Tag: #applewatch

The chain has been getting too long

Exactly 9 years ago I started tracking my activity with Apple Watch (1). That was about the only thing it could do well, besides notifications and telling the time. Over the years, the watch has been getting much more powerful and it went from a “failure” (which everyone predicted) to the most successful watch on the planet, outselling every other watchmaker.

From 30-MAY-2015 to 29-MAY-2024 I closed by rings almost every single day. Every day? No, but with few exceptions. There are 3288 days, and I closed my rings on 3261. That is three missing days per year. Sometimes Apple would skip a few days, sometimes I was ill. A few years ago, I had live-saving surgery and could not exercise, but I tried my best. The longest streak was 1075 days. And then I missed my goal by 3 kcal.

Then Apple introduced monthly challenges, which I did not like at all. They were either ridiculously easy or completely impossible to finish. After deliberately avoiding finishing them, the goals became more sensible.

Apple introduced Limited Edition Challenges to the tune of “walk for 20 minutes”. Ridiculous. More recently my chain became too long. Activity Monitor would tell me “earn this award by completing your move ring 3250 times – so far you have completed it 3252 times”.

Something really simple had morphed into too much. I stopped paying attention. Consequently, I now stopped activity tracking altogether.

I don’t need it anymore. I know how much I move. It has become an unbreakable habit. But I still need Apple Watch, because I want Apple Wallet on my wrist, a remote for Apple Home, a quick glance at the weather. It watches over my health, it warns me if my heart isn’t working well (so far only once), it warns others when I fall. It just does not have to track my activity anymore.

Lesson: keep it simple, stupid.

Apple Watch – was sich verändert hat

Ich habe lange nichts mehr über die Nutzung meiner Apple Watch erzählt. Sie ist nicht das neueste Modell, aber wir haben dieses Jahr noch eine neue für die Scheffin gekauft, weil die alte Apple Watch 4 zweimal am Tag geladen werden musste. Nun hat sie die aktuelle SE und die entspricht ihrer Nutzung. #reklame

Das da oben ist aktuell mein meistgenutztes Ziffernblatt. Ich finde es einfach hübsch und neben der Zeit zeigt es nur die Regenwahrscheinlichkeit und die Temperatur an. Da ich täglich lange Spaziergänge mache, sind das wichtige Informationen. Ich gehe gerne los, wenn es nicht gleich regnen wird und wenn die Temperatur zwischen 10 und 20 Grad ist.

Was nicht mehr drauf steht, sind die Ringe, die ich jeden Tag schließe. Die Information ist komplett redundant geworden und hier sieht man, warum ich nicht mehr schaue:

Ich nähere mich den 3250 Move Goals, und ob es nun 3250 oder 3233 sind, ist komplett irrelevant. Das Einzige, was zählt: Ich muss jeden Tag raus. Das ist gut für Körper und Seele. Und ich kann dir auch ohne Uhr erzählen, ob ich genug unterwegs war.

Ich habe ein Apple Music Abo, seit es das gibt, und ich habe kein Apple Fitness+ Abo, auch seit es das gibt. Jeden Monat gibt mir die Uhr neue “Monthly Challenges”, die meistens absurd sind. Entweder, weil ich sie in ein paar Tagen einfahre, oder, weil ich sie überhaupt nicht erreichen kann.

Hat sich die Uhr für mich erledigt? Mitnichten! Ich will, dass sie mich vor Gefahren warnt (das Herz), ich will, dass sie andere alarmiert (Sturz), ich will selbst um Hilfe rufen können. Das EKG habe ich, seit es das gibt, vielleicht viermal genutzt, aber ich finde es wichtig, dass mich die Uhr vor einem unregelmäßigen Herzschlag warnt. Das hat mir schon einmal den Hals gerettet.

Absoluter Gamechanger war Apple Pay. Uhr an die Kasse halten, fertig. Und wer kein Apple Pay annehmen kann (Spoiler: kann jeder), verkauft mir halt nichts.

Die Notifications der Activity App sind bereits aus und ich denke darüber nach, ob ich das Fitness Tracking mit Tag 3250 oder 3333 ausschalte.

Und Ihr so?

Restart your chain #dontbreakthechain

If you broke your chain, just start a new one. I have 144 days to go until I hit my next move goal and I only need to close all rings for seven days in a row to get the award for the New Year challenge. That should be an easy one.

It’s raining cats and dogs, but I will take another walk tonight. I need 19 minutes of exercise and 183 kcal to close my rings, and I will achive that, no excuses.

Sometimes I don’t make it, because I did not pay attentions. Just last week I was missing 3 kcal, but I don’t fret it, because often I am many hundreds above my move goal.

Apple Software Updates

Nächsten Montag, am 18.09.23 ab etwa 18:00 Uhr erscheinen (unter anderem) iOS 17 und watchOS 10. Ich habe aktuell schon die Release Candidates installiert. Und mir machen vor allem die kleinen Dinge gr0ße Freude, wie dieses Peanuts Watch Face. Das hier ist das Always-On Display, das beim Aufwachen der Uhr einen hellen Hintergrund bekommt, auf dem Snoopy und Woodstock immer wieder neue Kapriolen aufführen. Das macht gute Laune.

Der Standby-Modus in iOS 17 lässt sich durch Widgets konfigurieren und zeigt nachts ein stark abgedunkeltes Display mit roter Schrift auf schwarzem Hintergrund. Voraussetzung: Das iPhone wird geladen und ist im Querformat aufgestellt. Aktuell nutze ich dafür meine Anker 622 Powerbank. Ich bin gespannt, was ich da noch so alles brauche. Ganz heißer Kandidat ist der Anker 3-in-1 Cube, der allerdings auch ordentlich teuer ist.

