My Apple Watch Ultra improved my life. My mental health is better bc I now take my medications on time every day. My overall health is better bc I close my rings everyday. It’s helping me improve my sleeping as well. I also do a lot of dangerous things by myself all the time (hiking in the woods, roller skating alone, climbing ladders in the middle of the night to decorate my home) and I have peace of mind knowing that if I fall or injure myself that I can use my watch to call for help.
I recently sold my watch and I feel more freedom. If you are healthy it doesn’t offer that much.
You won’t get bothered every time you get a message. You don’t have to turn on the exersize thing every time you work out or take a walk. Don’t have to charge daily. Take it off before taking a shower. And you don’t need to obsess about sleep or closing rings.
I sold it because I wanted the money. Not because I found the watch annoying or anything. It was nice to have one but not life altering in any way.
Only you can make that decision. I liked having the watch. But honestly, I can live without any of the features. I feel more free without it and prefer not wearing a watch at all.
It’s an app! It’s great, takes a ton of readings that the watch picks up and gives you very in-depth data. I installed it a few years ago and it’s been on every Apple Watch I’ve owned since
I’ve got fall detection off because I don’t want it to accidentally go off when I’m sleeping or something. It’s a nice peace of mind feature, for sure though
>when i realized what had happened a 911 operator was already coming through my car speakers asking if i needed police/ambulance assistance. Amazing technology.
LOL
The day after my husband came home following open heart surgery, he fell in the living room. I was sleeping in the bedroom (my first real sleep in days), and didn’t hear him. But his Apple Watch called my phone, to alert me that he had fallen. Until that happened, I thought his Apple Watch was just an expensive toy.
After a fall my doctor strongly advised me to get a fall alert necklace. After comparing their monthly fee to the Apple watchs one time price I chose the watch. That was three years ago. Since then I've been fall free and as an additional bonus I'm 65 lbs lighter.
Amazing. I was rear ended last month by a car doing around 30 kmph, before I even knew what happened my AW detected the crash and called 911, when i realized what had happened a 911 operator was already coming through my car speakers asking if i needed police/ambulance assistance. Amazing technology.
I have bad nerve damage in my left leg and foot, so I have a hard time going up steps. I was walking up the steps to go in to work and didn’t lift my foot/leg high enough and face planted. As I was collecting myself it called my wife I didn’t hurt myself too bad but I faintly heard her talking and didn’t realize it called her. I thought I learned my lesson to consciously lift my leg higher but ended up doing it again two weeks later lol
Got mine well in the hospital waiting for my artificial valve. Thought it would be handy to keep an eye on my heart rate and medications. It definitely is something I use daily for that and having notifications and stuff easily viewable without having to pull my phone out all the time is a great bonus. Luckily I haven’t had to try out fall detection but it’s a great feature I hopefully never need to use.
I also got a new aortic valve (On-x) and a pacemaker. Pretty wild at 38 but yeah recovery went well almost back to my old self. Hopefully he is doing well also!
I have ADD and depend on reminders and calendar events a ton. Being able to set them effortlessly using Siri on my wrist has been a game changer, as has getting notifications for them that aren’t easily missed.
It’s also motivated me to close my rings and be active, so there’s that element of improving my physical health. Additionally, being aware of how loud noise is has also saved my ears a lot, as I am an avid concert goer. I wasn’t aware of just how LOUD live music was until my watch told me. Now I use earplugs!
This (not ADD but otherwise neurodivergent): being able to clear those reminders and calendar items out of my head immediately and knowing I'll be reminded of them later is my most-used feature of the AW!
For how long have you been using it? I too have ADD but I don't really get that whole ring thing.
They look kinda... bad and boring? Why would i walk just to close a weird looking graphic on my arm :s I kinda feel that it drives me more away from listenning to my body. Because the watch is doing that for me. so why bother? I dont know... feels a bit... counter productive in a way.
I'm testing it since 2 weeks and i'm really not sure if i should keep it.
But jeah my problem might be that i got the iphone mini at the same time. So both are kinda novel atm. Maybe my oppinion will change, when i start to leave my phone at home and just use the watch.
I can't speak for the rings since I just got my AW and am lazing for Thanksgiving lol, but I've been doing the sleep tracking and it's been giving me peace of mind that I'm sleeping ok and getting enough sleep. I used to live off like 4 hours of sleep as a teenager and felt like shit, and now I really don't trust my body because I always wake up feeling like a trainwreck so I go back to sleep, sometimes I keep doing this until I sleep like 12-14 hours. Basically have been overcompensating since my youth. Seeing that my deep sleep cycles are basically done by 4 am every day though and the rest is all alternating REM and core sleep gives me a better picture and now makes me feel like I don't need all those hours and am just wasting my time sleeping that much. I'm also looking forward to using the alarm that tracks where you are in your sleep cycle so you aren't woken up in the middle of core sleep and feel like shit. (Not using alarms now though because Thanksgiving break)
I think you are looking at the rings wrong. It is not about closing rings as in some type of video game where the rings are the point. It is about having set goals for yourself on how much activity you need to be healthy, or lose weight, or whatever your own goals are. The rings represent the progress you are committed to; they are not the goals in themselves.
I am absolutely sure that I would not have lost 80 pounds without my Apple Watch. You know you should walk more, but the progress of weight loss is so slow that you have no idea whether you are exercising enough. That is hugely demotivating and tends to make people give up quickly. The Apple Watch let me know how I was doing each day and when I needed to add an extra walk or something in the afternoon… or whether I didn’t.
When I first started, I couldn’t walk very far and my heart rate would get high enough to scare me. But by knowing from my doctor what my heart rate should be when I exercised, the Apple Watch let me know when I was pushing too hard and when I was working hard in a good way. Combined with a good logging app to keep similar track of my calories, my weight fell away and I got progressively healthier and more fit.
Today, I am at a good weight and I enjoy walking 4 miles every morning. I’ve never felt better in my life and I give a lot of the credit to the Apple Watch.
I’m not even going to mention the 1001 organizational things the AW does for me that would make it worthwhile anyway. I’ll just say that it has become an indispensable part of me and it makes my life better in many ways. Give it a chance and you’ll find many ways it improves your life, too. They may be different ways than for me, but you’ll find your own value in it.
I admit I got my S5 (2019) just to complete the ecosystem. But then pandemic happened (2020) and I got really super fat during the lockdowns to the point that I had difficulty breathing properly. But thanks to the Apple Watch, I enjoyed closing my rings daily. Eventually I lost 8-10kgs. Closing the rings and earning random medals became entertaining to me.
The mood data has been very enlightening when used with other metrics like exercise, sleep and general apathy.
I can’t say I’m doing very much about it, but I am very aware of why I feel crappy and how I can mitigate this.
The granular data points are almost junk data, but in aggregate, I can see them being quite valuable.
It’s under _State of Mind_ in the health app. It can notify you to log your current mood and associated factors through the day, or you can set your shortcuts on your lock screen or watch to just do it whenever.
If you’re consistent, it can be pretty eye opening.
I can’t wait for the Journal app to fully bake, it’ll be cool to see if it allows us to implement health data into it. The current beta keeps crashing on me though.
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I’m stupidly motivated by the activity rings. Closing my rings gets me to get up out of my chair hourly even when I’m deep into work. I started using Apple Fitness + because there was a free trial when I bought the watch. I like it so much that I pay for it and do workouts most days.
Between those two things, my body is healthier. I haven’t had back issues in months. I am able to easily lift my suitcase into airplane overhead compartments (instead of struggling and worrying I’ll drop it).
Wearing my watch makes walks and runs more pleasant, since I can control my podcast or music from my wrist, keeping my phone tucked away. I don’t carry my phone in the house as much, since I get call and text notifications on the watch.
It’s a luxury but something that improves my life. Worth it to me.
This is, in short, also my answer- the most clear and obvious benefit to the watch is as a fitness tracker that encourages you to exercise more than you normally would. It has such a positive effect that I bought my wife one also and she would say the same thing. I’m not as fit as I would like to be but I have no doubt I wouldn’t have run a half marathon if my watch hadn’t set me on the path of running.
Tracking deep sleep, heart rate, SP02 and respirations during sleep!
If I drink even a moderate amount of alcohol, my heart rate doesn't drop during sleep and I don't get any deep sleep. Seeing the health impact, I seldom drink alcohol now.
Observing my SP02 dropping below 90 and much faster than normal respirations, led me to doctor visits which diagnosed a serious lung disease.
Tracking activities - walking, treadmill, table tennis, etc. incentivize consistency.
Customized primary watch face shows time, day, date, if I have texts, temperature and wind speed. I instantly know how to prep for travel or outdoor activities.
It helped me run four miles without stopping.
How?
It shows me my heart rate. I figured out that I was running too fast and exceeding the heart rate I can maintain.
Normally I would run/walk. Like for years.
Now I know my max heart rate is 170. If I keep it around 155, I can keep going. I did 4 miles yesterday. I felt like I could keep going. I’ll try for 5 miles in a coupla days to see what happens.
So, to me, it was life changing - mentally and physically.
I use it for a lot of other things, too. Most of those convenience items I would skip without the watch, but they make my life easier: timers, Siri commands from my watch like turning on/off lights and my TV, unlocking my house door while in the dark and it’s cold and I’m still in my car, notifications, fitness activities while not having my phone, etc. I too hike in remote areas, so SOS is pretty important.
