My Apple Watch Usage (Series 3)
A response to Federico’s concern that series 3 users are all like his mom (Connected #334). I feel like I may be getting a bit more than my Mickey Mouse’s worth from this thing. But, I’ll let you be the judge of that.
General Use Pattern
I put on my watch first thing in the morning (6:30am) and take it off when I go to bed (10:30pm).
Mostly, the watch serves as a way to get silent notifications (I hate phone pings and constant phone glancing), and to add items to my todo, omnifocus, and grocery lists. I also use it disturbingly often to locate my misplaces phone :)
There are typically three scenarios where I might remove it during the day: top-up charging, photography, keynote slideshow (see below)
Exercise
I track yoga and walking exercise after breakfast. Then I may track a run or VR exercise playing Beat Saber. Pre-pandemic I ran a lot of stairs in several buildings at a local university. The series 3 did a terrible job at detecting how many flights I climbed, but was still useful for heart rate and steps. When exercising alone, I always listen to Apple Music or Podcasts (Overcast)
Cellular Connectivity
I find running (and particularly stairs) to be less pleasant with my iPhone 11 pro so I have a cellular add on with my series 3. Also, I live in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and we have winter temperatures consistently below -20C and often below -40. In these conditions (before I had an Apple Watch) I would resist taking out my phone for any reason and would have trouble using it if I did. With the series 0 and later the series 3, I now appreciate getting text messages, email and phone calls. Paired with AirPods and AirPods Pro, this has been pretty revolutionary.
Camera
I am an amateur photographer and a children’s performer. In both of these endeavours, I increasingly use the camera on my iPhone. However, I want to use the best camera. The camera app on the watch lets me make sure I am in the frame for both photo and video while acting as a remote shutter and I don’t have to settle for the poorer, front facing camera. The watch even works in a pinch as a shutter for shallow, underwater photography.
Purchases
Don’t really like having things in my pockets. When I can avoid taking my wallet, I do. Both my Visa and Bank Cards (as well as casual nonsense like Starbucks) are on the watch and I can make it through many weeks using only my watch to pay for food, DIY supplies from the hardware store, and gasoline. People have always commented on payments via the watch. During the pandemic, people have stopped seeing it as simply curious and are outright jealous (contactless without face or touch ID!!!).
Keynote
I work as a storyteller at the Saskatoon Public Library. For accessibility reasons (larger images, better viewing angles, consistent lighting, etc…), I long ago started to use an overhead projector to put books onto a pull down screen for my story times. I’m also a very (hyper)active person, and projecting the books lets me interact with the audience much more without them loosing sight of the book. I use keynote on my phone (via HDMI) to project the slideshow, and I use the Apple Watch to advance the slides so I can move about the audience.
Experimental (but less than useful)
I’m always trying new things with the watch. For example, I love Watchsmith and can’t wait until I upgrade my watch to take advantage of more of it’s features. I also use the Home app and Home-run to control my Hue lights, but the lag (at least with series 3) makes it more frustrating than useful.
In any event, I love listening to Connected. It is among my favourite podcasts (with ATP, Cortex, and RecDiffs, (RIP Adapt and Hypercritical)). You are highlights in my week. Thanks for helping me make the most of my tech and being hilarious at the same time.
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