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What features would you miss, if you stopped using an Apple Watch?

The Cockney Rebel said:
I had a cellular plan, when I kept my first Apple Watch.

Was only £5, per month.

I used to go on a morning walk, when I was a my nan's, and it was well worth the money.

I cancelled the plan, when I stopped doing the walk, as there was no use for it.
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My Apple Watch Series 6 gold stainless steel has cellular capability but ain’t gonna pay an extra fee to maintain a line on it every month for it.

My iPhone always stays with me and I rarely leave it at home.

I never set up cellular on my watch at all.
 
I didn’t rely much productivity stuff on AW, hence, I will just miss health stuff like sleep detection / analysis, heart rate, steps and ECG. Also, I will miss ability to turn off iPhone alarm via AW.
 
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jz0309 said:
somehow I have a thread like this in my head, but could be wrong of course ;)

Hope you're doing well and keeping up with life!
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Thread wasn’t originally about what features you’d miss, but it kinda turned into that for a bit.


I’ll repeat what I said in the previous thread. I went from wearing an Apple Watch from release day to moving to mechanical watches. I now have four mechanicals and am looking at buying fifth in the next couple of years.

I miss the health features (I wear an Oura ring now, but it isn’t the same), and Apple Pay is slightly less convenient using the phone. But I don’t ever see myself going back to smart watches. (That said, if you had asked me 8 years ago I would have said “I’ll always wear an Apple Watch!” So take my predictions with a grain of salt 🤣)
 
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After having a heart attack in 2014 my Watch (now Ultra 1) was invaluable in my recovery after not only a stent but a triple bypass a few months later. I had to walk every day a few times a day, and I also had to monitor my heart rate and distance as I walked. After many comparisons between my Watch readings and the doctor’s office equipment I foound my Watch to be fairly accurate and trusted the reading in my recovery. It is still an invaluable tool in my cardiac health using the Heart Analyzer app in conjunction with Apple Health.

I do not use Mail or Messages on my watch face but I do get notifications about these. My phone is usually with me for the time being until I get the cellular back on.

On my Modular Ultra watch face I have Heart Analyzer current heart rate, the date (hey Apple - get rid of the red dazy of the week so we can read the thing), current temperature, date and calendar events, battery, blood oxygen and activity rings. I really do not need it to mimic the stuff my phone does; I want other info handy.

I use Apple Pay when possible.

I think sleep tracking is okay but I don’t really know how accurate it is.

I am hard of hearing and my hearing aids come out at night. If I have an alarm set I cannot hear it so the wrist-tapping of the watch is my alarm.

I do not currently have it on cellular but am going to get it set up again soon. Then I really don’t need my phone with me everywhere I go.

I have considered going back to a normal watch and a ring, but there are too many plusses for me to change and I don’t really like to wear rings. I am not sure about an Ultra 3 update yet; I can use my blood oxygen without a workaround or concern about losing access altogether so I may just keep my Ultra until it drops.
 
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Shawn MacApple said:
After having a heart attack in 2014 my Watch (now Ultra 1) was invaluable in my recovery after not only a stent but a triple bypass a few months later. I had to walk every day a few times a day, and I also had to monitor my heart rate and distance as I walked. After many comparisons between my Watch readings and the doctor’s office equipment I foound my Watch to be fairly accurate and trusted the reading in my recovery. It is still an invaluable tool in my cardiac health using the Heart Analyzer app in conjunction with Apple Health.

I do not use Mail or Messages on my watch face but I do get notifications about these. My phone is usually with me for the time being until I get the cellular back on.

On my Modular Ultra watch face I have Heart Analyzer current heart rate, the date (hey Apple - get rid of the red dazy of the week so we can read the thing), current temperature, date and calendar events, battery, blood oxygen and activity rings. I really do not need it to mimic the stuff my phone does; I want other info handy.

I use Apple Pay when possible.

I think sleep tracking is okay but I don’t really know how accurate it is.

I am hard of hearing and my hearing aids come out at night. If I have an alarm set I cannot hear it so the wrist-tapping of the watch is my alarm.

I do not currently have it on cellular but am going to get it set up again soon. Then I really don’t need my phone with me everywhere I go.

I have considered going back to a normal watch and a ring, but there are too many plusses for me to change and I don’t really like to wear rings. I am not sure about an Ultra 3 update yet; I can use my blood oxygen without a workaround or concern about losing access altogether so I may just keep my Ultra until it drops.
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Thanks for sharing, and I wish you well ✌🏼.
 
