12 Ways Your Apple Watch Can Help You Simplify Your Life

The Apple Watch is one of Apple's most popular products — and for a good reason.
Not only is it a fantastic wearable that you can carry with you pretty much anywhere, but it also comes with a wealth of features that can make your life a lot simpler.
The Apple Watch can help you with many things, from tracking your health to managing your notifications without even touching your iPhone.
If you're still on the fence about getting an Apple Watch or just want to know how it can help you in your daily life, read on for 12 ways an Apple Watch can make your life easier.
Let the Apple Watch Track Your Workouts
One of the biggest reasons to get an Apple Watch is because you want to live a more active life. Thanks to many different features, your Apple Watch is capable of tracking all your daily activity and even keeping track of your workouts.
There are plenty of workouts to choose from, and if you forget to set it up, your Apple Watch can also detect when you're working out and start tracking you.
What's more, if you need a little push to start working out, the rings on your Apple Watch will be a great motivator. Finishing your rings helps many of us stay motivated to keep our streak going and do some physical activities at least once a day. Plus, you can also get some cool badges.
Use the Apple Watch to Monitor Your Health
Keeping your health in check can be tough, especially if you don't have the necessary tools. While the Apple Watch will never replace actual medical assistance, it is still a great way to track specific aspects of your health.
For starters, your Apple Watch can track your heart rate for you, even if you forget about doing it yourself. What's more, it will also send you notifications if it senses that your heart rate is too high or low for the activity that you're doing.
Your Apple Watch can track many of your vital signs while you sleep, including heart rate. With the new Vitals app, your Apple Watch will keep track of things like your wrist temperature, respiratory rate, and sleep duration. It will then give you enough information to understand whether your vitals were typical or if something was off about you.
Your Apple Watch Can Help You With Your Sleep
Your Apple Watch can track your vitals at night and help you track your sleep. After you wear it at night, it can tell you how much time you actually spent sleeping and the time you spent in the different sleep stages, like REM, Core, and Deep sleep.
If you wear your Apple Watch for more than 14 days, you can also see your sleeping trends, which can help you understand the quantity and quality of sleep you're getting every day.
But the best part is that if you have an Apple Watch Series 9 or Series 10 or an Apple Watch Ultra 2 with watchOS 11 installed, your Apple Watch can even help you determine if you have sleep apnea, a condition that affects literally billions around the world.
Your Apple Watch will keep track of breathing disturbances and notify you if it thinks you have sleep apnea and how severe it is. Of course, nothing beats a diagnosis from an actual doctor, but this will let you know that you should go see your health provider to understand your situation a little bit better.
Taking Selfies Is Easier Than Ever
With your Apple Watch, you don't have to worry about who will take the group photo; you can use your Apple Watch to do the work for you.
The Apple Watch comes with a Camera Remote app, which does what you can expect. When you open it, you'll have access to your iPhone's shutter button and a small timer so you can make the perfect pose for the picture. You can also change a couple of settings, like the flash and shutter time.
Your Apple Watch Will Help You Wash Your Hands Properly
Ever since the year 2020, now more people than ever have known how important it is to wash your hands. Not only do you need to do it the right way, but you also have to do it for the right amount of time.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests scrubbing your hands for at least 20 seconds. They even suggest that you hum the "Happy Birthday" song twice so you know how long it takes.
However, with your Apple Watch, you don't have to hum any songs. Instead, your Watch will use its microphone and your hand motions to know you're washing your hands. It will then start a timer automatically for you.
You'll know when to wash your hands because you'll receive a small vibration on your wrist. All of that happens automatically, so you don't have to worry about anything other than washing your hands.
Your Apple Watch Can Find Your iPhone for You
How often have you gone mad trying to find your iPhone at home? Or how about that mini heart attack we get when we don't feel our iPhones in our pockets?
Losing your iPhone can be scary or annoying — and sometimes both — but your Apple Watch can help you find it in seconds.
The Apple Watch comes with a Ping iPhone button. When you press it, your iPhone automatically pings, making it easier to find.
If you're in a place with low light, you can press and hold the same button, and your iPhone will start pinging and flashing for a couple of seconds, making it even easier to find.
