How to make the best use of my Apple Watch series 9 ?

January 7, 2024 7:49 AM

Got my first Apple Watch series 9 before Christmas and I’m thrilled with the features so far but it’s overwhelming too. I’m basically using it for general info like weather, calendar, mail, text and most importantly tracking my exercise.

The features I like so far ……
—completing the exercise circles every day is a big motivator for me. I feel good seeing the progress in a chart and getting an award :)) for the week.
—The mindfulness app to remind me to breathe when I feel anxious.
—the compass app to find my parked cars.

This being my first Apple Watch, I know there is so much more to learn to make the best use of the watch.

mefites, If you own a Apple Watch, what do you use it for? What is the most useful feature for you? What are your favorite apps? I want to know everything about your experiences. Thanks

posted by SunPower to Technology (15 answers total)

I use it all the time to ask Siri to set a timer, or to add items to our grocery shopping list.
posted by sriracha at 8:13 AM on January 7 [2 favorites]

My favorite apps:

Medication - for keeping track of my daily meds
MiniWiki - Wikipedia on your wrist
Pocket Casts - podcasts
posted by Roger Pittman at 8:20 AM on January 7

exercise tracking #1, weather conditions #2, timers, medication reminders, random trivia lookups (hey Siri), electrocardiogram (i have occasional arrhythmia and like to document them), where's my damn phone (i have a series 5 and it is still .. ahem ... ticking)
posted by seanmpuckett at 8:24 AM on January 7 [1 favorite]

One of my main features is using multiple timers labeled with different names. If I'm cooking, I can say, "Siri, set an 8 minute chicken timer" and "Set a 10 minute pasta timer". No more setting a kitchen timer and then when it goes off, wondering what it was for!

It's also great for pausing, rewinding, or skipping over ads in podcasts.
posted by yankeefog at 9:18 AM on January 7 [4 favorites]

To be honest, the phone finder is probably how i use it the most! I also use Overcast as my podcast player, so I like how I can remotely control my podcasts and volume from my wrist. I also use its integration with the AllTrails app when walking/hiking. With the Series 9 I can also check my pulseox, which is fun. And i also use it every now and then to control my Roku when ive misplaced the dang remote.
posted by cgg at 10:03 AM on January 7 [2 favorites]

Here's a sort of meta trick: You can set up as many watch faces as you want with different complications for different situations. For example, I use the timer all the time when I'm at home, but never when I'm out, so I've got a "home" face, an "out" face, and a "cycling" face (which is mostly weather conditions). This is faster than trying to find an app through the app list.

Also, at some point Apple changed the action for switching between app faces from a simple left/right swipe to a hard press and then swipe. But you can change it back, only on the watch: Settings > Clock > Swipe to Switch Watch Face.

I use it for contactless payments, and every time it makes me feel like I'm living in the future.

In addition to using Siri to set timers, I use it to send texts. Remember that you can speak punctuation, like "Hey comma it was good to see you exclamation point"
posted by adamrice at 11:30 AM on January 7 [5 favorites]

I have an SE, so no pulseox. But weather, timers, my morning alarm (and sleep tracking), reminders, notifications of email from certain people, texts are all on my radar.

Oh, I also use it to tell the time. Go figure.
posted by lhauser at 12:10 PM on January 7 [1 favorite]

I use it for basically three things, in increasing order of importance:

* Setting simple timers ("Siri, remind me in twenty minutes to call my mom back.")
* Tracking workouts (and also my ongoing heart health - it's a huge help to be able to see my resting heart rate data)
* Reading notifications and sending simple replies if needed - which means I don't take my phone just to read an unimportant message and end up getting sucked into the phone and distracted. Basically, it allows me to more easily glance at notifications and not need to touch the phone itself, which in turn allows me to stay a little more focused on the world I'm in.
posted by Tomorrowful at 2:01 PM on January 7 [2 favorites]

The features I use my watch for the most are the haptic alarm; quick multi-factor authentication; and call screening.
posted by sm1tten at 2:21 PM on January 7 [1 favorite]

No one else has mentioned this, but sleep tracking. Apple’s sleep tracking app is garbage, but AutoSleep is pretty good. It’s helping me identify the things that prevent me from sleeping well. Besides the 4:40am cat hairballs, that is.
posted by rednikki at 6:42 PM on January 7 [1 favorite]

For me, there are two killer apps for the Apple Watch:

Workoutdoors is a fantastic app for tracking outdoor activity. It's a one-time purchase of $7 and I would happily pay that price monthly for it. It cannot be overstated how amazing this app is.

Drafts is a note-taking app that's not made for the Watch but does have a Watch element. Use it with the Shortcut I made and you'll have the best quick-capture note taking app I know of: press the action button (or a complication), recite your note, tap anywhere on the screen, and the app converts it to text and saves it to the cloud so you can access it on your phone or computer. I've never found a faster way to capture a thought. I use it multiple times a day. $20 per year and worth every penny.

Besides those two things, I use the watch to: track my indoor workouts with Apple Fitness+, Find My Phone (there's a shortcut to it once you push the Side Button), Timers, Apple Wallet, Name Drop, and as a Camera Remote.

This guy's videos are worth watching.
posted by dobbs at 7:17 PM on January 7 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks everyone! Those are really cool things to do.
posted by SunPower at 6:40 AM on January 8

I use it with Apple Maps and it buzzes when you have a turn coming up.
Find my phone
Step tracking
posted by kathrynm at 4:53 PM on January 8 [1 favorite]

I mostly use mine for:

* Timers
* Shazam
* Tracking Workouts (I like Workoutdoors too)

I also use different watch faces for different focus modes (Sleep, cycling), and I have some notifications come to the watch (depending on focus mode)
posted by backwards guitar at 11:21 AM on January 17

Oh yeah, that's one way that Apple Maps is superior to Google Maps: On your watch, Apple Maps will use distinct tapping patterns to let you know whether to turn left or right: 8 steady taps for right; 4 double taps for left. Google Maps doesn't do anything useful on the Apple Watch.
posted by adamrice at 1:51 PM on January 17