The 8 Surprising Ways I’m Using My Apple Watch

The estimated reading time for this post is 9 minutes

I never expected this. When I ordered my Apple Watch I was already a smartwatch veteran who was very familiar with how they work and what they could do. I had worn a Pebble watch for over 2 years and tested the Samsung Gear watch, so I thought I knew exactly how I would use my Apple Watch.

I was wrong.

My Apple Watch arrived April 24th, the first day it was available, and I’ve been wearing it every day since. My expectations of how I’d use the Watch have been shattered, crushed, imploded and swept away. The only way I’m using my Apple Watch as I had intended is to tell the time. But even that I’m doing differently than I thought I would.

Go figure.

Stand Up (for What You Believe In)

The biggest surprise about my Watch is how it has changed my daily life with the Standing reminders. When I heard about this feature I didn’t pay it much mind. But using it is a game-changer.

The Watch, if you want it to, will remind you to stand for one minute per hour for 12 hours each day. Sounds easy, right?

Well, not so much. If you’re the type, like me, who can become immersed at your computer, then you don’t think much about getting up and moving around when you’re focused on a task. The Watch can fix that.

I wear a Nike FuelBand that flashes a message when it’s time for me to stand:  Go Carolyn! But I ignore it. That message has never resulted in me hoisting my derriere off of a chair. Not even once.

But I do get up off of the chair when prompted to by the Watch. The Watch taps my wrist, much as a schoolmarm would rap a truant’s knuckles, to scold me that I’ve been sitting nearly the entire hour. Time to move! (Okay, well the Watch’s reminder isn’t actually painful like a schoolmarm’s punishment, but you get the picture…)

The Watch is a demanding task master. Merely standing up won’t satisfy its requirements. No, I must actually move, quite a bit, to fulfill its desires.

So I do get up from the computer and walk the dog, empty the dishwasher, make the bed, tidy the house, sweep the hearth, mend the fences and do the chores that didn’t seem to get done by the end of the day without the prompting of the Watch. That makes the Watch responsible for me being healthier and my life being more organized.

Very cool and who knew that would happen?

Texting

Never. Not in a million years. No way did I expect to use my Apple Watch for texting. Are you kidding me? Type on a watch face? No thank you!

But I do. Well, I text a lot using the Apple Watch, though I don’t ever type on it. Because I can’t.

Instead, I either dictate or use pre-set messages I typed on my iPhone using the Apple Watch app. The dictation is incredibly accurate, which is a good thing because there is no possibility of correcting it.

The Watch understands me much better than my iPhone does, especially for punctuation. If I dictate on my iPhone, my text might read, “I’ll be there soon period meet me at the front door period” But on my Watch the same text would read correctly: “I’ll be there soon. Meet me at the front door.”

The Apple Watch give you an option to send a voice message instead of written words, but then the voice message reads out the punctuation which sounds odd and confusing.

The Watch also offers emojis, both the classic ones from the iPhone and fun animated ones exclusive to the Watch. I use those a lot, but that’s no surprise. 😉

Pulling out my phone to read or respond to a text seems like a major chore now. I use my Watch to get the job done.

Answering Phone Calls

I was not going to be one of those geeks who uses their Watch as a phone. No way.

Except I do.

When there’s an important incoming call and I’m not close to my phone, I will answer it on my Watch.

No Handoff

There’s Handoff, which means I could answer a call on my Watch and transfer it to my iPhone. But I haven’t ever done that.

I don’t know why I’ve never handed off a call from my Watch to my phone. Maybe it’s because once I’ve answered the call on my wrist I feel I must own the fact that I look incredibly nerdy and/or idiotic. Maybe using Handoff and transferring the call to my phone would give those who roll their eyes at me (I’m sure some people do) the satisfaction of me acknowledging the awkwardness of the situation.

Whatever the reason, I haven’t used Handoff.

Exercise

I wasn’t going to use the Apple Watch as a fitness tracker. Nope, I have my Nike FuelBand for that which I’ve used to track my fitness for a year and a half. Plus, I didn’t want to wear my Watch when I played racquetball as I thought it would be too annoying.