Pay With Your Wrist
Another cool feature many Apple devices have is Apple Wallet. This lets you add your credit or debit card to your iPhone, so you can pay just by putting your iPhone close to the payment terminal.
However, there's an even easier way to do it. If you have an Apple Watch, you don't even need to have your iPhone with you; you can simply double-press the Side button, and you'll be able to pay with your Apple Watch just as quickly.
The best part is that Apple is always improving this feature. For instance, watchOS 11 is bringing a feature called Tap to Cash. With this feature, you can make or receive deposits from people just by putting your Apple Watch near their own Apple Watch or iPhone.
Unlock Your Apple Devices Without Even Trying
Your Apple Watch can also help you control your other Apple devices to some extent.
For instance, if you have a Mac with the same Apple Account as your Apple Watch, then you can change a few settings so your Apple Watch always unlocks your Mac whenever you're nearby. Likewise, you can also make it so your Apple Watch unlocks your iPhone when you are wearing it.
To unlock your Mac with your Apple Watch, go to the Apple menu > System Settings > Touch ID & Password, scroll down, and enable your Apple Watch under Apple Watch.
On iPhone, simply go to Settings > Face ID & Passcode. Enter your passcode, scroll down, and under Unlock with Apple Watch, enable your Apple Watch's name.
You Don't Have to Use Your iPhone for Basic Tasks
On average, it is estimated that people check their phones around 144 times a day in the US alone, which is an incredible number.
However, it's pretty understandable since most of us use it for notifications, changing songs, seeing reminders, or checking the weather.
Nevertheless, it's a huge number that you can decrease with your Apple Watch. The Apple Watch is smart enough to handle many basic things you might want to do with your iPhone.
For instance, with your Apple Watch, you can pause or play your songs or podcasts, check the current weather, check your notifications, talk to Siri, see your reminders for the day, check the date, and even send messages, albeit it's a bit uncomfortable to do if you have a smaller Watch.
Still, there are plenty of things you can do with nothing but your Apple Watch. This means that you can give your iPhone a break, and it is possible to go out without your iPhone without losing your most important notifications.
It Keeps You Or Your Loved Ones Safe in Case of an Accident
Maybe it's your parents, grandparents, or your kids, but we all have someone who we care for and want to make sure they're okay all the time.
Unfortunately, we can't keep an eye on people all the time, which is why having an Apple Watch might help you with that.
The Apple Watch comes with a couple of features that are great in case of an emergency. The first one is called Fall Detection. Your Apple Watch can detect how you feel, and it will send you an alert asking if you're okay. If you're not, or you don't answer quickly enough, it will automatically call emergency services and your emergency contacts.
Likewise, there's a fairly new feature called Crash Detection. Similar to Fall Detection, this feature will automatically trigger if your Apple Watch detects that you've been in a severe car crash. It will then send you a message to ask you if you're okay. If you don't answer, your Apple Watch will call emergency services and your emergency contacts.
Your Apple Watch Can Help You Stay Relaxed Throgout the Day
The Apple Watch comes with a useful app for those of us who are stressed all the time.
The app is called Mindfulness, and it's pretty simple but effective. It has a few features to help you understand your mind and feelings.
For starters, there's the Breathe feature, which will guide you through a breathing exercise by using the Apple Watch's haptic vibrations on your wrist so you know when you inhale and exhale.
The Reflect feature comes with prompts to help you change your state of mind. For instance, there are prompts to help you remember a time when you felt happy or peaceful. When you get a prompt, you'll have a few minutes to think about a specific feeling and to relax.
Last but not least, State of Mind, which lets you log in your emotions and moods. You can also log in what is causing you to feel in that mood, whether it's good or bad. You can then check what your feelings were throughout the day or week to help you understand what's your current state of mind.
Your Apple Watch Will Help You Wake Up in the Morning
Waking up early is hard for some of us, and sometimes, not even our iPhones' alarms can help us. But maybe an Apple Watch can.
You'll need to wear your Apple Watch when you go to bed. That way, when you set up an alarm, your Apple Watch will also send vibrations to help you wake up. Combine that with the alarm on your iPhone, and you'll never be late again.
Sure, it's annoying, but it'll definitely help you wake up at the right time.