. It isn’t annoying to me, but I can’t always close all rings. 
 

I really haven’t felt annoyed and that my watch was nagging. It’s mostly useful. I don’t miss important text messages, and I sure use it a lot to find my phone!! 🙂

Do you have an Apple Watch?

[Terabith]

6 minutes ago, Indigo Blue said:

Until I was unable to do all the things, it was motivating to me. But you can turn certain things off if you want. I don’t use the breathe reminders, for example. I like the activity notifications. It isn’t annoying to me, but I can’t always close all rings. 
 

I really haven’t felt annoyed and that my watch was nagging. It’s mostly useful. I don’t miss important text messages, and I sure use it a lot to find my phone!! 🙂

Do you have an Apple Watch?

I don't.  I'm just pondering, because of prime day.  And I do both swimming, where it would be nice to track laps and calories and stuff and there are relatively few products that can go in the water, and DDP yoga.  I don't have a heart rate monitor, and apple watch works with the yoga app, which might be good.  I'm less worried about the exercise/ move goals than I am about things like sleep and temperature and heart rate and stuff that I have relatively little control over, but that being notified about issues with will make me more anxious.  What's the breathe thing?  

[Arcadia]

27 minutes ago, Terabith said:

Are they motivating, or is it just aggravating to have your watch nag you?

My Apple watch 7 doesn’t nag me. I might have turn all “nagging” off. I use my watch mainly for counting steps, fall alert, answering calls and texts when my phone is buried in my bag, and occasionally to track how much I walk when accompanying my friend on her walking exercises. 

[Scarlett]

Apple Watch requires a third party app to track sleep.  I really like it and look at it often.

I also use it to check for AFib.

I use it a lot to see that I have a text or a phone call.  I even answer my phone from my watch.  

[Indigo Blue]

If you don’t want sleep, temperature, etc, you can turn those off. You can use only what you want. Breathe is a mindfulness app that I think comes preinstalled and active. It will remind you to stop what you’re doing and do relaxing breaths. I turned it off, because it was annoying to be reminded to relax, lol. I thought it was something important, and I was like, oh, it’s just the breathe thing again. 

[Indigo Blue]

For all the things you want it for, it sounds great. I hope you can find a deal on one. 

[Indigo Blue]

I use mine for tracking distance on my bike. And steps. Answering phone, texting. I have a complication set up on my watch faces that looks like a circle with my husband’s initial in it. All I have to do is tap that circle and it calls him. It’s strapped on my wrist, so I like that. Seems a good way to access a quick emergency contact. 

[Indigo Blue]

Oh, and I have the neatest alarm set up through sleep focus on my phone. I don’t use sleep focus for anything but the alarm. All the preset alarm tones in regular settings are so harsh. Sleep focus has some gentle alarms. If I wear the watch to bed, the alarm sounds on the watch instead of my phone. The neat part is that there is a little pulse you can feel that goes to the beat of the gentle alarm music. The little pulse switches from one side of the watch to the other. It’s pretty strong. A little rhythm that pulses all over my wrists. It amuses and intrigues me. 🤣

[Pawz4me]

I don't allow mine to nag me about anything! I use it, I don't allow it to use me.

Or in other words -- You can configure things however you want.

I do like seeing my steps, exercise minutes, stand time and all the other metrics. But I just watch them out of curiosity, I don't give a flip about closing circles or anything like that.

[MEmama]

2 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

I don't allow mine to nag me about anything! I use it, I don't allow it to use me.

Or in other words -- You can configure things however you want.

I do like seeing my steps, exercise minutes, stand time and all the other metrics. But I just watch them out of curiosity, I don't give a flip about closing circles or anything like that.

I was going to say the same thing. It's my nature to turn off all the extras anyway, I don't need more anxiety or mental clutter thanks! That said, I like mine more than I thought I would even when I'm not using it as anything more than just a watch.

[wathe]

I don't have one, and can't relate any experience with wearing one.

But I can tell you that they are very waterproof!

True Story:  A friend lost her applewatch at the bottom of a lake 2 years ago.  We went back to the same lake last year (a full year later) with DS's magnet-fishing set and he fished up the watch.  It charged up, and still works like nothing ever happened.   This is a Canadian lake that freezes over.   The watch was on the bottom at least 20 feet deep.

[Carrie12345]

Most of my nagging is turned off.

I love being able to answer calls when I’ve left my phone in a different room!

[MEmama]

4 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said:

Most of my nagging is turned off.

I love being able to answer calls when I’ve left my phone in a different room!

So I've never actually done that <hangs head in shame>  and don't even know how. What do you do? 

[Indigo Blue]

29 minutes ago, MEmama said:

So I've never actually done that <hangs head in shame>  and don't even know how. What do you do? 

I’ll come back and tell you later, unless someone else does!

[Arcadia]

35 minutes ago, MEmama said:

So I've never actually done that <hangs head in shame>  and don't even know how. What do you do? 

