I have almost never removed my Apple Watch from my wrist for about 5 years. Surprised myself. First I had Series 2, and now Series 5. To be honest, in all this time smart watches as such are frankly tired. Increasingly, you want from them corny get rid of.

Began forget Apple Watch at home. A couple of pages with mechanics and quartz appeared in the browser bookmarks. In principle, I don’t look closely at buying, but I often look at models. I decided to decide whether I need a smart watch or not.

Compiled a list of the pros and cons of living with the Apple Watch. Most of the points apply to all smartwatches in general.

✅ Advantages of Apple Watch over regular watches

1. Interchangeable watch faces and tons of extensions

Just a couple examples of watch faces for Apple Watch

Apple Watch easily adapts to each user. All thanks to the numerous dials for every taste. There are both multifunctional options in the manner of «Infograph» and its modular counterpart, and simple ones: X-Large, «Numbers», «Color».

Third-party Apple Watch faces are not yet fully supported. But numerous extensions (widgets for watchfaces from developers from the App Store) allow you to customize the main screen of smartwatches to your needs.

2. They can show important notifications

The key is to keep notifications to a minimum.

This feature needs to be meticulously configured in the Notifications menu in the Watch app on the iPhone. Having only the most important messages on your Apple Watch is handy. The main thing is that the gadget does not turn into a dump of «push».

3. It’s cool to keep track of time on smart watches

Timer is my most requested watch app.

We are talking about the applications «Timer», «Stopwatch» and «Alarm Clock». They are very cool in regular use, and on a regular watch, similar functions are implemented extremely inconveniently. I use this at least a couple of times every day.

For example, with the help of the «Timer» I mark the time before the events. Ordered takeaway lunch. They said they would pick it up in 20 minutes. I set the countdown and forget about it. As soon as the drawdown went down, I go down to the cafeteria and pick it up. Profit.

4. The display is visible in absolutely any conditions

Unlike quartz and mechanical watches, information from Apple Watch is easy to read in any conditions. The display always turns on with a backlight, so any data is clearly visible both in the bright sun and in the evening.

5. You can launch Siri and demand attention

The screen is always visible

With Siri on Apple Watch, it’s great to communicate while driving. Periodically I ask her to find any information, launch smart home functions or call a given number. For example, the gates to my yard open automatically on call — I make it from the clock.

6. They tactilely signal anything

Settings menu for tactile and other signals

The Apple Watch uses the Taptic Engine, just like modern iPhones. He tactilely taps on the wrist, signaling the operation of the «Timer», new notifications, and even acts as a cuckoo every hour. This is much more pleasant than the annoying «peeping».

7. You can pay for purchases through Apple Watch

Paying by the hour is very convenient

Smartwatches linked to payment systems are indispensable when paired with an iPhone during a pandemic. The smartphone does not recognize the masked face, but it will be possible to pay for purchases at the supermarket using the Apple Watch. It turns out such a wallet right on your wrist.

8. Apple Watch is an iPod nano with Apple Music

It turns out the player on the wrist

During workouts, the smartwatch performs well as a music player. With the Apple Watch, it’s great to sync playlists and go for a run without an iPhone in your pocket. With such a gadget, no analogue of the iPod nano is additionally needed.

9. Workouts, ECG, blood oxygen levels

Sometimes it’s interesting to keep track of your activity

Of course, the vast majority of ordinary watches are not able to control physical activity, monitor the pulse and the amount of oxygen in the blood. This may not be of practical use, but sometimes it is interesting to see at least the number of steps.

10. Apple Watch is highly customizable

Too many watch straps

The strength of the Apple Watch is interchangeable straps for every taste. I myself regularly buy official silicone classics and constantly change them to suit my clothes. Ordinary watches almost do not offer anything like this. And other smart ones are extremely rare.

