I’m not the Apple early adopter in our family—that title is shared by my two sisters. I’m more likely to wait for the next version. That is why I’ve always bought the S model iPhone starting with the iPhone 4S and every other year
after that.
When the Apple Watch running on Watch OS was first released in 2015, the reviews were not all that great and other activity trackers seemed more useful. The Watch OS 2 update wasn’t much better either.
But when I got an Apple Watch for Christmas running on Watch OS 3, I was surprisingly pleased with how it has helped me become more organized and how it is making my life a bit easier.
I would like to share the six ways the Apple Watch running on Watch OS 3 can make your life easier too:
1. Unlock your Mac
Make sure you upgrade to MacOS Sierra first and that you have activated the 2-step verification on your iCloud account. Once that is done, all you need to do is go to System Preferences in your Mac, go to Security & Privacy> General and then click the option to allow your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac. It’s that easy. After that, you won’t have to type your password to access your Mac.
2. Breathe
This is a new Watch OS native app. It reminds you to pause for a minute during your busy day and take a few deep breaths to relax and calm down. From the Watch settings on your iPhone, you can customize how often you want a Breathe reminder—anywhere from never, to every hour, to every seven hours. You can also adjust how many breaths you want to take for the one minute you do this exercise.
3. Scribble message replies
You don’t have to reach for your iPhone to read and reply to an SMS message. Even on Silent Mode, with haptics on, you will feel the vibration notifying you that you received a message. You can then simply read the message and reply by scribbling on the screen; the scribble pane will cleverly translate each letter you scribble—no matter how rough—into text.
4. Customizable Dock
The Dock will allow you to access 10 of your most used apps by just pressing the side button of the Watch and scrolling through. You can customize it from the Watch App on your iPhone by selecting Dock and then editing the list of apps. There’s also an 11th slot in the Dock which shows you the most recent app (that’s not in the dock) that you used, just in case you want to access it again.
5. Control Center
The Control Center is accessed by swiping up after you wake up the Apple Watch. The Control Center shows you how much battery your Watch has, let’s you turn on Silent Mode, allows you to locate your Phone by letting it ping, Toggle Airplane Mode and Do Not Disturb, as well as Lock your Apple Watch. You will need to enter your passcode to unlock your watch.
6. Medical ID and Emergency SOS
a long press on the side button will let you access three things at once: the power off button, your Medical ID, and the Emergency SOS. The Medical ID syncs medical information that you enter on your Health app. You can access the data by swiping on the Medical ID tab. The Emergency SOS is also activated by swiping it to the right—it automatically calls the local emergency service, so if you find yourself in a dangerous situation, you don’t have to reach for your phone to call for help.
Also published in GADGETS MAGAZINE February 2017 Issue.
Words by Presy Alba