I just click the green button on my watch screen to answer or the red button to reject.
https://support.apple.com/guide/watch/phone-apd32b6c5658/watchos

[lmrich]

2 hours ago, Terabith said:

I don't.  I'm just pondering, because of prime day.  And I do both swimming, where it would be nice to track laps and calories and stuff and there are relatively few products that can go in the water, and DDP yoga.  I don't have a heart rate monitor, and apple watch works with the yoga app, which might be good.  I'm less worried about the exercise/ move goals than I am about things like sleep and temperature and heart rate and stuff that I have relatively little control over, but that being notified about issues with will make me more anxious.  What's the breathe thing?  

This is the best  for  me.  I don't like to count my laps. 

I love my  Apple Watch, and it motivates me. We got one for my mom, who has a-fib; her  doctor checks her her stats. 

You can turn off anything that bugs you.  

[AnotherNewName]

31 minutes ago, lmrich said:

This is the best  for  me.  I don't like to count my laps. 

I love my  Apple Watch, and it motivates me. We got one for my mom, who has a-fib; her  doctor checks her her stats. 

You can turn off anything that bugs you.  

We got one for DMIL for the fall detector.  She is now into the nagging and likes the reminders to get up and move and is just starting to use some of the other apps. It ended up being a better purchase than we ever imagined.

[MEmama]

2 hours ago, Arcadia said:

I just click the green button on my watch screen to answer or the red button to reject.
https://support.apple.com/guide/watch/phone-apd32b6c5658/watchos

Huh, I've literally never to thought to talk to my watch; thankfully I don't get many phone calls but I'll have to remember to try it sometime!

[Terabith]

I will not be talking to my watch.  I refuse to talk to my phone.  I will not be complicit in the rise of Skynet.  

[SanDiegoMom]

I like having my watch.  At first I thought I would regret it, until I turned off the things I didn't want.  I ignore a lot as well.  But I like being able to see how active I have been vs days I haven't been active, and it just is a reminder to get out and do another walk, or get up and do a few more chores around the house. 

[Corraleno]

I wasn't sure how much I'd use an Apple Watch, but I got one on Prime Day last year because it was a great deal, and I love it way more than I thought I would, even though pretty much the only thing I use it for (besides telling time) is answering texts and phone calls. To me it's worth the price for that function alone because I don't carry my phone around the house with me, and I love that I can answer a call or reply to a text just by talking to the watch. It's also nice to know that if I ever fell down the stairs or got injured while home alone I can just call or text DD from my wrist. I really haven't looked into all the other things it can do, besides the heart rate monitor which I do use occasionally, because I can't think of anything else I'd want it to do, and I definitely don't want it nagging me to relax or move or breathe or whatever!

 

[Indigo Blue]

What complications do y’all like to have on your watch? Right now I have air quality, steps and distance, temperature, date, press to call Dh, UV index, workout, and activity. I don’t waste a spot for charging health because I charge it every day anyway.

[Spryte]

I love my watch.

Can anyone link the Prime Day deals? Are there any deals for older watches? 

We were on a hike recently, and one of my asthma kids had a very bad asthma episode. I thought we would need to call for help from the trail. I took my watch off and put it on her wrist to monitor her O2 and heart rate. It was a huge help. She’s 12, so I’m not sold on an expensive watch for her, but it sure was helpful in a pinch.

[Arcadia]

13 hours ago, Indigo Blue said:

What complications do y’all like to have on your watch?

Do you mean the watch face or the apps? @MEmama My watch face has the time for my parents and in-laws timezone as well as shows the weather (ETA: in celsius).

 

41 minutes ago, Spryte said:

She’s 12, so I’m not sold on an expensive watch for her, but it sure was helpful in a pinch.

I bought a cellphone in 1991 for more than $1k because cigarette smell on payphones at college campuses are an asthma trigger. Sometimes getting stuff like Apple Watch is a need regardless of age. We aren’t prime members. Amazon prices were good even on usual days. Costco sometimes have deals too.

Edited July 12, 2023 by Arcadia

[Pawz4me]

13 hours ago, Indigo Blue said:

What complications do y’all like to have on your watch? Right now I have air quality, steps and distance, temperature, date, press to call Dh, UV index, workout, and activity. I don’t waste a spot for charging health because I charge it every day anyway.

I have two watch faces. The main one I keep uncluttered, because I actually use it quite a lot as a regular watch and I like being able to see the time and day/date easily. That one just has the time, day and date at the top and at the bottom it has the sky condition and temperature. My second watch face, which is easily accessed with a swipe, has time/day/date on top, five day weather forecast in the middle, and the bottom row shows the battery level, the rings that I never pay any attention to (LOL) and heart rate.

[vonfirmath]

Does the apple watch need a separate cellular line?

OR is it useful without that? This all sounds interesting but the last thing I need is another bill.

[KungFuPanda]

You can get nagged by a $20 fitness tracker and see if it works for you.  I got one from Amazon and used it for a good 18 months before I stuck it in a drawer and stopped using it.  Generally, if I'm trying to meet step goals I have my phone on me and it tracks that.  When I was in a dance class, I isolated to the point that most steps weren't picked up and I never remembered to put the watch in Dance Mode.  I may dust it off and use it again when it cools off and I start walking more.

[Arcadia]

14 minutes ago, vonfirmath said:

Does the apple watch need a separate cellular line?