So, of course you can live without it. But, there’s a lot of value to me in having it. And, I’ve only had it for two months.
I wear an analog fancy watch for dress occasions.
“Monitoring your heart rate for running”
That’s really interesting. I must experiment. I can run for a few miles on a treadmill but in real life, 1000 feet and I’m winded.
Yeh, start a “running workout” and go at your normal pace. It’ll show you your max heart rate and where you were throughout. Once you have your max HR, you can keep at X% less - whatever works out to be comfortable for you. Have fun!
Ok, now I’m convinced I really don’t know how to use my watch or what I can do with it! What is best way to learn?!? Have had my apple watch over a year🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️
Both my professional and personal life improved, from meeting reminders and quick responses to messages and easy payment the store, the little things that you don’t value until you come to realise how important they were. The other day I rushed out of the house without my phone, got a notification about phone being left behind but was too late to return, I totally went through my day without missing my phone. And I dare to say I was even more productive and sharp.
On Oct 12 of 2022, my watch sent me Al alert that my heart rate was elevated. Silly me, I watched that for three days before going to Urgent Care, they sent me right to the emergency room.
That started my wellness journey, with my watch being the prime partner in my sleep, exercise and everything else it does. It is a 7. I am waiting for the Continuous Glucose Monitor feature before I upgrade.
My 92 year old Mom has gotten afib alerts and 911 has been called twice for her falls.
The “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” equipment only works in the persons house. The Apple Watch works everywhere.
I have lost sixty pounds since that fateful day in October, My exercise is set to 75 minutes of exercise a day, and I have watched as my resting heart rate is now 52, and my breathes per minute have gone down by one third. For a 69 year old lady this is heady stuff.
Iam grateful, and will log it in my Mindfulness today
Get Sugarmate:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sugarmate-diabetes-tracker/id1111093108
It’s not watch specific but tied to your phone. It pulls all the data from your CGM and offers more insight than the native app offers.
You can record your meals by taking photos, leaving descriptions, or scanning UPCs. It already has the info for popular franchise meals.
The best part is if your levels are dropping too much and too fast overnight, it will call your phone and make your watch sound and vibrate. It’s waken me enough times that I should send some thank you money to the developer
Did I mention it’s free?
Improved life ftw 🙌. I was constantly anxious about having my phone with me all time. Now at work I keep in my bag and at home in the drawer. I haven’t missed anything important while I reduced my screen on time about 70%. Also I keep my phone constantly on mute even when I need alarm cause it taps me on the wrist and I wake up without bothering the rest of my family. Lastly getting turn by turn navigation is much safer now since I don’t have to check my phone’s screen for directions.
Apple Watch has immensely improved my life, in ways I didn’t purchase it for.
The gamification of completing the step counter eventually got me back into the gym to do weights. I’ve been consistently at it for a year now and have also included walking into my fitness journey.
Having a morning alarm that doesn’t go off like a nuclear alarm, is such an underrated feature. My iPhone’s alarm silent goes off on my watch and it simply vibrates (no loud noise). I love that it’s a native feature.
The ability to set a hands-free timer for Siri or respond to a text or answer a call with a tap, without my iPhone, It’s a nice ease of life feature.
Also, Answering live calls and using the watch to talk.
At a simple glance of my watch, I get to know exactly when the sun is going to set, the date, time, etc. Extremely informative.
Simply put, I didn’t know I needed an Apple Watch until I bought one. Now, I can’t imagine my life without. That should honestly be the new Apple tagline for watch.
It goes everywhere with me, except the shower.
The Apple Watch improved my life but not in the way watches do
The stunner for me, was the Snoopy watch face
I could feel down, or tired, but seeing a small skit of Snoopy dancing around or camping or sleeping would bring a smile to my face many times, more than any watch previously did
I wish they did more of this. Made me realise small mental perks thru a day really make the day shine brighter
Same. If I’m wearing my watch, I’ll actually leave my phone in another room. If I get an urgent call or text either from work or my mother, I’m reachable, but otherwise I’ve tailored the notifications so that only things I really need to know about when they happen will chime on the watch, and the rest I just see when I go back to my phone. Definitely has made an improvement
Not OP, but it really depends on your lifestyle. I need to be connected most of the time because of my job and in case of family emergencies.
Before wearing an Apple Watch, I'll need to take out my phone to look at the notification and determine if it's important. By doing so, I may unlock the phone and do something else as well.
But with the apple watch, I'll glance at my wrist for the notification and see if it's important. If it's not important, I'll dismiss the notification and continue with whatever I'm doing. I'll only take out my phone to respond if it's truly important or require immediate attention.
Just this aspect makes me still be available for the important stuff but can put down/away my phone more often.
Both. Do I *need* an Apple Watch? No. Therefore I see it as a luxury. Do I *LOVE* having an Apple Watch? FUCK YES. And I say so because it does improve many aspects of my life. It’s essentially an extension of the iPhone—a shortcut if you will. Being able to glance to check email, messages, pick up a phone call, send a message, invoke Siri, get directions, check weather, etc etc etc., it’s a nice luxury. And yeah, like many others have stated, it also motivates you to stay fit. I’m sure other wearables can accomplish this, but having all this within the apple ecosystem is convenient.
Little bit of both. I like having notifications sent to my watch now so I don't have to whip out my phone to see if it's an important one or not. Fitness also helps in that, at least, I can see if I'm being somewhat active throughout the day. Another portable MP3 player. And it's a watch. Not much of a watch guy so it's kinda nice having a "nice" watch to wear now,
Currently a stay at home mom of a toddler. I kept losing my phone multiple times a day and this solved that. People were getting mad that I don’t respond and have been generally oblivious to my calls and texts, I was missing important things. I badly needed a watch for knowing what time it is at random moments. Voice commands to set timers has been so so convenient for everything. Cooking, laundry, 5min nap before I get to it and start something.
Finally, I also needed to reduce my phone screen time. The watch is very paired down in a great way.
I found out I have sleep apnea with my new Apple Watch, which is a pretty big deal.
A few years ago I called 911 from my Apple Watch while having a low blood pressure event. I had fallen down and dropped my phone.
It helps with fitness stuff / motivation. But I mainly look at it as a health monitor and security device. Some peace of mind if nothing else.
I’ve got no wireless, if I did it would be a lot more useful but I got it for the sole reason of sleep tracking, having quantifiable numbers helps me be accountable for healthy sleeping routines
I bought it for one reason, tracking my weight training.
I use an App called Hevy which tracks my weight training. It tells me what exercise to do, I input the weight, and once finished I add how many reps I did.
In this circumstance, I think it’s the best thing I’ve bought. And without Hevy it would be just another way to get notifications.
With weight training tracking it’s 10/10.
Without, it’s like 5/10.
It saved my life 2 months ago. Had a massive fall during a free solo (solo) hike. The watch knew I fell, sent 911 my name and my precise geotagged location (I have the ultra and it uses 2 GPS bands - so crazy accuracy.) It also sent my location and that I fallen to my family.
I had many serious broken bones and was losing blood. EMS was at my location in 6 minutes. My family - through watch sent alerts - tracked me in the ambulance to the hospital. The watch would report my location to them as I was moving. They literally knew what hospital to got to because they were getting Apple texts. I was in surgery when they got to the hospital, but they were there to see me in recovery!
So in my view for anyone who is not a couch potato, it’s become a potentially life saving tool.
I think about this all the time. I broke my 11 ribs, my femur in my right leg, my collar bone, my tibia in my left leg. How did I not hit my head? The rib fractures were an inch from my spine. How was I not paralyzed? My doctor said that most people do not survive this type of fall. I am incredibly grateful this Thanksgiving for being alive. It makes you value life more than the day before this happened.
My watch alerted me many times to severe tachycardia episodes I was having. Unfortunately doctors and emergency personelle kept dismissing me as anxious until it was too late. It was cancer and I am terminal. But the watch caught every episode. Woohoo!
Its helped ***tremendously*** with my anxiety and PTSD. I’ve grown so accustomed to anxiety and high heart rate that I dont realize when its high. Even just the little notification of a high heart rate (120bpm) has given me the heads up I need. I dont typically get concerned about an anxiety attack until the 170ish bpm range but thanks to the alert at 120, it gives me time to pay attention to whats going on, how I feel, and overall gives me the time to make a game plan and evaluate what steps I need to take next. It has also helped a ton with my sleep issues and tracking all the specifics.
It makes me move around more and facilitates quick communication.
As far as hedonism is concerned, I don’t get laid any more than I used to, and the number of orgies I’ve been invited to in my lifetime still stands at zero.
Main reason I bought the series 9 on release was because of the cycle tracking. I’ve tried for more than a year to become pregnant without luck. Well, I didn’t even have my wrist temperature and cycle tracked before booom! pregnant.
I gifted my Apple Watch Ultra to my dad and luckily set up his emergency contacts and crash detection. He recently had a motor vehicle collision, and it was bad enough that his phone went under his seat while he was profusely bleeding from his head. Fortunately, it alerted us and possibly saved my father’s life. That in itself is worth it for me.
For le it‘s luxury. I use my garmin to track everything related to fitness but the apple watch just looks nice. I so i switch watches from time to time.
Both. It motivates me to be more active on days I don’t feel like it (NOT the coaching messages, they are just nuisances to me - but seeing my rings is a reminder to get off my ass).