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surferfb said:
Thread wasn’t originally about what features you’d miss, but it kinda turned into that for a bit.


I’ll repeat what I said in the previous thread. I went from wearing an Apple Watch from release day to moving to mechanical watches. I now have four mechanicals and am looking at buying fifth in the next couple of years.

I miss the health features (I wear an Oura ring now, but it isn’t the same), and Apple Pay is slightly less convenient using the phone. But I don’t ever see myself going back to smart watches. (That said, if you had asked me 8 years ago I would have said “I’ll always wear an Apple Watch!” So take my predictions with a grain of salt 🤣)
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fair enough, AW is not for everyone.
I hope that you stay healthy enough thru your lifetime that you don't need help or support from a gadget, and not every AW or smartwatch user for that matter "needs" that kinda gadget, some do and find tremendous value in a smartwatch.
I for one look forward to new health features/sensors to provide more insights ...
 
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Wheat would I miss most?

For me, the best thing about an Apple Watch is that I look at my phone less because quite a lot of I want to be informed about - time, recent messages, playback control of music and podcasts, contactless payment, incoming calls, etc - are all on the watch, so less taking ouT my phone, and less getting distracted and/or sucked into doom scrolling.

It sounds counter-intuitive to say 2 devices, a watch and a phone, reduces the amount of “time suck” one device, a phone, causes.

This mightn’t work for everyone, it works for me, and it alone makes the watch a good investment.
 
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I probably use it once a day or so to find my iPhone 😊

I really like not feeling like I need to carry my iPhone from room to room since I can answer calls on the Watch.

I use it for workouts to show and record exercises, sets and reps. (Because of this you should assume I have a beach body with washboard abs. 🤪)

Sleep tracking is definitely interesting to monitor. I use the fact that I never get enough Deep Sleep to justify to my spouse why I should be exempted from household responsibilities.
 
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I'm a teacher and have to bicker at students all day about phones. It's not entirely hypocritical for me to look at my phone, but somewhat. I find it much better and much less intrusive to glance at my watch for text, email, and phone notifications than having to take my phone out.
 
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ayephoner said:
I'm a teacher and have to bicker at students all day about phones. It's not entirely hypocritical for me to look at my phone, but somewhat. I find it much better and much less intrusive to glance at my watch for text, email, and phone notifications than having to take my phone out.
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Yep, fully agree. Often in a similar situation in work ( I run a lot of workshops, training courses etc.) and removing the need to look at my phone makes it easier to dissuade participants from looking at theirs.
 
I have been selling my automatic watches as I have been hooked on my Apple watch for years. Seems silly to keep watches that only come out once or twice a year. I glance at my AW first thing to check the weather every day. I use Stopwatch and Timer functions almost every day too. Texts, alerts, Apple pay. and cellular phone are bonuses.
 
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Howard2k said:
Fitness tracking, Apple Pay, time, alarms, Spotify.

I guess just all of them. My Apple Watch is possibly my favourite bit of tech.
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Yeah, same here, the watch is my go-to for so much, and yet remains entirely unobtrusive. Minus charging & cleaning, it never leaves my wrist. I don't stress about forgetting (or straight up leaving) my phone at home, but I feel absolutely nekkid without the watch.

Apple Pay is big for me, tracking workouts, timers, alarms, audiobooks, unlocking my computer, dismissing calls, weather/UV/AQI, Apple TV remote. Someone said it also works as a watch...
 
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Having been without mine a couple times for repairs over the years you definitely miss the notifications that subtly tap your wrist.

Timers for cooking as others have suggested (though I could do that on my phone or home pod)

I used to use Apple Pay a lot more, but seem to have forgotten to do so lately out of habit with just tapping physical card or using phone - good reminder to look at that and make sure the cards are in the right order!
 
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ayephoner said:
I'm a teacher and have to bicker at students all day about phones. It's not entirely hypocritical for me to look at my phone, but somewhat. I find it much better and much less intrusive to glance at my watch for text, email, and phone notifications than having to take my phone out.
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At our school district where I work, all students have to put their cell phone into a "phone locker" in each classroom during instruction.

But some students have smartwatches which defeats the purpose of the phone lockers....
 
4sallypat said:
At our school district where I work, all students have to put their cell phone into a "phone locker" in each classroom during instruction.

But some students have smartwatches which defeats the purpose of the phone lockers....
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We have these, but they are only for infractions. I refer to mine as "phone jail".

smartwatches still offer a distraction, but it's not nearly as bad as a phone. namely, there's no tiktok on a watch.
 
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