OR is it useful without that? This all sounds interesting but the last thing I need is another bill.

It doesn’t need a separate cellular line but it does need your iPhone to be nearby. If it has its own cellular line, then you don’t need to have your iPhone with you. My dad has one with cellular because it is more likely for him to leave his phone at home unintentionally when he go out.

[Pawz4me]

10 minutes ago, vonfirmath said:

Does the apple watch need a separate cellular line?

OR is it useful without that? This all sounds interesting but the last thing I need is another bill.

My watch is cellular ready (you can buy them that are or aren't). I bought one that was capable of having its own line because I wasn't sure whether I needed that or not. I figured I'd rather pay the extra and have the option. But I've had it over a year and haven't felt the need to add a dedicated line for it. I think the main reason you'd want to would be if you walked or hiked (or whatever) a lot w/o your phone. Our wifi network allows me to pick up calls and texts all around the edge of our yard and a little beyond, so it's usable outside w/o having the phone close by.

[Indigo Blue]

So basically you can buy a watch with or without cellular capability. You will only have a monthly bill for cellular if you buy a cellular capable watch and pay monthly for cellular. Otherwise, without paying for cellular, either watch (cellular capable or not) functions exactly the same, except your phone needs to be within a few hundred feet of you. I don’t have cellular, and it’s never a problem. Like @Pawz4mesaid, you need that if you want your watch to have the ability to be untethered from your phone such as for remote hiking, etc. 

[Indigo Blue]

I have several faces, but these two are my favorites. The pink one looks nice with a black watch band. 
 

[J-rap]

I love mine, mostly because it means I don't have to carry my cell phone everywhere.  (We don't have a landline.)  That alone makes it worth it to me.  Other than that, I do like to track my steps, check my heart rate now and then, etc.  It's not a nuisance for me at all.  The only thing it does that I haven't necessarily needed it to do is to tell me when to stand up, but there are probably settings where I could change that.

[Resilient]

It's motivating for exercise, it's helpful for tracking health issues like meds and weight and sleep, and it keeps me from having to hunt up my phone when I get a call. 

Here's the thing you have to remember: technology is your slave, not your master.  You have to spend some time to get the settings right to make this a reality...but when you do that, the watch, the phone, they are great slaves.  

When I get my settings right, my PHONE/WATCH are not nagging me to exercise.  _I_ am nagging me, because that is what I told my slave/watch to do... remind me to stand up.  But if you don't take on the master posture, and let the technology master you, yeah, not a great situation.

[Terabith]

7 hours ago, Resilient said:

It's motivating for exercise, it's helpful for tracking health issues like meds and weight and sleep, and it keeps me from having to hunt up my phone when I get a call. 

Here's the thing you have to remember: technology is your slave, not your master.  You have to spend some time to get the settings right to make this a reality...but when you do that, the watch, the phone, they are great slaves.  

When I get my settings right, my PHONE/WATCH are not nagging me to exercise.  _I_ am nagging me, because that is what I told my slave/watch to do... remind me to stand up.  But if you don't take on the master posture, and let the technology master you, yeah, not a great situation.

Yeah, but I always filter technology use through a lens of “Will this contribute to the rise of the robot apocalypse?”  I won’t use chat GP or Siri for those reasons.  

[Rosla]

I use my Apple watch to monitor my heart rate, track my run and sleep, read messages, and sometimes make calls. It is useful and I like it. But I also like jewelry, I have several luxury watches from the Mio watches store that I love, so there are days when I wear my non-smart watches.

Edited August 5, 2023 by Rosla

[Calizzy]

I have a cellular apple watch and it is my only phone. I do not have a normal cell phone besides it. I use it for text, talk, and directions. I like it a lot and don't ever want a cell phone again. 

[Kidlit]

this thread caused me to buy an Apple Watch when we got new phones last week.  I had one of the first ones and it was kaput, and until this thread I hadn't thought too much about getting another.  Obviously, I'm easily influenced.  
 

I generally don't feel annoyed by it. 

[Arcadia]

On 7/12/2023 at 7:20 AM, Spryte said:

She’s 12, so I’m not sold on an expensive watch for her, but it sure was helpful in a pinch.

I just fell at the sidewalk on my way home. Could not get up immediately but my DS18 was with me. I click the I fell but don’t need help option 

[Resilient]

Re I’ve fallen feature. 
 

it’s gone off when I have not fallen but have hit something hard (on purpose, with a hammer, for example).  When I fell hard off a ladder—nada.  
 

That said I COULD have called for help because I was conscious and my watch was on my wrist and not across the room like my phone was. 
 

 

[Scarlett]

My fall feature has activated when my dog slams into me for whatever reason.

[Arcadia]

23 hours ago, Resilient said:

When I fell hard off a ladder—nada.

 

29 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

My fall feature has activated when my dog slams into me for whatever reason.

It is the impact on the arm wearing the watch I think. When I fall, I would try to break my fall with my left (dominant) hand (or both hands if possible) and my watch is usually on my left hand. 
 

When I was in 7th grade, I fell and broke my two front teeth. After that I tend to break my falls with my hands to minimize the impact.