Can someone please explain to me how Apple Watch plays into the notification game? I don’t have 1 but it seems like many people hear are using it as their go to device for notifications and I am just wondering how it exactly works and why it is so useful/beneficial
@akash.nu @eoblaed @Nugget
I want to preface my answer with the acknowledgement that the watch is a bit more of a niche product than many of the other Apple products. What I, and others, find of value and experience as a quality of life enhancement may not necessarily be seen as such by others.
So, for me, without the watch, I would have to leave my phone on vibrate if I wanted to be alerted to phone calls, texts, VIP emails, etc. When one of those events happens, my phone would necessarily vibrate in my pocket. This is a large device, and the vibration is pretty intrusive. It also tells me
nothing other than "hey a thing happened that you may or may not want to know about." I then have to dig the phone out of my pocket, check the screen, and see if it's something I should take care of now, or if it's something I can address later. Quite often, it's something I'll deal with later, but I'm still required to get my phone out of my pocket and return it, every time it buzzes, as I have no way of knowing until I look at it. With an active set of communications, this can happen frequently.
With the watch, this changes in subtle, but (for me) meaningful and helpful ways. As I can keep my phone on 'silent', that large device up against my thigh no longer buzzes vigorously every time something comes in. Instead, I get a significantly less disruptive tap on my wrist. That's the first benefit. The second is that now I only have to glance at my watch to see what the notification is about. That tells me instantly all I need to know concerning the notification: what is it? do I need to deal with this now? can it wait? And if it's something I need to deal with now, I can very often do it without having to pull my phone out of my pocket (eg. if it's a phone call, and I have my AirPods in, I can just tap the 'answer' button on the phone and I'm now in the call; if it's a text message that can be responded to with a simple answer, a couple of taps on the watch and it's done). Not only is it far nicer for me, it's also nicer for those I might happen to be in the company of when those notifications come in.
For me, and for many others, this difference in modality makes dealing with frequent notifications noticeably less troublesome and provides a definite quality of life bonus.