Guess what? I do use my Apple Watch to track my fitness and I do wear it when I play racquetball. The Watch gives me more data about my workout, such as pace, heart rate, calories burned, etc. that’s very helpful when I exercise. I earn badges when I achieve goals, such as a perfect week of activity.

I’m still wearing my Nike FuelBand, though I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because I have a 96 day streak of reaching my fitness goal and I don’t want to break it. I’ll probably quit wearing the FuelBand when I break my streak. Or maybe I’ll stop wearing it when I get tired of looking silly wearing so much tech.

Nah, that won’t happen.

Find My iPhone

I’m constantly putting my iPhone down somewhere and not remembering where I put it. My phone isn’t technically “lost”, I don’t know where it is at that particular moment in time.

Yes, I could call the phone or use Find My iPhone but now I can ping it from my Watch. I tap a button and my phone chirps. Easy and convenient.

Unfortunately, it only chirps once, unlike Find My iPhone which makes the phone chirp until you find it. Sometimes I have to tap the button several times to zero in on my phone’s location. Still, using my Watch is easier than any other way of finding my phone, especially the old-fashioned way of actually searching for my phone.

Heart Rate

I never thought much about my heart rate but now I’m checking it every day. Apple Watch gives you two ways to check it: in Glances and using the Workout app.

Seeing my heart rate while I’m exercising gives me a valuable indication of how hard I’m working out. I’ve also learned that my resting pulse rate is quite low, about 54 beats per minute.

Yes, I could always take my pulse rate without a Watch. But that’s not fun, or cool, so I don’t.

Watch Faces

Apple Watch comes with 10 different watch faces and I thought I would switch them around often to match my mood, outfit, or day of the week. I often switched my Pebble watch face for a change of scenery.

But no. That hasn’t happened. I’m still using the Watch face I set up Day 1.

Apple Watch faces allow you to add information, called complications, such as outside temperature, battery level, activity tracking, sunrise/sunset time, next calendar appointment, world clock, stopwatch, timer and more. Each face allows different types and number of complications so your choice of face is governed more by what you want to see than how you want to see it.

The Motion face has a butterfly flapping its wings, a flower blooming or a jellyfish swimming. That face is beautiful but allows for zero complications. I expect more from my Watch than the time and date.

The face I’ve chosen, and stuck with from Day 1, is Color. I’ve matched the color of the face to my blue strap and haven’t ever changed it. I haven’t even changed the color.

I’ve added these complications:

I chose those complications when I set up my Watch and seem to have guessed right. I occasionally look at other complications but so far I’ve stuck with my first choices.

The Modular face allows for the next calendar appointment complication, which the Color Face doesn’t offer. I’ve set up the Modular face with my preferred complications, including next calendar appointment, and am prepared to use Modular on busy days when I have to quickly check what comes next. But I haven’t had one of those days yet because I haven’t ever switched to Modular.

Other Surprises

1. Not as many people seem to notice my Watch as I thought would. I thought for sure that people would be grabbing my wrist and wanting to see my Watch. When I got one of the first iPads, I got a lot of attention from people who wanted to see it. Not so much with the Watch.

Either they don’t notice or they don’t care. In the 45 days I’ve had my Watch only about 4 people have mentioned it.

They are my new best friends.

2. I haven’t seen many other people wearing Apple Watches. Actually, I’ve only seen one other person with a Watch. That was fun, and cool, and we totally geeked out over it.

I want to do that more.

3. The battery life of the Watch is amazing. I’ve gone all day, worn the watch to sleep at night, and woken up with 35% battery left. I charge the watch for about 1/2 hour and it’s up to 85%, enough to get me through the day.

4. The battery life of my iPhone 6 Plus seems to have suffered from being connected to my Watch all day. I used to never worry about running low on charge during the day with the 6 Plus. Now that I have my Watch, I have to monitor my phone’s battery life and sometimes need to charge it towards the end of the day.

Your Thoughts

Have you ever been surprised at the way you use tech? Did you ever think you’d use your smartphone the way you do? How do you think you would use the Apple Watch? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!