❌ Disadvantages of Apple Watch over simple watches

1. Apple Watch will need to be charged regularly

Honestly, enough…

Of course, the most annoying thing is the low level of autonomy of smart watches, even when you hardly use them. It would seem that I was driving all day and only watched the time, but by late evening my Apple Watch Series 5 is asking for charging.

In principle, you can turn off the constantly active screen and other energy-intensive smartwatch features, but then they become less and less sense. Yes, if the Apple Watch worked for a month without recharging, they would not have a price.

2. Smartwatches also have proprietary charging

You won’t ask for this at the bar in a cafe

Interestingly, the issue of autonomy could be partially solved using the usual charging port. Lightning and USB-C are always with you, but for Apple Watch you also need to put a proprietary “pill” in your bag when you travel. I keep forgetting it.

3. The Apple Watch battery has an expiration date.

Replacing the battery is not easy

I have been using the Apple Watch Series 5 for almost two years. After this time, I began to pay attention that smart watches are working less and less. At first, you could talk about two days of autonomy without a constantly on screen and one and a half with it. But not right now.

Lithium batteries degrade systematically after each charge and discharge cycle. In the process, the maximum useful capacity of the battery also decreases. It feels like today it is about 80%, so by night the clock is already setting.

4. Smartwatches get outdated fairly quickly.

The life span of smartwatches is about three years.

It is important to understand that the question of the “shelf life” of smartwatches arises not only due to the degradation of their battery. Apple Watch is also systematically becoming obsolete morally. They start to work more and more slowly with each update of the operating system.

5. Most apps are 100% useless

Here are just some of the useless watch apps

In the first part of this material, I deliberately did not write about installing third-party applications. This is not surprising, since most of them are actually useless. They are slow and non-functional. It’s easier to get an iPhone.

To make sure of this, I now specially opened Google Maps and tried to build a route to the office. They analyzed the path to it for at least 20 seconds, which negated the possible benefit of this application. It was easier to run it on a smartphone.

6. Without an iPhone, the Apple Watch is almost helpless.

Without an iPhone, the new Apple Watch can’t even be set up

Tried using Apple Watch with Android. In principle, this is possible. But the process is complex. Yes, and without the iPhone, you still can’t do it. Apple is interested in linking users to the ecosystem. But sometimes you want to go left.

7. The Apple Watch screen is easy enough to break

These are the scratches on the screen of my Apple Watch Series 5 right now

Even with protective bumpers, the Apple Watch is still quite a delicate device. You won’t get on a wakeboard with it, and in the water park in the summer, my smartwatch always went to the storage room. With the same extreme G-Shock from Casio, there are no such problems.

8. You have to regularly spend money on straps

I have no idea why I need so many straps

It is possible that this problem affects only a small group of Apple Watch owners. But personally, I’m tired of regularly buying new straps and bumpers for smartwatches. You can not do this, but your hands are reaching out to go through any new collection.

9. Today, absolutely everything around with the Apple Watch

Standing out with Apple Watch is no longer possible

About 5 years ago, only a few went with the Apple Watch, and this made them something unique and truly technological. Now almost everyone wears smartwatches, and for some reason this confuses me personally. I want to stand out, but I have to do something else.

10. It is inconvenient to work with the clock at the computer

The watch on the hand behind the laptop is superfluous

In the end, I myself never work for a MacBook in a smart watch. It is likely that the whole point is in the straps that are corny inappropriate for this. However, this is not so important. Apple Watch in my professional work is always with me.

Summing up: there is a feeling that it is better without a watch at all

Time to put smartwatches aside and try to live without them

More than once I came to the conclusion that smart watches are not needed. Much easier to use the regular ones. Of course, in this case, you will have to give up a whole fan of convenient smart functions, but they are really not always needed.

Now I have an even more radical idea. I want to get rid of watches. I suspect that I will have enough for a maximum of a week, but the experiment is already planned for the near future. It is likely that he will be successful.

The Apple Watch is very cool. I won’t even argue with that. But it seems that I’m just tired of the abundance of smart devices around.

All photos in the article:

All photos in the article: