Apple Watch - top tips?

[SilentSong]

I'm getting an Apple Watch for Christmas - very excited. I've wanted one for years!
What are your top tips for getting the best use from it, please?
I'm mostly looking forward to not having to hold my phone all the time and, instead, using Siri to send messages (speaking into my wrist like 007)...
Also the steps and fitness help.

I use it to set reminders to myself all the time. "Set reminder 5:55pm Wednesday book parents evening appointments" has meant I've got all the best appointment slots a few times now. It's way better than reminders on your phone because you actually receive it at the correct time, and my life would now be chaos without it.

The button that makes your phone bing so you can find it is one of the other most-used functions.

Funnily enough, the torch function looks shite, but has also proved really useful.

I have the weather on my watch face too, can see at a glance what the temperature is, and is going to be.

Fabulous!
Reminders sound like just what I need!
Didn't know it had a torch - also good for night-time loo visits.

I'm a big fan of Apple Watches.

Trivial example: was at a football match all wrapped up last Sunday. Phone vibrated on my wrist. I glanced then ran frommy seat to answer as it was the fencing man about damage to my fence I wanted repaired. I t would have taken ages to get phone out of zipped pockets, gloves off etc to see who it was. Similarly, walking anywhere in winter it saves the hassle of phone finding to see if important or can wait.

I love the fitness app and now a bit obsessed by step count and exercise minutes.

Finding iPhone is great. And keys with AirTag on them.

I had one for about 4 years and rushed out to get another when it died

One little thing I really rate is that I get mine to vibrate on the hour through the day. I have ADHD and it helps with time blindness.
To get your steps, you’ll need a separate pedometer app on your phone first, it doesn’t automatically count them like a Fitbit. It’s more about active minutes and standing minutes.

Apple watch does count steps. It's just not part of your main activity ring. If you click the activity ring and scroll down it has steps, distance walked and flights climbed.

get a 2nd charger and top it up during the day when you are inactive

I got mine because I have heart problems. I can ituse to do ecg and monitor my heart rate.
I also like the camera feature in which I can take a photo from my watch using my phone. It better than taking selfies.
I also like that I can find where my phone is as it makes a pinging sound .Very useful 😀

It doesn't have an easily usable pedometer but it is really easy to download a free app which gives steps and km. Also really easy to change the display. I have steps and km always on my display as they are important for me. I use this one but there are others https://pedometer.app/ Plenty of youtubes showing how to download fun watch apps and change display.

It's worth spending time setting up watch faces for different things - I've got my standard one with the apps I use a lot (the exercise rings, fitness, timer, messages etc and then another with health related apps I don't use so often eg the ecg. It's pretty easy to move between them.

Apple Pay is brilliant on it. Point wrist at card reader and "ping!".

Step counter and activity tracker are great.

Timers - I use for cooking a lot as our oven timer is broken so I'll just say "hey siri, set a timer for 20 mins".

The battery life isn't great though.

These are all amazing! I didn't know it could take photos. Can t wait for Christmas Day when I will spend hours setting it up and playing!

I'm thinking of a brown leather strap for it, to replace the standard rubbery one.

There are a zillion lovely strap options out there, get a few.

Connects to Strava for exercise. Great for quick reads of messages, whatsapps etc.

I'm rushing off to find the torch!

Now I'm overwhelmed by the strap options!!

Also as the battery life is not good (mine needs charging every day) I found getting more chargers scattered round the house very useful. I also have a power bank that charges the watch and/or my iPhone magnetically. There are loads on Amazon.

I love the step counter, reading my messages quickly whilst at work, the temperature and my photos.
I don't use it at all weekend as I like to have time away from being connected all the time

The battery on the newer ones is better, and the fast charger means I can just put it on while I'm bathing, that's all it usually needs.

Mine is an SE so not sure if the battery will be good or bad! I don't mind charging it every day, though.

I have an SE and I charge it daily but it's no bother to pop it on at night

I charge mine for 20 mins at night before I go to sleep and again in the morning while I'm showering and dressing.

I've become obsessed with sleep apps and check every morning whether I've had a good night sleep or not!

The activity app thats on an Apple Watch / iPhone covers all of the stuff that pedometer app does anyway doesn’t it?

Yes it counts steps and flights climbed etc. no need for separate app to be installed
I had 2 nd generation and now the 6th gen and both count steps.

I'm not entirely convinced by the pedometer - it may be common to any of them but I think it's using arm swings rather than actual paces, so it doesn't really work if you're carrying anything. I don't pay much attention to step count, I set the walking or hiking app when we go for a walk and get a proper gps-based distance.

The 'stand' is a bit iffy too... again it's not really detecting standing, it's using arm swings so I can be standing up cooking for ages and then at ten to the hour it will alert me I need to stand. whereas DH wears his on his dominant wrist and vigorously chopping up a lot of food shows not merely as standing or 'paces' but as exercise!

I doubt any app gets all steps or doesn't have some inaccuracies. It uses arms swings and a gyroscope and I find mine pretty consistent with distances that I go.

DH playing the piano sometimes gives him steps.

Previous MN threads have had fitbits counting more steps than Apple Watches for same distance.

Yes to step inaccuracy, I crochet and can clock up hundreds of steps while sat on my backside. But it is not a big problem.

My favourite things are:
Timer - use that all the time
Maps - for walking round towns and cities without having to have your phone out
Apple pay - ditto, can put tickets on it too, very useful if your phone goes flat
Ping to find your phone
Controlling audio without having to get phone out
Answering calls if you have left your phone in another room also reading messages
Fitness

I've never used the reminders but I do use them on my phone quite often, I have lots of regular ones (put bins out etc).

The Snoopy watch face is hella cute! He does totally different things and every now and then even now I'll find he's got another animation I've not seen before.

The button to find your iPhone is amazing!

Don't overthink spending a fortune on straps to start with until you find the style you like - I'm allergic to the silicone ones so I have acquired a range of elasticated ones from internet cheapies over the time I've had Apple watches.