To Apple Watch or not to Apple Watch

Hardware
1

Hey all. Would love some insight on whether or not an Apple Watch is worth it for my lifestyle. I am on my third full day of trialling a Series 7 with cellular, and love the fitness tracking, but more or less hate the watch faces.

Here are some things I’m considering:

  • I’ve put on weight during Covid and would love to work it off
  • This is a business expense for me, and there are other things I could get with the money that will have a financial return (the Watch will not financially return, technically)
  • Before this watch, I’ve worn a traditional watch (which I love) for 6 or 7 years. It still works just fine, and I much prefer it as a timepiece
  • The fitness tracking on the Watch is amazing, and I’ll have a hard time without the watch if I can’t find similar apps on the phone
  • as far as finding similar apps on the phone, I (regrettably) can’t run all year round. We live in the Canadian suburbs, and running in the below-freezing weather during the winter is something I’m not willing to do. I would consider Fitness+ if I kept the Watch, particularly for those indoor months.

Keeping the watch will work out similarly to a traditional gym membership over the course of a year. For somebody like me, is the Watch worth it, or should I be considering a gym?

Feel free to pepper me with questions, share personal experiences, etc.

3

All this is great, thanks. To speak to this point: I’m really torn. Love the motivational tools, hate the watch faces so far. :man_shrugging:

5

You can add your own images to Photos to use as faces. I have a folder set up and the images change all the time. So that is pretty nifty.

Also, there are loads of faces. You can design your own, purchase extras. There truly is a wide array of images you can use.

You might want to pick up the Watch Guide in the Apple Bookstore to see all the functions you can use. That might give you a better idea.

6

Also you can continue to use dressy watch when you are going out, or going to special events. I know many do that. I don’t personally use anything other than Apple Watch. As @anon20961960 mentioned, it’s great for Fitness+, and I love it for that, and learned to make it part of my lifestyle. I depend on it for notifications, so I don’t necessarily worry about my iPhone being attached to me around the house.

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7

I have had my Apple Watch about 2 months now and enjoy it more every day. I bought it mostly as a fitness tracking device, but now appreciate it more for how it lets me manage information (e.g., viewing key information like temperature and sunrise/sun set, using siri to take reminders, and dictating notes in Drafts).

The watch face I use most often is the Infograph because it allows for the most data to be displayed. I wish it were more customizable in that I could add data elements that show something like estimated time in minutes to drive home based on traffic, number of unread emails from key clients, etc. at a glance – basically very personalized information that is important to me. Changing watch faces and behaviors based on location and time of day is very useful too.

I’m eager to learn ways people are customizing their Apple Watch. I’m usually not into 3rd party apps to supply basic features, but if there are apps that enable further customization on the watch such as data in complications, I’m interested in learning about them.

8

Make up your own watch face(s)! I use a photo I took which I never get tired of looking at. But I could just as easily do some artwork too, I’d surmise.

I love my Watch. It comes in very handy (pun intended… Sorry.)

I bought it mostly for the fall protection. Also, you can easily summon 911.

I like that the alarm is good at waking me up.

There are all sorts of ways to use the Watch. You’ll probably use it for things that have yet to occur to you.

I already responded, I see.

9

If you don’t have the latest AirPods Pro … the watch is super helpful for changing the volume.

Very expensive if that’s the only benefit though

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10

Personally I didn’t find it worth it for me. I’ve had one for two years. It’s way too expensive for what it is. The screen is too small for any real work and it needs an iphone to work properly and some features are only useful if you pay for an apple subscription.

I won’t be buying another one.

1 Like
11

Not for a while anyway. I recently got the new SE and determined to use the apps that benefit me the most. But when it came to the fitness side of things, little (IMHO) beats the integration of Garmin Connect. On the AW I had Workoutdoors (brilliant), Athlytic (also really good), HRV4Training and the built in Sleep tracker.

I needed 4 apps for what the Garmin can do within itself. Noting that both are consumer level apps and I accept that Apple may be more accurate than Garmin but it’s by degrees that I am happy to live with (plus I don’t have the latest Garmin).

Yes that AW does much more than track fitness but I found I didn’t use those as much as the fitness apps in terms priorities.

Others will see it the other way round.

12

After having changed my apple account password and finding now way of updating my password on my watch except to type it in on the apple watch keyboard (yes I tried the apple iphone keyboard connect and it didn’t work) and finding no way to cut and paste on the watch I ended up needing to reset/unpair re-pair the watch.

This will certainly be the last Apple watch I ever buy. There have been so many issues from getting the text messaging to work via the esim, getting apple pay working. It’s just one hassle after another.

Having had the apple watch for 18 months, this is the first time I really really regret buying an Apple product.