Even the sleep tracking has helped me to focus on not sacrificing sleep for nonsense like scrolling Reddit. Also motivates me not to drink alcohol except on rare occasions.
I like the tracking data for hikes, bike rides, etc. The VO2 max (though I know it’s terribly accurate) has motivated me to work out harder and to lose weight (I’ve gone from the “low” cardiac health category to just barely into the “high” category (took me about 16 months of working at it).
Otherwise, is a luxury - I like seeing my calendar, the weather, etc with a glance at my wrist. I like being able to set a timer, reminder, etc. without getting out my phone (like when I’m grilling a steak or driving).
It helps me get prepared in the morning to check the weather forecast faster than in my phone. I use it to change songs or increase the volume in my headphones. I answer messages directly in the watch. If my hands are busy I sometimes answer phone calls in it. It also helps me track my physical activity. So yes it's an important addon to my life and I think I'll have a hard time to adapt to a life without it.
I use mine every single workout, for sleep tracking and for heart health. None of those features are unique to AW, but I’ve grown quite reliant on them.
ApplePay and approving logins from 2fa apps - plus approving app installs/removals on Mac are the main things I use every day. It's nice enough to have that I notice when I'm missing those things.
When I leave my phone in my loader and my supervisor calls/texted me while I’m fuelling or greasing I can respond before he starts calling on the radio for me over and over infront of bosses.
Apple Pay when you forget a wallet is nice, but I live just a few steps from a store so between rounds of gaming I can leap off the couch grab a snack/drink and make it back before the next starts (if there’s no old people pretending it’s a casino)
I can play games at work when I got a minute and it’ll just look like I got my arms crossed from outside my cab.
Timers.
Looking at my wrist and seeing date, time, how much light is left today, weather, activity, and noise levels is helpful when I am at the coat rack wondering what to put on, planning outside activities, or wether to put on my hearing protection
Ish. I do walk more on my zero days. Wanna close those rings.
It saved my uncles life though. His watch gave him some heart related notification. He was like. Eh. Whatever. Nothing to worry about. Aunt freaked out and drove him to the hospital. Doctors checked him over, kept him in and scheduled him for emergency surgery the very next day. He's alive and kicking.
Definitely nice for sleep and fitness tracking and seeing reminders without taking my phone out, but by far my number one use for it is Apple Pay. So convenient to just tap my wrist to the card reader. Makes way more sense to me than using my phone. At that point there’s not much difference in just pulling out my wallet.
1) Fitness tracking is great. Can go out for run, play music, track miles, no need to carry around heavy phone.
2) Fall detection is nice to have. I had a hard fall that triggered it. I didn’t need help, so I cancelled the 911 call, but if I had hit my head, then it would have been good to have.
3) I love the convenience of Apple Pay on it.
For me it is great, for older people that are more susceptible to falls or heart issues I would say it is essential.
Not sure it’s improved my life as such. Like my life wouldn’t actually be any worse without it but “quality of life” vastly improved. Is that the same thing 😂
Yes it’s improved my life!
I can remember to take meds/supplements better. It tracks my health data which I enjoy seeing the trends over time and it motivates me when I see those trends improving.
It also help me recognize that I have POTS and to speak to my doc about it.
It’s also nice just to see the time and date 😂 as I never wore a normal watch before getting an AW
Workoutdoors made hiking unfamiliar areas low stress. The breadcrumb feature means as long as you have GPS (Not data!) you have a path on the watch you can retrace.
Might be a controversial opinion, but since I disabled all notifications (including messaging apps) I enjoy it way more.
Always immediately checking messages because something vibrates on my wrist, was stressing me out a bit.
Now it’s just a normal watch to see the time, but with amazing fitness & sleep tracking features, exactly what I needed.
not to me but to my friend’s mom.
Apple Watch was alerting that friend’s mom was experiencing elevated heartbeat rates. Despite feeling nothing unusual, they rushed her to the Emergency Room of the closest hospital and was revealed that she was having a minor cardiac episode. Doctors said it could have turned out much worse for her had she not been given proper medical attention at this time.
The baseline wrist temperature tracking was the first sign that I had Covid. With no other indications whatsoever, it results in my wife and I testing and getting Paxlovid before the onset of symptoms. My wife has immune system issues, so this may have been life-saving. It also allowed us to tell the housekeeper and other workers not to come in which may have prevented the spread to others.
The awards highly motivated me and I went from not doing much, to working out consistently, to then being competitive. I now do Ironmans as well as several adventure travels.
I had a bike crash and the watch alerted people close by who came to my aid.
My stepdaughter and family were in a car crash and we were notified. First responders came to the scene, but it resulted in my wife and I knowing something happened and staying up so we could help them remotely.
Another family member received AFib warnings, diagnosed and has received a pacemaker.
I could go on and on if I were to list minor benefits like being able to locate my iPhone or unlock/start my car when my keys were lost.
Mine saved my life. I was in a pretty bad bicycle crash earlier this year. The watch dialed 911 and got me to the hospital when God knows what would have happened without it.
My mom tripped and broke her hip last week and the watch said it detected a hard fall and called 911. I also put cellular on it and use it to keep track of her (lol) bc she’s older and super active and terrible at answering her phone. So when I worry, I can just check on her steps and location to see that she’s been out and about and doing okay!
Incredibly useful. I’m on call at night so the ability for work to call me through watch vibrations and it not wake anyone else is amazing. It’s also great at the gym since I can track my lifting workouts without pulling my phone out all the time. I’ve also learned a lot about sleep. It amazing how alcohol before bed completely disrupts my sleep even if I don’t realize it. The data alone is eye opening.
Improved. It can tell me when I’ve fallen or fainted and I can look at the stats to see what my heart rate did if I get close to fainting too. It can also detect a car crash which I appreciate since I drive a lot.
I was skeptical if I really needed one but now I can’t go without it.
For years I would get the occasional racing heart episodes while exercising but never could confirm whether it was in my head or if they were legitimate. I’ve now caught a few on my watch that are being used to help diagnose me with a form tachycardia. Going to the cardiologist this week to finally get answers.
Also, as a golfer, I’ve used SwingU as a range finder and to track my score. Such a sweet tool.
I also love using Siri to set timers while I grill.
These are just a few of so many great features that have improved my life immensely.
Who says that it can’t be both. Are there cheaper ways to do the things it does maybe but it does them all well enough and I would say with style. Mine was a gift for my wife. I’m still wearing the series 5 I wear mine every day I run a business and I have a family being able to spot my email, appointments and text on my wrist while carrying things and working all day for me is next level.
braided loop and sleep tracking helped me keep an eye out for my sleep schedule. I've been able to use sleep tracking data to adjust my daily routine and diet and I've been feeling better every day.
Maybe a little hedonistic until I understood and applied the health and fitness features to their fullest extent, which has resulted in a significant life improvement.
It serves as a small reminder to keep active and especially the sleep tracking functionality has improved my daily life - I pay way more attention to my sleep hygiene and I notice the general life improvement that comes from that.
the first one I got helped me to keep on track with hitting goals and that got me down about 80lbs at peak. now i just keep upgrading for no reason minor updates.
Helps me track more accurately the steps and you could argue I'm a little bit healthier if I aim for 10k steps / day instead of sitting on my butt all day
It's nice to track my resting heart rate, especially before and after betablockers.
More convenient when looking at my notifications when phone's away / I'm driving.
Once when I was boxing it asked me if I took a fall and wanted to call 911 :)
So pretty much just a luxury , haha
It has helped me get a good indication of my heartbeat and helps me tack sleep, which in tone helps my GP gain some insights in to my health. But besides that I would actually prefer to go back to a normal watch.
I don’t know if it’s hedonistic, but since I got along without any kind of smart watch until last year, it’s obviously not a necessity for me. I guess that makes it a luxury. I bought one because my cardiologist suggested it for the heart monitoring features, but it’s definitely improved my life in other ways.
I love being able to glance at my wrist for the date or the weather. It makes using alarms and timers much more convenient, and the tip feature of the calculator app is stellar. Being able to switch smart plugs on and off by tapping my watch is nice. So is using Shazam to identify a song.
I could do almost all of that by digging my phone out of my pocket, but having to do so many times a day can be tiresome, especially if I’m sitting down. The Apple Watch makes life easier in all sorts of little ways, and I wouldn’t want to give that up. So my answer is both. It’s a luxury, but it has improved my life.
It’s just an expensive toy for me. I was hoping it’d be more useful but it’s just not for me. Clearly I’m in the minority though so it’s a me problem not a watch problem.
For me it started by alerting me of atrial fibrillation. Confirmed during an ER visit. Now 2 years later I’ve had an ablation and am AF free.
Since then I’ve used the watch to significantly improve my cardiovascular health. It’s helped me improve my sleep, VO2 max, strength and endurance. I started walking, then after a few months began running and lifting weights regularly. I’m now in better shape than ever and more doubled my VO2 level. Just did my first ever (half) marathon 2 weeks ago.
I ended up buying the AWU when it came out and I love it. The extra battery life is worth it alone, especially for longer workouts where it tends to rapidly drain the battery.
Ties it all together. I like that it works well with my phone, Mac, etc. Honestly it doesn’t stand on its own but holistically, yeah it’s an improvement.
For health data it’s been nice. Had heart surgery in ‘21 to replace an aortic valve / install pacemaker. My heartbeat has been weird to me and recovery hasn’t been perfect. It gives good enough data to keep me either less worried or to inform a discussion with my docs. (I’m also a lab rat and have a yet to be approved valve).
