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've been fine with the silicone one, I did buy a stainless steel one for a smarter look but rarely bother changing it.

I’ve got a multitude of silicone ones plus a nice red leather one I got from Etsy - just have to remember to swap it out before going swimming!

The watch has so many useful features. My phone’s always on silent at the bottom of my bag, so I love the vibrate function.
Timers are great.
Getting Siri to add things to my shopping list.
Customising the face so it shows the functions most useful to you.
Making your iPhone ping when you can’t remember where you put it.
Counting swimming pool lengths.
Controlling Spotify when it’s playing on other devices.
Controlling podcasts.

Oooh this would be great for me. I have adhd too and am horribly time blind. Do you make this happen by setting an alarm on clock function for every hour?

I like the sports strap, can adjust it exactly right, wear it to swim etc with no fuss.

Thanks all! So many useful features.
Maps! Yes! Never more will I be the tourist using their phone to navigate and risking getting it snatched.

Which is the button to find your iPhone? I have an apple watch and this would transform my life - am always losing my phone!

As others have said only slight issue is battery. If you are going to charge it at night, get one of these fab widgets so it's not charging all night, just a couple of hours. It should extend the battery life a bit (same for phone).

amzn.eu/d/gVXT0Q0

I listen to music while I'm walking so I like being able to change songs without getting my phone out.

I'm following this in the hope that I'll start using it again.
I had a FitBit for years which I loved. It felt like an upgrade to get this but I think I'm just overwhelmed with it. I find the messages etc distracting much of the time as, if I'm doing something, I need to focus on that rather than reply to someone; I really miss the accurate step counter; most fundamentally, I just find it counter intuitive to us.
Reminders are the thing which might get me back into it
I also hadn't realised I could use Siri on it. Being able to set reminders just by asking it could change things a lot

I only charge mine at night. I found for a while that it was losing some charge quickly - basically dropping to 80% immediately. Saw a tip online to re-pair it if that happened, couldn’t understand why that would help but it totally sorted the issue. Was annoying to re-pair but worth it.

I’d advise you to go through the apps section on the Watch app and decide which notifications you do and don’t want on your watch.

It's on the control centre, which you get to with the button not the crown knob..
(Unless you're on a pretty old OS, they changed how to get the control centre a while ago)

I find the messages etc distracting much of the time as, if I'm doing something, I need to focus on that rather than reply to someone;

You can turn off notifications on the control centre, @thehousewiththesagegreensofa - and you don't have to have them mirrored from your phone if you really don't want them.

Thanks - really do appreciate that.

I pay extra every month for it to work independently- I don’t need to take my phone out when I’m running so that while I’m out I can listen to music and make phone calls through my headphones.