Weil es gerade im Bild ist. Dieses Jahr habe ich das iPhone im Apple Clear Case gehabt. Das hat sich sehr bewährt. Rundum guter Schutz, auch für Display und Kamera, keine Verfärbungen.

A few thoughts on the Apple event

Predictions for the Apple iPhone event were on point this year. Apple did not suprise and they also did not disappoint. And predictions were wrong in one important respect. Apple did not raise prices.

My thoughts in no particular order:

  • iPhone 15 gets the Dynamic Island that was introduced last year on the 14 Pro. It also has the A16 Bionic processor found in the 14 Pro. The main camera gets upgraded to 48 MPixel, also found in … the 14 Pro. What it does not get is the variable refresh rate display, which Apple calls Promotion. Hence, not always-on.
  • iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max get a new A17 Pro processor which once again blows past all other smartphones from any vendor. It also has a new internal architecture, much like the non-Pro 14 last year, that makes it more repairable. The frame drops the stainless steel which is replaced by Titanium, making the Pro model lighter than any before. Good change. Pro has a 3x telephoto lens and Pro Max goes to 5x.
  • The photo/video features are just blowing my mind. I need to wrap my head around all the details.
  • Apple drops Lightning and replaces it with USB-C. That is going to be popular with the Android crowd and tech nerds, but most regular iPhone users could not care less. Lightning is still superior in terms or durability and mechanical construction. Old accessories might no longer work. Apple will be happy to sell you new ones like the EarPods with USB-C connector. (EarPods are still the best casual microphone you can use, far superior to Bluetooth).
  • USB-C is a plug that can be used in many ways. On iPhone it supports USB 2, on iPhone Pro USB 3 with 10 Gbit/s. That is still not Thunderbolt like the iPad Pro uses. We will see what the charging cable will deliver. On iPad Pro it only support USB 2, so you need to buy a better (and thicker) cable.
  • Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 use a new chip based on the A15 making them faster. Peak display brightness goes up, but the design remains the same. A major design overhaul is expected for next year, when the Apple Watch turns 10.
  • Apple talks quite a bit about their progress towards their goal to become carbon-neutral by 2030. Apple Watch is the first product to get there. Apple is increasingly using recycled material and now is also dropping leather from all accessories. No more leather bands or leather cases. I like.
  • A neat party trick is the ability to double tap your index finger and thumb to execute the default option on Apple Watch, like dropping or answering a call, snoozing you alarm etc. This has been announced for the new watches only.

Did you see any suprises? What did you find interesting?

3000 days #dontbreakthechain

Yesterday I completed 3000 days where I closed all my rings on Apple Watch. That is more than 8 years. My longest streak has been more than a thousand days, but then eventually something happens that makes you miss da day. Sometimes it’s a bug in the software, and other times it is a bug in your body.

Counting from the first day that I closed my rings (600 kcal, 30 minutes exercise, 12 hours standing) it took me 3021 days to get to 3000. At the very end, on September 7 it showed 3000 days, did not give me the award, went back to 2999 and only on September 8 it awarded me.

3000 out of 3021, that is 99.3 % success. Being consistent makes all the difference. No matter what the weather looks like, no matter if you are lazy today, just go out and get moving. Many things happened in those eight years. I had surgery, I woke up in an ICU, I got teeth implanted, but I always picked myself up.

My habits have formed, I rarely check if I completed the rings, and that is how I missed 21 days, sometimes by just three kcal. But every single month looks like this calendar view.

69 days to 3000 #dontbreakthechain

June was a good month. I did not break the chain, which sometimes happens when I am not paying enough attention, and I also met the challenge of burning 771 kcals for 14 days. I am over 400 weeks of not breaking the Move chain (600 kcals) and 69 days from now I will have closed my rings for 3000 days.

I hope you are still with me. vowe recommends Apple Watch.

8 years of wearing Apple Watch

Apple Watch Series 8 (GPS + Cellular, 45mm)

Exactly 8 years ago I started wearing an Apple Watch, the original series. At that time, Apple was offering an aluminium sports watch, the “regular” watch made from stainless steel, and an outrageously expensive gold watch. Apple did not yet know what to do with the watch and they eventually pivoted to health and fitness, which happened to be exactly my use case from day one.

I wanted to close my rings every single day of the week, and I have now been doing this for 8 years. As you can see, I completed 2900 days with reaching my move goal, out of 2920 days. My longest move streak has been more than a thousand days until I missed one day by a few calories.

A few years ago, Apple Watch alerted me of a health condition that turned out to be a severe sepsis, a potentially life-threatening situation. Three doctors made the right decisions within just two hours. I had surgery the next day and I walked out of the hospital three days later.

In the years since Apple Watch has received an ECG monitor, fall detection, crash detection, irregular heart rhythm detection. The display has gotten a lot better, it has been always on for more than three years, its battery life has gotten much better, and it charges faster, so that you can wear it 23.5 hours a day and track your sleep. The long-term health data makes it so valuable for me. When my resting heart rate goes up, I know something is wrong.

With Apple Pay I can pay for almost everything just by holding it to a payment terminal, I can take a call without even carrying my iPhone and can dispatch iMessages just by talking to it. When I leave the house, I continue to listen to a podcast through my AirPods, and all this tight integration makes the watch indispensable to me.

That’s all nice and good. But what makes me wear this thing every single day is that it watches over me.

I may not even be here without it.

On to the next 100 days to complete the 3000 days of closing my rings. #dontbreakthechain