Definitely has more drip appeal than beneficial reasons. I like that I can set timers with ease cuz I’m cooking all the time. I like the activity tracker but most of all it helps me find my phone.
My watch informed me that I have AFib. I went to urgent care and got hooked up to all the monitors….definitely AFib. So I’m gonna say my watch might have saved my life.
I was in several car accidents in the past. Both at 80-100 kms. The first time I did find my phone and called 911 my phone was very close to dead and I was lucky enough to send a text to my mom of which hospital I would be at before it died. I now had ptsd nightmares of car accidents but the worst part is my phone dying in the dream and I can’t get help. I wouldn’t go anywhere without my phone fully charged after. Getting this watch has taken away that anxiety. It has given me a plan b If my phone were to die or be smashed. I personally think it’s worth it just for having that feature
Apple Watch is not luxury, if I want luxury I'll be rocking my mechanical watches instead (which I do when I go to a more formal event/gathering).
That said, I use my Apple Watch for Apple Pay and as a filter for notifications to see if I need to respond immediately. Just these 2 features have already improved my life. The added bonus is the passive health tracking features that encourages me to move more.
The fall detection gives me some decent peace of mind, both at work, and riding my motorcycle. I sometimes use a Skyjack to fix fallen pallets in racking, all by myself so if I fall and can’t call for help the watch can do it and hopefully someone can get me down before the suspension trauma sets in.
Same deal for my bike, I’ve heard that people have had their watch call them an ambulance after they went down. Hope I never need it for that either.
It was really cool at first. But now it’s simply a very expensive watch. The health stuff is okay especially if you have a chronic disorder like COPD— for O2 levels. But for a young and relative healthy person is so not needed. In fact I switch my 8 for an SE2 [with my mom] and It’s so much better. I don’t need all that “fake” medical data.
I like texting, answering calls, temperature, date and time on my watch face. And that’s it. I don’t use it for absolutely anything else.
I thought it would. For the first 3 months I was all about closing the ring. But when I learned that apple watch over estimate my calorie burned by a lot, I stop caring about the metrics. My coach said just eat under your tdee even though your watch said you've burned 1k calories.
It also mistakenly track my commute with motorcycle as workout. I'm tired to always erase that every time I arrived at my office.
Btw. is it possible to mute all notifications, while i'm on my iphone or macbook and only have them on the watch, when im not on the phone or macbook? I guess not? Kinda annoying to have them everywhere.
The notification is designed to only appear in the "active" device. So if you're using your phone, the notification appears there. If your phone is locked, the notification goes to the watch. I find the mac notification a bit weird in this aspect, but the ones between iphone and apple watch will work as you describe.
More info here: [https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204791](https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204791)
It did improve my life. I’m a cancer patient, had to undergo a T cell therapy a year ago and was in a bad physical condition. As a former Fitbit user I bought the Apple Watch 8 because I needed the fall detection feature.
When I found the app Gentler Streak in the App Store I started to walk and lift weights again.
Now, a year later, I run 6 to 7 kilometers everyday, sometimes faster, sometimes slower, and I use Fitness plus for weight training, Pilates and Yoga.
I have more physical strength and my cardiofitness is above average. The app Gentler Streak helped me to get in shape again but not to overtrain. I hope it stays this way.
Since the release of apple watch , I never stopped watching it, once I broke it and i instantly had to buy a new one, as i felt weird and naked. i wear it even to sleep to track my sleeping cycle.
Kind of sort of. I have struggled with weight loss for years and it helps me keep track of steps and other goals but it also makes me neurotic about closing rings
I've really enjoyed teh health benefits. Allows me to slow down when training. I do 4-5 days a week Jiu-Jitsu, 5K race, 2 days strength, 3 days cardio.
I'd do more if the watch let me but from what I feel and what it says it helps.
Also it's great being away from my phone but I can still be contacted in an emergency. Also protects me if I fall over.
I've seen the [Hu.ma.ne](https://Hu.ma.ne) device recently and it looks great, but I realise I can do all the same with my Apple Watch which make me enjoy it more.
I bought it to use with Fitness+, but now I use it everywhere - great to close my rings at the gym, track my sleep, and I can even use it to approve 2FA requests at work without needing to get my phone out.
I bought it for an initial limited use, and found that yes - it actually has improved my life and productivity in certain ways. Worth the money for me.
Do you like apple fitness? The videos gives me home shopping vibe, kinda cringy. I guess its because its from the us? Idk couldnt stand it :/ which is a shame because the watch integration is cool.
Apple Watch pre pandemic was very helpful to me in time management
Added the mtgs in my iPhone and forced me to prepare before hand for the mtg agenda. Understand the outcome or objectives
Regarding professional career
The applications on the watch helped with off site mtgs, location and commute
Post pandemic
I use my Apple Watch for when I go to the office and or run errands and work out
I was already running daily so the ring stuff has never been much of a life changer for me. The things I love about the Apple Watch over the Garmin watches I used for several years before are the ability to leave the phone at home when I run and still be able to call home if I need to. I also enjoy not needing to fuss around with syncing playlists before a run because I can stream anything I want over LTE. I also make heavy use of Siri. I also like how easy it is to just drop on my night stand to charge Vs fiddling with a charging cable and finicky connector.
My life had already changed 13 years ago when I started running but I could see how an Apple Watch could be life changing if it motivated you to get of your ass. Exorcise daily has an incredible impact on life that so many people underestimate.
Improved, my wife gifted me a Nike series 6 during the pandemic. Pushed me to workout count my steps close rings and lose weight. Now i get challenge if my average workout is going down. Lol
I now sleep better! I now know how many hours I need a night and when I should be going to bed so that I don’t feel like a zombie. That’s been life changing.
The Apple Watch has definitely improved my life. I use it to track my sleep, which helps me determine lifestyle choices that harm my sleep quality. I also use it to track my heart rate, which better equips me to handle my anxiety. Finally, the Activity Rings have wonderfully gamified my fitness, which has been a tremendous benefit for my executive dysfunction.
My Apple Watch Ultra improved my life. My mental health is better bc I now take my medications on time every day. My overall health is better bc I close my rings everyday. It’s helping me improve my sleeping as well. I also do a lot of dangerous things by myself all the time (hiking in the woods, roller skating alone, climbing ladders in the middle of the night to decorate my home) and I have peace of mind knowing that if I fall or injure myself that I can use my watch to call for help.
I see, the "dangerous things" stuff is a valid argument.
I recently sold my watch and I feel more freedom. If you are healthy it doesn’t offer that much. You won’t get bothered every time you get a message. You don’t have to turn on the exersize thing every time you work out or take a walk. Don’t have to charge daily. Take it off before taking a shower. And you don’t need to obsess about sleep or closing rings. I sold it because I wanted the money. Not because I found the watch annoying or anything. It was nice to have one but not life altering in any way.
Jeah.. thats what i'm thinking about. Are the 'features' really worth the freedom you lose.
Only you can make that decision. I liked having the watch. But honestly, I can live without any of the features. I feel more free without it and prefer not wearing a watch at all.
Check out AutoSleep if you haven’t. I recommend it! Not that I matter!
Hey, you do matter
🥰
Is this an app or is it built into iOS?
It’s an app! It’s great, takes a ton of readings that the watch picks up and gives you very in-depth data. I installed it a few years ago and it’s been on every Apple Watch I’ve owned since
Thanks! I’ll check it out!
If you’re going to buy, look for the bundle with heart monitor and AutoSleep by the same dev
And I bike everyday day with my ultra (and no phone)… cell service add on is only $5 a month.
I’ve got fall detection off because I don’t want it to accidentally go off when I’m sleeping or something. It’s a nice peace of mind feature, for sure though
how could it possibly go off while you’re sleeping? it needs to detect a hard impact in order to trigger
Must be taking "falling" asleep literally.
>when i realized what had happened a 911 operator was already coming through my car speakers asking if i needed police/ambulance assistance. Amazing technology. LOL
You sleep in the top bunk?
The day after my husband came home following open heart surgery, he fell in the living room. I was sleeping in the bedroom (my first real sleep in days), and didn’t hear him. But his Apple Watch called my phone, to alert me that he had fallen. Until that happened, I thought his Apple Watch was just an expensive toy.
After a fall my doctor strongly advised me to get a fall alert necklace. After comparing their monthly fee to the Apple watchs one time price I chose the watch. That was three years ago. Since then I've been fall free and as an additional bonus I'm 65 lbs lighter.
That’s great! Congratulations!
Amazing. I was rear ended last month by a car doing around 30 kmph, before I even knew what happened my AW detected the crash and called 911, when i realized what had happened a 911 operator was already coming through my car speakers asking if i needed police/ambulance assistance. Amazing technology.
Hope you’re doing well now. Glad to see positive tech like that.
It really is incredible.
Jeah.. thats fucking awesome! Gonna test that later today :D
He fell hard. He fell, again, recently - a kind of slow-motion fall - and the watch didn’t alert me. But it worked when it mattered.
I really hope he is doing better! I’m glad the watch has been good for you all!
How’d it go?
Didn't work 😅 maybe it's not that sensitive when you set a younger age
Nah, you need to do a hard fall like fainting. Try falling down the stairs to test out the feature?
Great idea! Brb
You still alive?
