Why I use an Apple Watch.

A comment on a Twitter/ X post got me thinking “Have never understood why anyone would pay hundreds of pounds for a smart watch…🤷. For the record a watch only ticks the relevant box if it has hands on it that rotate around the circumference of the dial!”

The original post was a poll asking what type of watch people wear (smart watch, digital, analogue, or none)

I replied to the original poll tweet “A blind person I love my Apple Watch. I have it set up to talk to me. When I’m out walking it’s so useful not to have to fumble for my phone. On the watch face there are 9 functions that I can activate with the tap of a finger when I’m holding my walking stick & long white cane.”

So I linked my reply to the person who questioned the need for a Smart watch with this tweet “this is how I use my Apple Watch as a blind woman to help me independently walk in the countryside, and not have to constantly hold my phone indoors
I have blurry sight remaining which is steadily deteriorating- my watch/phone/tablet talking to me = independence”

Here are the photos I added to the reply to the original poll tweet

Photo Description/ clarification.

Left:- One of my selfies I took using the camera remote on my watch. I’m sat on a bench on the edge of a wood overlooking a farm field. My long white cane and walking stick are leaning against the bench on my left and I’m trying to concentrate on looking towards a phone I cannot see in the blur that is leaning on a fence post between the wood and the field. I always try to wear a colourful T-shirt so cars can see me if I have to walk on a country road so I look dashing in pink.

Top right:- My favourite watch face on my Apple Watch.
If I tap the centre it reads the time (12:37 and 36 seconds)
The 4 centre apps are Date at 12 o’clock which I can then double tap to check appointments; 3 o’clock is Voice Memos with a double tap I can record birdsong, or note, 6 o’clock Workout as I leave and return a double tap records my walk, 9 o’clock my activity rings encouraging me to get up and out.
The 4 outer apps are top left camera remote allowing me to take photos from a distance, top right weather app/ temperature handy before I leave home to gauge if I need a coat or cardigan, bottom left timer I use while cooking etc, bottom right a compass so useful when I’m exploring the blurry countryside solo especially if I’ve turned myself around in the woods (it has the ability to to record my route to help me backtrack if I need to).

Bottom right:- The compass app opened has information (i) top left which opens to show direction, incline, and altitude (larger print so I can read it but also can be read aloud by the Watch, time top right, add way point bottom left (where I can add a symbol to indicate places to remember), altitude bottom centre, and backtrack bottom right which needs to activated at the start of a walk so that the watch can help me backtrack if I get lost I use it when I explore or if I’m using a route after a long gap of time.

My Apple Watch allows me to change the face whenever I want, and I can a choose large digital face if I want to silence the watch, however I’d miss my cheeky cats tapping the face with their noses when they are hungry for it.

I could buy a talking watch that only tells the time the cheapest is £14.99 and looks like a plastic strapped watch I owned as teenager (cheap and tacky), the more expensive one is £78 and looks more elegant but again I had a similar non talking one as I left school. I could buy an elegant tactile watch to check the time discretely it would cost £245, or a cheap tactile watch is £78.63 but looks like the similarly priced talking watch.

I feel I get my money’s worth from my current watch so cannot see me swapping anytime soon.

Until next time.