The Apple Watch: Apps to Change Your Life

In my last post I talked about the things that the Apple Watch currently won’t do. From ergonomics to app integration, there are still plenty of niggles to iron out.

But on the flip side, there are lots of great features that I seriously couldn’t do without.

So in this post I will talk about those things and give the Apple Watch a chance to redeem itself.

Apple Maps

The first time I tried to use my Watch to navigate was in London. I have a number of apps to help me with this on my iPhone: City Mapper, Tube Map, Apple Maps and Google Maps.

My go-to route-finding app on the iPhone is Google Maps. But if I was going to use the mapping functionality on the Watch, I needed to become an Apple Maps convert.

So I gave it a go, hoping it would link to the Watch and guide me on my journey with a series of taps.

It didn’t.

And I ended up standing on a street corner with the Apple Watch on view and iPhone in my hand trying to decipher my route and work out how to set it via the Watch.

I concluded that I hadn’t set it up right. A few days later, in York, I discovered (by accident) that if I started a journey on the iPhone in Apple Maps, pressed ‘Start’, then put my iPhone away it would automatically start navigating me on the Watch.

Perfect.

I had totally overcomplicated things in London. It’s three pairs of taps to turn left and a few faster taps to turn right. And by glancing at the Watch I can see my route with ease.

Now I’ve mastered it, it is very impressive, and so much safer and easier to use – especially in cities!

Stocard

I recently found an app that lets you upload your loyalty cards so you don’t have to carry them with you in your wallet.

Amazing!

And what’s more, it’s on the Watch too. So I quickly went about scanning all of my cards into the app. It works just like Passbook, so the barcode for the app appears on the watch screen.

So far I have used the loyalty cards via the app at various retailers, and most have worked OK. Some didn’t, however, and I think this is due to the scanners finding it difficult to scan a shiny illuminated screen.

Passbook

I’ve always been an avid user of Passbook for tickets and boarding passes. I regularly fly to Edinburgh for work, so storing an easyJet boarding pass on the app is great.

Apart from one thing.

If you can’t fit your wrist under the boarding pass reader, you won’t be boarding the plane.

I realised this at Luton Airport and had to use my iPhone to board (oh the pain!). But at Edinburgh I sailed through with my Apple Watch and a silly grin.

I had already used Passbook on my iPhone to book Cineworld tickets, and to pay at Starbucks. So I was delighted to use these on the Watch too.

It’s so convenient to leave your phone in your pocket, and simply hold up your wrist. It all feels very slick and it was nice to see the barista at Starbucks get just as excited as me the first time I used it!

Apple Pay

With the introduction of Apple Pay in the UK on the 14th July 2015, my Apple Watch has opened a whole new world of possibilities, whilst shopping and on transport.

Will the UK be the fastest adopters of Apple Pay? That remains to be seen.

But with more than 410,000 contactless terminals, and a spend of over ￡270 million via touch-to-pay technology in March 2015 alone, we already have a mature contactless ecosystem.

And for me, contactless payment is one of the most useful features of the Apple Watch.

Time to stand

If my Apple Watch senses that I haven’t stood up for a while, it taps me to remind me each hour. This is a welcome reminder when I am sitting at a desk for lengthy periods of time. In fact, I’ve realised I rarely stand or move around when I'm in the office!

But when you are at home sitting down to eat some lunch, in a conference, or in the car on a long journey it can be somewhat annoying.

For my birthday this year, I spent the weekend in York. We had a great time shopping, visiting the York Minster, the Jorvik Centre and much more.

But when I finally sat down to have a coffee late afternoon, my Watch wasn’t happy about it. “I’ve been walking around all day!” I shouted at my wrist in frustration.

Battery life

One thing I read a lot about during its release was the Watch’s poor battery life.

But I haven’t noticed any major issues. The lowest charge I’ve had after an average day is about 30%, but often there can be as much as 60% remaining.

OK, so perhaps charging it every night is a pain. But I charge my iPhone every night, so I don’t see that it makes much difference.

However, since using the Watch with my iPhone, I have noticed the battery life of my iPhone draining more quickly. In fact, it’s usually running at about 5% by 8pm.

Workout

Before the Apple Watch arrived, I was looking to buy a Fitbit. I had been using RunKeeper to track my cycling, running and walking activity, and had recently signed up to do Race for Life.

I wanted to get a little more active and the Workout app on the Watch appealed to me because of this.

Workout is incredibly simple to use. You set yourself a time, calorie or distance goal when you head out and it taps you at intervals throughout your training – 1km, 2km etc. – to let you know how you’re doing. Then it loads that information straight back into your activity app and health kit.

You can see most of the stats on the Watch, but for added details can refer to your iPhone. I wish there was a better way of listing all of your cycles and runs, though. I like the way RunKeeper tracks your activities, making it easy to compare them and see yourself improving over time. The Workout and Health apps are yet to do this.

Living with the Apple Watch

The thing I have struggled with most is answering the inevitable question: What does it do?

This happens a lot when I’m out and about. And as I twist my wrist in a strange direction to show someone the screen (while being sure to keep the Watch in a position so the screen remains on), I awkwardly try to sum it up.

"It’s a lifestyle device that improves the productivity of my day.”

If you’re curious about the Apple Watch, then twist the arm of someone who’s got one to get a good glance. But I don’t think you’ll truly know its worth until you’ve tried it for yourself.

One last thing: I now understand why you can’t demo the Apple Watch. It really does need to become part of your life to fully appreciate it.

And Apple was right – it’s become the most personal device I own.

Have you found any apps that have made a real difference to your personal or professional life? Are you using them on your Apple Watch or your iPhone? Get in touch and let me know!

Thank you for reading my post. I write about graduate recruitment, technology and social media. Read my posts by clicking 'follow' at the top of this post; connect with me on Twitter; and have a look at my blog, The Inbound Recruiter.