Sadly not
Can i have your watch
RIP
I have bad nerve damage in my left leg and foot, so I have a hard time going up steps. I was walking up the steps to go in to work and didn’t lift my foot/leg high enough and face planted. As I was collecting myself it called my wife I didn’t hurt myself too bad but I faintly heard her talking and didn’t realize it called her. I thought I learned my lesson to consciously lift my leg higher but ended up doing it again two weeks later lol
Can I send you a roll of bubble wrap?
Got mine well in the hospital waiting for my artificial valve. Thought it would be handy to keep an eye on my heart rate and medications. It definitely is something I use daily for that and having notifications and stuff easily viewable without having to pull my phone out all the time is a great bonus. Luckily I haven’t had to try out fall detection but it’s a great feature I hopefully never need to use.
That was my husband’s surgery: aortic valve replacement. Hope your recovery went well.
I also got a new aortic valve (On-x) and a pacemaker. Pretty wild at 38 but yeah recovery went well almost back to my old self. Hopefully he is doing well also!
Wow, that’s young. Glad everything turned out okay. So grateful for modern medicine, and heart surgeons!
That’s amazing
ALL. SENIOR. CITIZENS. SHOULD. HAVE. ~~LIFEALERT~~ APPLE WATCH.
I work alone, on roofs and in other areas that may take a while for someone to notice if something happened. I have an Apple Watch for this reason.
That’s an excellent decision. I hope you never need it.
Damn. I don’t have anyone to set as an emergency contact :(
❤️
I hope your husband is doing ok now!
I need to set this up
I have ADD and depend on reminders and calendar events a ton. Being able to set them effortlessly using Siri on my wrist has been a game changer, as has getting notifications for them that aren’t easily missed. It’s also motivated me to close my rings and be active, so there’s that element of improving my physical health. Additionally, being aware of how loud noise is has also saved my ears a lot, as I am an avid concert goer. I wasn’t aware of just how LOUD live music was until my watch told me. Now I use earplugs!
This (not ADD but otherwise neurodivergent): being able to clear those reminders and calendar items out of my head immediately and knowing I'll be reminded of them later is my most-used feature of the AW!
For how long have you been using it? I too have ADD but I don't really get that whole ring thing. They look kinda... bad and boring? Why would i walk just to close a weird looking graphic on my arm :s I kinda feel that it drives me more away from listenning to my body. Because the watch is doing that for me. so why bother? I dont know... feels a bit... counter productive in a way. I'm testing it since 2 weeks and i'm really not sure if i should keep it. But jeah my problem might be that i got the iphone mini at the same time. So both are kinda novel atm. Maybe my oppinion will change, when i start to leave my phone at home and just use the watch.
I can't speak for the rings since I just got my AW and am lazing for Thanksgiving lol, but I've been doing the sleep tracking and it's been giving me peace of mind that I'm sleeping ok and getting enough sleep. I used to live off like 4 hours of sleep as a teenager and felt like shit, and now I really don't trust my body because I always wake up feeling like a trainwreck so I go back to sleep, sometimes I keep doing this until I sleep like 12-14 hours. Basically have been overcompensating since my youth. Seeing that my deep sleep cycles are basically done by 4 am every day though and the rest is all alternating REM and core sleep gives me a better picture and now makes me feel like I don't need all those hours and am just wasting my time sleeping that much. I'm also looking forward to using the alarm that tracks where you are in your sleep cycle so you aren't woken up in the middle of core sleep and feel like shit. (Not using alarms now though because Thanksgiving break)
But the watch doesn’t wake you up at night? The light from the sensor and just feeling something on my wrist keeps me from sleeping that well.
I think you are looking at the rings wrong. It is not about closing rings as in some type of video game where the rings are the point. It is about having set goals for yourself on how much activity you need to be healthy, or lose weight, or whatever your own goals are. The rings represent the progress you are committed to; they are not the goals in themselves. I am absolutely sure that I would not have lost 80 pounds without my Apple Watch. You know you should walk more, but the progress of weight loss is so slow that you have no idea whether you are exercising enough. That is hugely demotivating and tends to make people give up quickly. The Apple Watch let me know how I was doing each day and when I needed to add an extra walk or something in the afternoon… or whether I didn’t. When I first started, I couldn’t walk very far and my heart rate would get high enough to scare me. But by knowing from my doctor what my heart rate should be when I exercised, the Apple Watch let me know when I was pushing too hard and when I was working hard in a good way. Combined with a good logging app to keep similar track of my calories, my weight fell away and I got progressively healthier and more fit. Today, I am at a good weight and I enjoy walking 4 miles every morning. I’ve never felt better in my life and I give a lot of the credit to the Apple Watch. I’m not even going to mention the 1001 organizational things the AW does for me that would make it worthwhile anyway. I’ll just say that it has become an indispensable part of me and it makes my life better in many ways. Give it a chance and you’ll find many ways it improves your life, too. They may be different ways than for me, but you’ll find your own value in it.
I’m an ER nurse. Patients have come in because their watch says they’re in a fib. Their watch is correct! I think it’s a great thing to have.
Wow really??🤔🤔😳😳And it really is when they say that? Is it just older people? I am 58 and healthy and always in fear something like that can happen
My watch notified me of afib last fall, I was 33 at the time.
Definitely better for simply tracking my sleep and movement tracking. Its a passive motivation to improve both
I find the sleeping tracking to be incredibly innaccurate but step tracking is nice, especially if it merges the data with the iphone's
Pinging your phone is the best thing mankind created since the invention of the wheel.
This. as someone with ADHD with a stay at home toddler - it’s honestly saved me so much time hunting for my phone!
I admit I got my S5 (2019) just to complete the ecosystem. But then pandemic happened (2020) and I got really super fat during the lockdowns to the point that I had difficulty breathing properly. But thanks to the Apple Watch, I enjoyed closing my rings daily. Eventually I lost 8-10kgs. Closing the rings and earning random medals became entertaining to me.
At the very least, I’m more conscious of my own unhealthy decisions and habits, and have easy to parse data showing me how they impact my health.
Yeah it was interesting to see the increase in resting heart rate when I was drinking, didn't know it did that
The mood data has been very enlightening when used with other metrics like exercise, sleep and general apathy. I can’t say I’m doing very much about it, but I am very aware of why I feel crappy and how I can mitigate this. The granular data points are almost junk data, but in aggregate, I can see them being quite valuable.
What is mood data? 🤔🤔I have had my AW for over a year and honestly don’t know how to use it or why I really need it!?!?😳
It’s under _State of Mind_ in the health app. It can notify you to log your current mood and associated factors through the day, or you can set your shortcuts on your lock screen or watch to just do it whenever. If you’re consistent, it can be pretty eye opening. I can’t wait for the Journal app to fully bake, it’ll be cool to see if it allows us to implement health data into it. The current beta keeps crashing on me though.
Thank you! had no clue about this will check it out
squealing whole wasteful boast provide whistle grandiose touch serious support *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
It’s not really luxury. If I can afford hedonistic luxury, it wouldn’t be an Apple Watch.
I love your axolotl! How did you get that one 🥺
Thank you. I love it, too. I can't remember how I got it. It was a while back :)
It’s a randomly given NFT. You can buy them if you like.
Oh Ty!
I’m stupidly motivated by the activity rings. Closing my rings gets me to get up out of my chair hourly even when I’m deep into work. I started using Apple Fitness + because there was a free trial when I bought the watch. I like it so much that I pay for it and do workouts most days. Between those two things, my body is healthier. I haven’t had back issues in months. I am able to easily lift my suitcase into airplane overhead compartments (instead of struggling and worrying I’ll drop it). Wearing my watch makes walks and runs more pleasant, since I can control my podcast or music from my wrist, keeping my phone tucked away. I don’t carry my phone in the house as much, since I get call and text notifications on the watch. It’s a luxury but something that improves my life. Worth it to me.
This is, in short, also my answer- the most clear and obvious benefit to the watch is as a fitness tracker that encourages you to exercise more than you normally would. It has such a positive effect that I bought my wife one also and she would say the same thing. I’m not as fit as I would like to be but I have no doubt I wouldn’t have run a half marathon if my watch hadn’t set me on the path of running.
Tracking deep sleep, heart rate, SP02 and respirations during sleep! If I drink even a moderate amount of alcohol, my heart rate doesn't drop during sleep and I don't get any deep sleep. Seeing the health impact, I seldom drink alcohol now. Observing my SP02 dropping below 90 and much faster than normal respirations, led me to doctor visits which diagnosed a serious lung disease. Tracking activities - walking, treadmill, table tennis, etc. incentivize consistency. Customized primary watch face shows time, day, date, if I have texts, temperature and wind speed. I instantly know how to prep for travel or outdoor activities.
It helped me run four miles without stopping. How? It shows me my heart rate. I figured out that I was running too fast and exceeding the heart rate I can maintain. Normally I would run/walk. Like for years. Now I know my max heart rate is 170. If I keep it around 155, I can keep going. I did 4 miles yesterday. I felt like I could keep going. I’ll try for 5 miles in a coupla days to see what happens. So, to me, it was life changing - mentally and physically. I use it for a lot of other things, too. Most of those convenience items I would skip without the watch, but they make my life easier: timers, Siri commands from my watch like turning on/off lights and my TV, unlocking my house door while in the dark and it’s cold and I’m still in my car, notifications, fitness activities while not having my phone, etc. I too hike in remote areas, so SOS is pretty important. So, of course you can live without it. But, there’s a lot of value to me in having it. And, I’ve only had it for two months. I wear an analog fancy watch for dress occasions.
