After much experimentation, I am finally happy with my watch setup. The great thing about Apple Watch is having quick access to the information that’s most useful to an individual.
Since the watch OS 3 update this has gotten much better, thanks largely to the addition of the Dock. What I am about to discuss will no doubt not be for everyone but is just an insight into my thought process and reasoning behind my choices. If you have any suggestions, comments or improvements please share them!
All About Priorities.
Think about that idea of having quick access to information you want. What is most useful for me?
- Health & Activity Data (Activity app & Strava)
- Weather Forecast (Dark Sky, in England…we’re obsessed!)
- Date & Time (Obviously)
- To Do List (Things)
- Music/Now Playing
- Timer (Surely one of the watches ‘killer apps’?)
- Calendar.app
- Messages (Text/iMessage)
- Deliveries (Not often but really handy at times)
All well and good but I don’t need all this info, all of the time. A lot of this is contextual. On work days I need the To Do list, not so much when I am off, as one example.
After playing around with different combinations of watch face for different contexts, I started with several watch faces that I would switch between throughout the day. I had at one point – commute, work, exercise & chill out watch faces that I would swipe through as needed. The problem with this approach is that I would forget what each watch face was meant to be for and end up just picking whichever face I liked the look of that day.
This lead me to want to setup two watch faces :
- Workout
- Everyday
Having identified the most important information I want to see, I now just needed to choose the watch face/faces I would use and then customise the layout.
Dock-Worthy?
There’s a Seinfeld episode where Elaine has to decide which (if any) of her suitors are “sponge-worthy”. I think of the watch OS dock in a very similar way!
With the docks 10 app limit, a place here is highly prized and any apps granted this privilege must earn their place. Which brings us back to the question of priorities. Dock apps are easily accessed by a quick press of the side button. As convenient as this is, they are not ‘glanceable’ as items on the watch face are.
I have chosen to put the following items in my dock in order of most to least frequently used :
- Music
- Now Playing
- Messages
- Timer
- Calendar
- Deliveries
- Dark Sky
- Settings
This leaves me with two spaces free which is nice if I need to add anything in future.
These apps are things I use both when I am working out and also just when I am pottering around so it makes sense to keep them in the dock rather than having to switch between watch faces all the time.
Hopefully this give a little insight into my choices. It’s a pretty safe bet that most people won’t put so much thought into how they use the watch and setup the watch faces but I am trying to make more intentional choices when it comes to technology. I want to be in control of it, not the other way around.
Finally, what did I decide on for the two watch faces?
Workout Watch Face : Activity Analogue with subdials.
Top Left – Cardiogram, heart rate display.
Top Right – Strava, Cycling App.
Bottom – Dark Sky, weather forecast.
With this setup I can, at a glance, see up to the minute weather info, start a cycling workout in Strava and keep an eye on my heart rate and activity info.
Everyday Watch Face : Activity Analogue with subdials.
Top Left : Dark Sky.
Top Right : Things.
Bottom : Music App.
With this watch face setup I have everything I need for my usual daily pottering about.
In using the same watch face (Activity Analog with subdials) I find it less disorienting when I switch from one to the other, and it is by far my favourite design of watch face.
So that’s what works for me. Thanks for reading, this is a bit of a brain dump so apologies if it’s a bit incoherent! I would love to hear how others are using their watch so please share your thoughts in the comments, and who knows what changes WWDC 2017 may bring? It could all change again!
