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Apple Watch for travel

Pauline

Forums Admin
@Cameron recently showed me her Apple Watch and showed me how some things work and that convinced me to get one. There are good reasons to have an Apple Watch for traveling. I can make phone calls, read and reply to texts and use Apple Pay - all without getting my phone out of your handbag. @Cameron can give more details if she sees this thread.

I bought the Apple Watch to use as an activity tracker. For the last few years I have used a Fitbit to track our walking/hiking. We keep track of our miles each day and week to make sure we walk over 1000 miles in a year, so walking stats are important to me. The Fitbit app is not great but it gives me our miles each day and totals for the week. If I go to their website on the computer I can also get my yearly total. But, I don't like the fitbit and never have. I don't like how it feels on my wrist. I don't like the electronics in it. I only put it on when I go for a walk or hike.

For the past week I have been using both the Apple Watch and the Fitbit at the same time to compare them. Today I packed away the Fitbit. I like the Apple Watch. It is more expensive (but I did get the cheaper one that cannot do phone calls or texts unless in range of the phone) but it is a step counter and has GPS to make it an accurate mileage counter. The Fitbit only counts steps. I've never thought it was accurate even though we figured out my stride and put that into the settings.

The Apple Watch is comfortable to wear. It is good as an activity tracker. I let it do general step counting and I set workouts when hiking or walking, so I have both counts - my daily mileage and the mileage for our hike. It does not give good totals but I think I can set the Fitbit app to now use the apple watch for input. Or I could make a simple spreadsheet to get my weekly, monthly and year to date totals.

I like using it to read texts when we are hiking. I don't have to stop and get out my phone. (Of course I could just carry my phone in a pouch around my neck so I can get at it easily.) I like using it to control my Air Buds when listening to Audible or podcasts. Or to easily set a time when I am cooking. I can see that an Apple Watch is not necessary, but it is a fun gadget.

I would recommend getting the more expensive one with the builtin phone. You also have to pay a bit more each month on your mobile phone plan. We will probably get one for Steve with the phone. That way I can always find him, even if he leaves his phone at home. There is a walkie talkie function too. I remember us having a huge fight about 20 years ago in Spello when I was waiting with the luggage in one piazza and he was waiting with the car in another piazza. That fight would never have happened if we had Apple Watches!!

Anyone else using an Apple Watch? Thoughts?

 
We just returned from England and Ireland. I noticed a few folks using them at airports to store their boarding passes using the Apple wallet. When you've got your carry-on in one hand, it's easier to slip your wrist under the reader than to dig your phone out of your pocket.
 
@Pauline, what app are you using to keep track of your steps/hiking? Just bought the cheapest Apple Watch 5 this weekend, GPS only. A first for me, so I don't really know how to use it yet. Thinking of going to the Apple store in Venice next week, if I can't figure out how to use it by then.
 
I love my Apple Watch 4, with cell line-sharing with my iPhone.

In London, I used the Wallet scan for payments, in lieu of the Oyster for the Tube, train tickets and airline boarding passes.

I like that the Apple Pay/Wallet encrypts the credit card transmissions so that the merchant isn't getting the actual number.

I found it's not as widely accepted in France (just returned--Avignon, Luberon villages, Nimes, Parsi).

I wear my watch from when I get up until I go to bed. I live alone and don't have a landline phone. With the cell service, this means I don't have to keep my iPhone with me when I move around the house and yard. I can use my Watch for calls, texts, calendar alerts, etc. I also read my WhatsApp and FaceBook messenger messages on the Watch. For a lengthy phone call, I use AirPods (bluetooth headphones) with my Watch.

If I were to fall, my Watch will shake and ask if I need 911. So, that's an extra measure of safety for me. It's mistaken clapping hands (to get my dog's attention) and asked if I had a fall. I reply, no, and no biggie.

When I first got it, I thought it was just a geeky fun thing. Now, I don't want to go without it!
 
what app are you using to keep track of your steps/hiking?

I use the app that comes with the watch, the Activity app and the Workout app. The Activity app is a step counter automatically. I start the Workout app when starting a walk or hike and I use that to collect info about our hikes - pace, miles, time, elevation gain. The workout information appears in the Activity app on your iPhone when you are looking to see how you did each day.

It only gives you miles each day and at the end of the week I add them up and enter them into a spreadsheet so I can keep track of our weekly and yearly totals.

Steve wants one now! We don't really each need one ...
 
The workout app has a lot of options. Scroll down. I use walk and hike. If we pause when hiking it asks if you are finished but you can press that button they call the Digital Crown to keep it going. It makes a map of where you walk too. When you are finished swipe right and you see the pause and end options. Then it presents a screen of stats with the DONE button at the bottom. It took me awhile to figure out you have to press DONE.

It also took me awhile to figure out that you need to scroll down open many apps to see options.
 
The new Apple Watch 5 has this added feature, not on the 4, for international travel:

"International emergency calling. Now you can complete a call to emergency services almost anywhere in the world. Just press and hold the side button on Apple Watch Series 5 with cellular and you’ll be connected with the help you need. It even works if you’re nowhere near your iPhone."
 

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