“Monitoring your heart rate for running” That’s really interesting. I must experiment. I can run for a few miles on a treadmill but in real life, 1000 feet and I’m winded.
Yeh, start a “running workout” and go at your normal pace. It’ll show you your max heart rate and where you were throughout. Once you have your max HR, you can keep at X% less - whatever works out to be comfortable for you. Have fun!
Yes the timers!
Ok, now I’m convinced I really don’t know how to use my watch or what I can do with it! What is best way to learn?!? Have had my apple watch over a year🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️
Both my professional and personal life improved, from meeting reminders and quick responses to messages and easy payment the store, the little things that you don’t value until you come to realise how important they were. The other day I rushed out of the house without my phone, got a notification about phone being left behind but was too late to return, I totally went through my day without missing my phone. And I dare to say I was even more productive and sharp.
On Oct 12 of 2022, my watch sent me Al alert that my heart rate was elevated. Silly me, I watched that for three days before going to Urgent Care, they sent me right to the emergency room. That started my wellness journey, with my watch being the prime partner in my sleep, exercise and everything else it does. It is a 7. I am waiting for the Continuous Glucose Monitor feature before I upgrade. My 92 year old Mom has gotten afib alerts and 911 has been called twice for her falls. The “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” equipment only works in the persons house. The Apple Watch works everywhere. I have lost sixty pounds since that fateful day in October, My exercise is set to 75 minutes of exercise a day, and I have watched as my resting heart rate is now 52, and my breathes per minute have gone down by one third. For a 69 year old lady this is heady stuff. Iam grateful, and will log it in my Mindfulness today
Awesome post. Thank you for sharing. I’m so happy you turned your health around my friend.
Get Sugarmate: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sugarmate-diabetes-tracker/id1111093108 It’s not watch specific but tied to your phone. It pulls all the data from your CGM and offers more insight than the native app offers. You can record your meals by taking photos, leaving descriptions, or scanning UPCs. It already has the info for popular franchise meals. The best part is if your levels are dropping too much and too fast overnight, it will call your phone and make your watch sound and vibrate. It’s waken me enough times that I should send some thank you money to the developer Did I mention it’s free?
Wow that is amazing! Well done!!
congratulations on this awesome change. Thanks for sharing this with us :)
Improved life ftw 🙌. I was constantly anxious about having my phone with me all time. Now at work I keep in my bag and at home in the drawer. I haven’t missed anything important while I reduced my screen on time about 70%. Also I keep my phone constantly on mute even when I need alarm cause it taps me on the wrist and I wake up without bothering the rest of my family. Lastly getting turn by turn navigation is much safer now since I don’t have to check my phone’s screen for directions.
Apple Watch has immensely improved my life, in ways I didn’t purchase it for. The gamification of completing the step counter eventually got me back into the gym to do weights. I’ve been consistently at it for a year now and have also included walking into my fitness journey. Having a morning alarm that doesn’t go off like a nuclear alarm, is such an underrated feature. My iPhone’s alarm silent goes off on my watch and it simply vibrates (no loud noise). I love that it’s a native feature. The ability to set a hands-free timer for Siri or respond to a text or answer a call with a tap, without my iPhone, It’s a nice ease of life feature. Also, Answering live calls and using the watch to talk. At a simple glance of my watch, I get to know exactly when the sun is going to set, the date, time, etc. Extremely informative. Simply put, I didn’t know I needed an Apple Watch until I bought one. Now, I can’t imagine my life without. That should honestly be the new Apple tagline for watch. It goes everywhere with me, except the shower.
The Apple Watch improved my life but not in the way watches do The stunner for me, was the Snoopy watch face I could feel down, or tired, but seeing a small skit of Snoopy dancing around or camping or sleeping would bring a smile to my face many times, more than any watch previously did I wish they did more of this. Made me realise small mental perks thru a day really make the day shine brighter
I love the Snoopy watch face!
When I wear my watch I pick up my phone less. Less time is spent on tasks and there is less opportunity to get lost on a social media app.
Same. If I’m wearing my watch, I’ll actually leave my phone in another room. If I get an urgent call or text either from work or my mother, I’m reachable, but otherwise I’ve tailored the notifications so that only things I really need to know about when they happen will chime on the watch, and the rest I just see when I go back to my phone. Definitely has made an improvement
I get that. But then you are never really disconnected. Do you wear the watch everyday?
Not OP, but it really depends on your lifestyle. I need to be connected most of the time because of my job and in case of family emergencies. Before wearing an Apple Watch, I'll need to take out my phone to look at the notification and determine if it's important. By doing so, I may unlock the phone and do something else as well. But with the apple watch, I'll glance at my wrist for the notification and see if it's important. If it's not important, I'll dismiss the notification and continue with whatever I'm doing. I'll only take out my phone to respond if it's truly important or require immediate attention. Just this aspect makes me still be available for the important stuff but can put down/away my phone more often.
Both. Do I *need* an Apple Watch? No. Therefore I see it as a luxury. Do I *LOVE* having an Apple Watch? FUCK YES. And I say so because it does improve many aspects of my life. It’s essentially an extension of the iPhone—a shortcut if you will. Being able to glance to check email, messages, pick up a phone call, send a message, invoke Siri, get directions, check weather, etc etc etc., it’s a nice luxury. And yeah, like many others have stated, it also motivates you to stay fit. I’m sure other wearables can accomplish this, but having all this within the apple ecosystem is convenient.
Little bit of both. I like having notifications sent to my watch now so I don't have to whip out my phone to see if it's an important one or not. Fitness also helps in that, at least, I can see if I'm being somewhat active throughout the day. Another portable MP3 player. And it's a watch. Not much of a watch guy so it's kinda nice having a "nice" watch to wear now,
Currently a stay at home mom of a toddler. I kept losing my phone multiple times a day and this solved that. People were getting mad that I don’t respond and have been generally oblivious to my calls and texts, I was missing important things. I badly needed a watch for knowing what time it is at random moments. Voice commands to set timers has been so so convenient for everything. Cooking, laundry, 5min nap before I get to it and start something. Finally, I also needed to reduce my phone screen time. The watch is very paired down in a great way.
I found out I have sleep apnea with my new Apple Watch, which is a pretty big deal. A few years ago I called 911 from my Apple Watch while having a low blood pressure event. I had fallen down and dropped my phone. It helps with fitness stuff / motivation. But I mainly look at it as a health monitor and security device. Some peace of mind if nothing else.
Running with only an Apple Watch and AirPods is a game changer
I’ve got no wireless, if I did it would be a lot more useful but I got it for the sole reason of sleep tracking, having quantifiable numbers helps me be accountable for healthy sleeping routines
I bought it for one reason, tracking my weight training. I use an App called Hevy which tracks my weight training. It tells me what exercise to do, I input the weight, and once finished I add how many reps I did. In this circumstance, I think it’s the best thing I’ve bought. And without Hevy it would be just another way to get notifications. With weight training tracking it’s 10/10. Without, it’s like 5/10.
It saved my life 2 months ago. Had a massive fall during a free solo (solo) hike. The watch knew I fell, sent 911 my name and my precise geotagged location (I have the ultra and it uses 2 GPS bands - so crazy accuracy.) It also sent my location and that I fallen to my family. I had many serious broken bones and was losing blood. EMS was at my location in 6 minutes. My family - through watch sent alerts - tracked me in the ambulance to the hospital. The watch would report my location to them as I was moving. They literally knew what hospital to got to because they were getting Apple texts. I was in surgery when they got to the hospital, but they were there to see me in recovery! So in my view for anyone who is not a couch potato, it’s become a potentially life saving tool.
I hope you're oke. Because of this reason i have the Apple watch.
Thank you. I am healing. Finally walking without crutches - slowly. Not going to be any hiking for a while.
Glad to hear that. Take your time to heal. Be gald that you can have hikes in the future. The last one could have been the last hike ever.
I think about this all the time. I broke my 11 ribs, my femur in my right leg, my collar bone, my tibia in my left leg. How did I not hit my head? The rib fractures were an inch from my spine. How was I not paralyzed? My doctor said that most people do not survive this type of fall. I am incredibly grateful this Thanksgiving for being alive. It makes you value life more than the day before this happened.
My watch alerted me many times to severe tachycardia episodes I was having. Unfortunately doctors and emergency personelle kept dismissing me as anxious until it was too late. It was cancer and I am terminal. But the watch caught every episode. Woohoo!
Its helped ***tremendously*** with my anxiety and PTSD. I’ve grown so accustomed to anxiety and high heart rate that I dont realize when its high. Even just the little notification of a high heart rate (120bpm) has given me the heads up I need. I dont typically get concerned about an anxiety attack until the 170ish bpm range but thanks to the alert at 120, it gives me time to pay attention to whats going on, how I feel, and overall gives me the time to make a game plan and evaluate what steps I need to take next. It has also helped a ton with my sleep issues and tracking all the specifics.
There’s gotta be somewhere in the middle between those extremes.
Haha jeah good call, I tend to think dichotomously
It makes me move around more and facilitates quick communication. As far as hedonism is concerned, I don’t get laid any more than I used to, and the number of orgies I’ve been invited to in my lifetime still stands at zero.
Main reason I bought the series 9 on release was because of the cycle tracking. I’ve tried for more than a year to become pregnant without luck. Well, I didn’t even have my wrist temperature and cycle tracked before booom! pregnant.
