Apple

Loved the lil motivating messages when you hit goals, and how you can either set your own goals or choose a template online. I didn’t develop any heart conditions hence I guess it’s just a piece of luxury, but it’s a worthy one as it’s still useful and goes/works with what I own (ie iPhone)

I have come to the realisation after owning apple watch for a while that this question itself is wrong.

NO apple watch does not improve your life, YOU yourself improve your life. The watch is just a very good tool to help you on your journey to improve your life in a very efficient and easy manner.

If you buy the apple watch and still don’t complete yours rings, watch your water intake, fix your sleep schedule, don’t stand up and walk when the watch reminds you then its your fault not the watch’s.

It serves as a small reminder to keep active and especially the sleep tracking functionality has improved my daily life - I pay way more attention to my sleep hygiene and I notice the general life improvement that comes from that.

Inbetween.

I felt quite tired yesterday morning despite getting a good nights sleep, so I checked Athlytic and it gave me a very low recovery score and said that a few of my vitals were outside of their normal range. So I gave myself the day off, spent the day relaxing and went to bed early. I was definitely coming down with a cold or something by the way I was feeling mid afternoon. Feel fine today and my recovery score is medium. I can’t say for sure what would have happened without it, but I suspect I would currently be ill.

I know people who have bought the AW for show (“hedonistic reasons”), and they inevitably get bored and stop using it or change. IMO its primary purpose if for its features to integrate into your life. Exercise for me primarily (and yes, I’ve been much more regular/committed and fitter since owning them), but also maps, music, timers, weather, not needing to raise your phone every time a message arrives etc. Improved? Transformative.

It saved my life 2 months ago. Had a massive fall during a free solo (solo) hike. The watch knew I fell, sent 911 my name and my precise geotagged location (I have the ultra and it uses 2 GPS bands - so crazy accuracy. It also sent my location and that I fell to my family.

I had many serous broken bones and was losing blood. EMS was at my location in 6 minutes. My family - through watch sent alerts - tracked me in the ambulance to the hospital. The watch would report my location to them as I was moving. They literally knew what hospital to got to because they were getting Apple texts. I was in surgery when they got to the hospital, but they were there to see me in recovery!

So in my view for anyone who is not a couch potato, it’s become a potentially life saving tool.

It helps me find my phone about a gazillion times a day and that alone is worth the money

It made me enjoy running at least a bit. With music

I’ve stopped wearing it. I tried. I think it’s kinda dumb.

Maybe a little hedonistic until I understood and applied the health and fitness features to their fullest extent, which has resulted in a significant life improvement.

I don’t use it for anything but a stop watch at the gym lol.

Incredibly useful. I’m on call at night so the ability for work to call me through watch vibrations and it not wake anyone else is amazing. It’s also great at the gym since I can track my lifting workouts without pulling my phone out all the time. I’ve also learned a lot about sleep. It amazing how alcohol before bed completely disrupts my sleep even if I don’t realize it. The data alone is eye opening.

Hedonistic luxury

New owner. I do like the fact that I pick up my phone less often. Filtering work emails and texts on my wrist is so nice.

not to be but to my friend’s mom.

Apple Watch was alerting that friend’s mom was experiencing elevated heartbeat rates. Despite feeling nothing unusual, they rushed her to the Emergency Room of the closest hospital and was revealed that she was having a minor cardiac episode. Doctors said it could have turned out much worse for her had she not been given proper medical attention at this time.

The baseline wrist temperature tracking was the first sign that I had Covid. With no other indications whatsoever, it results in my wife and I testing and getting Paxlovid before the onset of symptoms. My wife has immune system issues, so this may have been life-saving. It also allowed us to tell the housekeeper and other workers not to come in which may have prevented the spread to others.

The awards highly motivated me and I went from not doing much, to working out consistently, to then being competitive. I now do Ironmans as well as several adventure travels.

I had a bike crash and the watch alerted people close by who came to my aid.

My stepdaughter and family were in a car crash and we were notified. First responders came to the scene, but it resulted in my wife and I knowing something happened and staying up so we could help them remotely.

Another family member received AFib warnings, diagnosed and has received a pacemaker.

I could go on and on if I were to list minor benefits like being able to locate my iPhone or unlock/start my car when my keys were lost.

It was really cool at first. But now it’s simply a very expensive watch. The health stuff is okay especially if you have a chronic disorder like COPD— for O2 levels. But for a young and relative healthy person is so not needed. In fact I switch my 8 for an SE2 [with my mom] and It’s so much better. I don’t need all that “fake” medical data.

I like texting, answering calls, temperature, date and time on my watch face. And that’s it. I don’t use it for absolutely anything else.

It saved me when I fell down in my home and broke my shoulder, I couldn’t get up and used it on Wi-Fi to call for help from my iPhone

Both

Ish. I do walk more on my zero days. Wanna close those rings.

It saved my uncles life though. His watch gave him some heart related notification. He was like. Eh. Whatever. Nothing to worry about. Aunt freaked out and drove him to the hospital. Doctors checked him over, kept him in and scheduled him for emergency surgery the very next day. He's alive and kicking.

It’s a notification device for me. I mainly just wear it to work where I need to respond to messages quickly and I might not feel my phone vibrate. Outside of work I don’t really wear it much. Maybe if I go on a run if I remember to wear it.

Mostly a luxury but it has improved my life.

During / around Covid I got in really good shape by setting my daily calorie goal to 1000 and closing rings and monthly goals every month for months on end - I even did the little comps with anyone who would participate, even a couple redditors. It def got me moving way more than I prob otherwise would have.

It's improved my life as a tool in a lot of minor ways. I use the flashlight to move around the house at night without waking up my wife. I use the timers several times a day, for cooking and at work to let me go dive into a task but set a timer to get me back in focus for upcoming meetings, small naps if I'm really tired just hit the timer for 30 and lay down.

Tracking snowboard stats in real time, as well as controlling music through my helmet without bothering with my phone on a lift. Knowing if the incoming message I've received is important or not time sensitive so I can ignore, etc.

I rely on it for fall detection and heart rate help.

It's just a watch that works well with iOS.

I do 3 to 4 hours of exercise a day and at work have back to back meetings most days so just having something on my wrist to vibrate and or track my movement is convenient and helps me be consistent.

It’s nice to know how many times a day I stand up.

Currently a stay at home mom of a toddler. I kept losing my phone multiple times a day and this solved that. People were getting mad that I don’t respond and have been generally oblivious to my calls and texts, I was missing important things. I badly needed a watch for knowing what time it is at random moments. Voice commands to set timers has been so so convenient for everything. Cooking, laundry, 5min nap before I get to it and start something.

Finally, I also needed to reduce my phone screen time. The watch is very paired down in a great way.

Mine saved my life. I was in a pretty bad bicycle crash earlier this year. The watch dialed 911 and got me to the hospital when God knows what would have happened without it.

Encourages me to go on walks or stand up at my office job. Shows pictures of my family. Keeps time. Helps me find my phone.

Diagnosed afib for me and currently going through treatment for it

Yes.

— I no longer have to look for my phone, I just ping it. It makes staying in the moment much more enjoyable and easier, because the mental strain of subconsciously remembering my phone and thinking about it is no longer there.

— I can control music from wherever without having to hold my phone. This means when I'm hosting music for the group and I'm out with friends (coupled with the first benefit), I literally have no idea where my phone is and I even forget I have a phone.
— If you do any kind of exercise, you will have to record yourself in some way to take it seriously. E.g. this much weight at this amount of reps at this day. The apple watch makes it easier to remember, easier to track your workouts, and easier to set goals that update automatically (you don't have to write down what day you exercised etc. the watch does it for you)

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These are the main benefits for me and the highest reasons why I would always recommend an Apple Watch to improve someones life. Granted—IT'S NOT A NECESSITY, but damn is it useful to have.

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I also got an apple watch so I never dive into the realm of luxury watches, so I'm gatekeeping myself from spending all that money

The fall sensor is a game changer if you’re on a ladder working by yourself.

if you’re active and want to track it, it helps… besides that it is LITERALLY just a glorified watch

May not be 100% accurate (it can be a bit better if you update your body metrics regularly, but still not 100% accurate) but it helped me lose around 60 pounds.

Also, the fact that you can see notifications at a glance, made me pickup the phone less.

I’m a runner, and I bought it for training and racing. Six 10ks, 12 half marathons, and six marathons later, I can say it really is great. And since I’m in my 60’s, fall detection and afib alerts are possibly lifesaving,

I think the watch has really motivated me to stay up on my fitness. It’s a great tool for me. I actually really love it

My mom tripped and broke her hip last week and the watch said it detected a hard fall and called 911. I also put cellular on it and use it to keep track of her (lol) bc she’s older and super active and terrible at answering her phone. So when I worry, I can just check on her steps and location to see that she’s been out and about and doing okay!

I went from 100kg to 72 and have visible abs now. That’s because I close my rings everyday and track my workouts

I just got tired with all the dumb luxury mechanical watches that does nothing for me (aka Rolex). Sold all of them and tried apple watch. It is super lightweight and actually do something. It also makes me use less of my phone. Awesome watch. BTW I don't consider it as a luxury watch cause it really isn't that expensive in the watch world. Heck it's even cheaper than servicing a mechanical watch lol

I use it for faster and easier payment, hands free actions like opening my cars trunk or turning in its AC, viewing my next meeting location even having hands full, viewing tons of other simple info at a glance, etc

Its made me mire conscious of sleep and steps. Which is invaluable. Besides that it had a million other benefits.