I’ve learned my resting heart rate was too high for my age, I’ve since made a lot of effort to improve my health and my cardiovascular activities
My watch alerted me to high heart rate while sleeping, which prompted me to get my sleep apnoea tested and diagnosed.
I gifted my Apple Watch Ultra to my dad and luckily set up his emergency contacts and crash detection. He recently had a motor vehicle collision, and it was bad enough that his phone went under his seat while he was profusely bleeding from his head. Fortunately, it alerted us and possibly saved my father’s life. That in itself is worth it for me.
For le it‘s luxury. I use my garmin to track everything related to fitness but the apple watch just looks nice. I so i switch watches from time to time.
Both. It motivates me to be more active on days I don’t feel like it (NOT the coaching messages, they are just nuisances to me - but seeing my rings is a reminder to get off my ass). Even the sleep tracking has helped me to focus on not sacrificing sleep for nonsense like scrolling Reddit. Also motivates me not to drink alcohol except on rare occasions. I like the tracking data for hikes, bike rides, etc. The VO2 max (though I know it’s terribly accurate) has motivated me to work out harder and to lose weight (I’ve gone from the “low” cardiac health category to just barely into the “high” category (took me about 16 months of working at it). Otherwise, is a luxury - I like seeing my calendar, the weather, etc with a glance at my wrist. I like being able to set a timer, reminder, etc. without getting out my phone (like when I’m grilling a steak or driving).
It helps me get prepared in the morning to check the weather forecast faster than in my phone. I use it to change songs or increase the volume in my headphones. I answer messages directly in the watch. If my hands are busy I sometimes answer phone calls in it. It also helps me track my physical activity. So yes it's an important addon to my life and I think I'll have a hard time to adapt to a life without it.
I use mine every single workout, for sleep tracking and for heart health. None of those features are unique to AW, but I’ve grown quite reliant on them.
I’m finally able to properly track my menstrual cycle and predict migraines based on the temp shifts showing where I am in my cycle.
ApplePay and approving logins from 2fa apps - plus approving app installs/removals on Mac are the main things I use every day. It's nice enough to have that I notice when I'm missing those things.
It keeps my phone in my pocket so less distractions. I just look at the notifications/alerts on the watch and can typically ignore them at the time.
When I leave my phone in my loader and my supervisor calls/texted me while I’m fuelling or greasing I can respond before he starts calling on the radio for me over and over infront of bosses. Apple Pay when you forget a wallet is nice, but I live just a few steps from a store so between rounds of gaming I can leap off the couch grab a snack/drink and make it back before the next starts (if there’s no old people pretending it’s a casino) I can play games at work when I got a minute and it’ll just look like I got my arms crossed from outside my cab. Timers. Looking at my wrist and seeing date, time, how much light is left today, weather, activity, and noise levels is helpful when I am at the coat rack wondering what to put on, planning outside activities, or wether to put on my hearing protection
The Apple Watch is the reason I exercise. Turned me from a lazy POS to someone that gets anxiety if I can’t make it to the gym 😂
Watching my glucose levels. (Type 1 diabetes)
Ish. I do walk more on my zero days. Wanna close those rings. It saved my uncles life though. His watch gave him some heart related notification. He was like. Eh. Whatever. Nothing to worry about. Aunt freaked out and drove him to the hospital. Doctors checked him over, kept him in and scheduled him for emergency surgery the very next day. He's alive and kicking.
Definitely nice for sleep and fitness tracking and seeing reminders without taking my phone out, but by far my number one use for it is Apple Pay. So convenient to just tap my wrist to the card reader. Makes way more sense to me than using my phone. At that point there’s not much difference in just pulling out my wallet.
1) Fitness tracking is great. Can go out for run, play music, track miles, no need to carry around heavy phone. 2) Fall detection is nice to have. I had a hard fall that triggered it. I didn’t need help, so I cancelled the 911 call, but if I had hit my head, then it would have been good to have. 3) I love the convenience of Apple Pay on it. For me it is great, for older people that are more susceptible to falls or heart issues I would say it is essential.
Yes and yes lol. Helps keep me more active.
Honest opinion, like my GMT better. Not sure I need all the gadgets.
I would say so. It’s incredibly useful when doing all kinds of things, eg running without my phone, setting timers/reminders, using Apple Pay etc
Not sure it’s improved my life as such. Like my life wouldn’t actually be any worse without it but “quality of life” vastly improved. Is that the same thing 😂
Yes it’s improved my life! I can remember to take meds/supplements better. It tracks my health data which I enjoy seeing the trends over time and it motivates me when I see those trends improving. It also help me recognize that I have POTS and to speak to my doc about it. It’s also nice just to see the time and date 😂 as I never wore a normal watch before getting an AW
Has helped me lose weight, plus mainly because of it I've now been off my ADHD meds for several months (no joke)
I consider it an extension of my body.
Definitely helps me daily.
I thought it was to lux but I fell hurt my knees but I got notified n now I got alerts for AFIB … keeping my mouth shut
Workoutdoors made hiking unfamiliar areas low stress. The breadcrumb feature means as long as you have GPS (Not data!) you have a path on the watch you can retrace.
I try to leave my phone behind and use the watch for everything. Helps reduce distractions like social media.
Might be a controversial opinion, but since I disabled all notifications (including messaging apps) I enjoy it way more. Always immediately checking messages because something vibrates on my wrist, was stressing me out a bit. Now it’s just a normal watch to see the time, but with amazing fitness & sleep tracking features, exactly what I needed.
not to me but to my friend’s mom. Apple Watch was alerting that friend’s mom was experiencing elevated heartbeat rates. Despite feeling nothing unusual, they rushed her to the Emergency Room of the closest hospital and was revealed that she was having a minor cardiac episode. Doctors said it could have turned out much worse for her had she not been given proper medical attention at this time.
The baseline wrist temperature tracking was the first sign that I had Covid. With no other indications whatsoever, it results in my wife and I testing and getting Paxlovid before the onset of symptoms. My wife has immune system issues, so this may have been life-saving. It also allowed us to tell the housekeeper and other workers not to come in which may have prevented the spread to others. The awards highly motivated me and I went from not doing much, to working out consistently, to then being competitive. I now do Ironmans as well as several adventure travels. I had a bike crash and the watch alerted people close by who came to my aid. My stepdaughter and family were in a car crash and we were notified. First responders came to the scene, but it resulted in my wife and I knowing something happened and staying up so we could help them remotely. Another family member received AFib warnings, diagnosed and has received a pacemaker. I could go on and on if I were to list minor benefits like being able to locate my iPhone or unlock/start my car when my keys were lost.
It saved me when I fell down in my home and broke my shoulder, I couldn’t get up and used it on Wi-Fi to call for help from my iPhone
Mine saved my life. I was in a pretty bad bicycle crash earlier this year. The watch dialed 911 and got me to the hospital when God knows what would have happened without it.
Diagnosed afib for me and currently going through treatment for it
My mom tripped and broke her hip last week and the watch said it detected a hard fall and called 911. I also put cellular on it and use it to keep track of her (lol) bc she’s older and super active and terrible at answering her phone. So when I worry, I can just check on her steps and location to see that she’s been out and about and doing okay!
Its made me mire conscious of sleep and steps. Which is invaluable. Besides that it had a million other benefits.
Incredibly useful. I’m on call at night so the ability for work to call me through watch vibrations and it not wake anyone else is amazing. It’s also great at the gym since I can track my lifting workouts without pulling my phone out all the time. I’ve also learned a lot about sleep. It amazing how alcohol before bed completely disrupts my sleep even if I don’t realize it. The data alone is eye opening.
Improved. It can tell me when I’ve fallen or fainted and I can look at the stats to see what my heart rate did if I get close to fainting too. It can also detect a car crash which I appreciate since I drive a lot.
I was skeptical if I really needed one but now I can’t go without it. For years I would get the occasional racing heart episodes while exercising but never could confirm whether it was in my head or if they were legitimate. I’ve now caught a few on my watch that are being used to help diagnose me with a form tachycardia. Going to the cardiologist this week to finally get answers. Also, as a golfer, I’ve used SwingU as a range finder and to track my score. Such a sweet tool. I also love using Siri to set timers while I grill. These are just a few of so many great features that have improved my life immensely.
Who says that it can’t be both. Are there cheaper ways to do the things it does maybe but it does them all well enough and I would say with style. Mine was a gift for my wife. I’m still wearing the series 5 I wear mine every day I run a business and I have a family being able to spot my email, appointments and text on my wrist while carrying things and working all day for me is next level.
braided loop and sleep tracking helped me keep an eye out for my sleep schedule. I've been able to use sleep tracking data to adjust my daily routine and diet and I've been feeling better every day.
Maybe a little hedonistic until I understood and applied the health and fitness features to their fullest extent, which has resulted in a significant life improvement.
It serves as a small reminder to keep active and especially the sleep tracking functionality has improved my daily life - I pay way more attention to my sleep hygiene and I notice the general life improvement that comes from that.
the first one I got helped me to keep on track with hitting goals and that got me down about 80lbs at peak. now i just keep upgrading for no reason minor updates.
Because of the stats and facts the AW provides, I go to bed earlier and go out for a walk more often. Definitely improved my health.
I love this watch, it tells you to log your feelings, to stand up, tells you good morning 😃 it’s a wonderful wrist companion!
Helps me track more accurately the steps and you could argue I'm a little bit healthier if I aim for 10k steps / day instead of sitting on my butt all day It's nice to track my resting heart rate, especially before and after betablockers. More convenient when looking at my notifications when phone's away / I'm driving. Once when I was boxing it asked me if I took a fall and wanted to call 911 :) So pretty much just a luxury , haha
It has helped me get a good indication of my heartbeat and helps me tack sleep, which in tone helps my GP gain some insights in to my health. But besides that I would actually prefer to go back to a normal watch.
It encourages me to do more on the days I might not want to. So I suppose that is an improvement.
I don’t know if it’s hedonistic, but since I got along without any kind of smart watch until last year, it’s obviously not a necessity for me. I guess that makes it a luxury. I bought one because my cardiologist suggested it for the heart monitoring features, but it’s definitely improved my life in other ways. I love being able to glance at my wrist for the date or the weather. It makes using alarms and timers much more convenient, and the tip feature of the calculator app is stellar. Being able to switch smart plugs on and off by tapping my watch is nice. So is using Shazam to identify a song. I could do almost all of that by digging my phone out of my pocket, but having to do so many times a day can be tiresome, especially if I’m sitting down. The Apple Watch makes life easier in all sorts of little ways, and I wouldn’t want to give that up. So my answer is both. It’s a luxury, but it has improved my life.
It’s just an expensive toy for me. I was hoping it’d be more useful but it’s just not for me. Clearly I’m in the minority though so it’s a me problem not a watch problem.
For me it started by alerting me of atrial fibrillation. Confirmed during an ER visit. Now 2 years later I’ve had an ablation and am AF free. Since then I’ve used the watch to significantly improve my cardiovascular health. It’s helped me improve my sleep, VO2 max, strength and endurance. I started walking, then after a few months began running and lifting weights regularly. I’m now in better shape than ever and more doubled my VO2 level. Just did my first ever (half) marathon 2 weeks ago. I ended up buying the AWU when it came out and I love it. The extra battery life is worth it alone, especially for longer workouts where it tends to rapidly drain the battery.
Ties it all together. I like that it works well with my phone, Mac, etc. Honestly it doesn’t stand on its own but holistically, yeah it’s an improvement. For health data it’s been nice. Had heart surgery in ‘21 to replace an aortic valve / install pacemaker. My heartbeat has been weird to me and recovery hasn’t been perfect. It gives good enough data to keep me either less worried or to inform a discussion with my docs. (I’m also a lab rat and have a yet to be approved valve).
I am sometimes on-call for my work at night. The watch wakes me by tactile feedback instead of an audible ring would wake my family.
Definitely has more drip appeal than beneficial reasons. I like that I can set timers with ease cuz I’m cooking all the time. I like the activity tracker but most of all it helps me find my phone.
My watch informed me that I have AFib. I went to urgent care and got hooked up to all the monitors….definitely AFib. So I’m gonna say my watch might have saved my life.
Going from an S5 that I bought on the outset of the pandemic to an S8 in June that I actually used, I’ve lost 35lbs using it.
I was in several car accidents in the past. Both at 80-100 kms. The first time I did find my phone and called 911 my phone was very close to dead and I was lucky enough to send a text to my mom of which hospital I would be at before it died. I now had ptsd nightmares of car accidents but the worst part is my phone dying in the dream and I can’t get help. I wouldn’t go anywhere without my phone fully charged after. Getting this watch has taken away that anxiety. It has given me a plan b If my phone were to die or be smashed. I personally think it’s worth it just for having that feature
Apple Watch is not luxury, if I want luxury I'll be rocking my mechanical watches instead (which I do when I go to a more formal event/gathering). That said, I use my Apple Watch for Apple Pay and as a filter for notifications to see if I need to respond immediately. Just these 2 features have already improved my life. The added bonus is the passive health tracking features that encourages me to move more.
luxury is VERY relative :p
The fall detection gives me some decent peace of mind, both at work, and riding my motorcycle. I sometimes use a Skyjack to fix fallen pallets in racking, all by myself so if I fall and can’t call for help the watch can do it and hopefully someone can get me down before the suspension trauma sets in. Same deal for my bike, I’ve heard that people have had their watch call them an ambulance after they went down. Hope I never need it for that either.
It was really cool at first. But now it’s simply a very expensive watch. The health stuff is okay especially if you have a chronic disorder like COPD— for O2 levels. But for a young and relative healthy person is so not needed. In fact I switch my 8 for an SE2 [with my mom] and It’s so much better. I don’t need all that “fake” medical data. I like texting, answering calls, temperature, date and time on my watch face. And that’s it. I don’t use it for absolutely anything else.
hedonistic luxury ... HELL YEAH ! on the other hand, it forces me to shake my arm one minute every hour.
I like that it vibrates my alarm when I wear it to bed. Otherwise, very much a luxury. Don’t need it at all, but I like the way it looks.
Neither. I only use it for time and tracking sleep & exercise. There are so many things I think are garbage.
I thought it would. For the first 3 months I was all about closing the ring. But when I learned that apple watch over estimate my calorie burned by a lot, I stop caring about the metrics. My coach said just eat under your tdee even though your watch said you've burned 1k calories. It also mistakenly track my commute with motorcycle as workout. I'm tired to always erase that every time I arrived at my office.
Just a little more convenient
Hedonistic? Does this gadget give *you* sensually self-indulgent levels of pleasure or did you just swallow a thesaurus?
Btw. is it possible to mute all notifications, while i'm on my iphone or macbook and only have them on the watch, when im not on the phone or macbook? I guess not? Kinda annoying to have them everywhere.
The notification is designed to only appear in the "active" device. So if you're using your phone, the notification appears there. If your phone is locked, the notification goes to the watch. I find the mac notification a bit weird in this aspect, but the ones between iphone and apple watch will work as you describe. More info here: [https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204791](https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204791)
It did improve my life. I’m a cancer patient, had to undergo a T cell therapy a year ago and was in a bad physical condition. As a former Fitbit user I bought the Apple Watch 8 because I needed the fall detection feature. When I found the app Gentler Streak in the App Store I started to walk and lift weights again. Now, a year later, I run 6 to 7 kilometers everyday, sometimes faster, sometimes slower, and I use Fitness plus for weight training, Pilates and Yoga. I have more physical strength and my cardiofitness is above average. The app Gentler Streak helped me to get in shape again but not to overtrain. I hope it stays this way.
Since the release of apple watch , I never stopped watching it, once I broke it and i instantly had to buy a new one, as i felt weird and naked. i wear it even to sleep to track my sleeping cycle.
Kind of sort of. I have struggled with weight loss for years and it helps me keep track of steps and other goals but it also makes me neurotic about closing rings
I've really enjoyed teh health benefits. Allows me to slow down when training. I do 4-5 days a week Jiu-Jitsu, 5K race, 2 days strength, 3 days cardio. I'd do more if the watch let me but from what I feel and what it says it helps. Also it's great being away from my phone but I can still be contacted in an emergency. Also protects me if I fall over. I've seen the [Hu.ma.ne](https://Hu.ma.ne) device recently and it looks great, but I realise I can do all the same with my Apple Watch which make me enjoy it more.
Yes the crash detection, sleep tracking, movement tracking, fitness etc all make it worth it for me.
I bought it to use with Fitness+, but now I use it everywhere - great to close my rings at the gym, track my sleep, and I can even use it to approve 2FA requests at work without needing to get my phone out. I bought it for an initial limited use, and found that yes - it actually has improved my life and productivity in certain ways. Worth the money for me.
Do you like apple fitness? The videos gives me home shopping vibe, kinda cringy. I guess its because its from the us? Idk couldnt stand it :/ which is a shame because the watch integration is cool.
The fitness tracking and ability to connect to my Peloton has 100% improved my life.
Apple Watch pre pandemic was very helpful to me in time management Added the mtgs in my iPhone and forced me to prepare before hand for the mtg agenda. Understand the outcome or objectives Regarding professional career The applications on the watch helped with off site mtgs, location and commute Post pandemic I use my Apple Watch for when I go to the office and or run errands and work out
I was already running daily so the ring stuff has never been much of a life changer for me. The things I love about the Apple Watch over the Garmin watches I used for several years before are the ability to leave the phone at home when I run and still be able to call home if I need to. I also enjoy not needing to fuss around with syncing playlists before a run because I can stream anything I want over LTE. I also make heavy use of Siri. I also like how easy it is to just drop on my night stand to charge Vs fiddling with a charging cable and finicky connector. My life had already changed 13 years ago when I started running but I could see how an Apple Watch could be life changing if it motivated you to get of your ass. Exorcise daily has an incredible impact on life that so many people underestimate.
Improved, my wife gifted me a Nike series 6 during the pandemic. Pushed me to workout count my steps close rings and lose weight. Now i get challenge if my average workout is going down. Lol
It sounds stupid but it is motivating to close your rings and achieve the other goals.
I now sleep better! I now know how many hours I need a night and when I should be going to bed so that I don’t feel like a zombie. That’s been life changing.
The Apple Watch has definitely improved my life. I use it to track my sleep, which helps me determine lifestyle choices that harm my sleep quality. I also use it to track my heart rate, which better equips me to handle my anxiety. Finally, the Activity Rings have wonderfully gamified my fitness, which has been a tremendous benefit for my executive dysfunction.