I haven’t worn an Apple Watch, Garmin, or even a regular watch for exactly a year. Why did I give them up and I don’t regret it at all

I wore different models of Apple Watch for about 5 or even 6 years. At first I had Series 2, then I switched to Series 5, and for some time I even wore the first Ultra. Sometimes threw I took breaks, but they can hardly be called duration.

I once switched to Xiaomi Mi Band and tried Honor smart bracelets. For a couple of months I even tried to find meaning for myself in one of the top Garmin models, which I received instead of an annual bonus at one of my previous jobs a couple of years ago.

I will say even more, I got my first regular watch at about the age of ten. 20 years back.

All this extreme life experience with watches has taught me that there should always be something on your wrist. However, in fact, it turned out that I specifically did not need this “something” at all. There are almost no pros, and the cons are through the roof.

I spent the last year without a watch at all. It has become comfortable to work, now you don’t need to constantly charge another device (if we talk about smart ones), life almost began to sparkle with new colors. I’ll tell you about the conclusions I made.

Decided to leave one USB-C charging cable for everything

Just one of these small cables can actually charge any device that I have with me.

I’ll start from the end.

A year after giving up any watches, the number of gadgets in personal use was reduced to a minimum. Today, at work and for play, I was actually provided with only 3 devices:

▪ 15-inch MacBook Air in the best configuration;
▪ brand new iPhone 15 Pro Max 512 GB;
▪ fresh AirPods Pro 2nd generation with Type-C.

The backpack also contains a couple of power supplies and a meter, an external battery that will connect to a MacBook, adapters, flash drives, adapters and other related accessories.

Absolutely everything I use now can be charged and/or connected using a single cable with USB-C on each side.

The Apple Watch obviously wouldn’t fit into my current set because of the magnetic “tablet” that is needed for charging. The situation is similar with other smartwatches. By the way, by the same principle, MagSafe in my MacBook Air irritates me a little, which I also already wrote about.

I see absolutely all notifications on iPhone and MacBook

On the big screen of a smartphone it is much easier to deal with all the “outsiders” than on a smart watch.

One of the advantages of smartwatches for me has always been notifications that are almost impossible to send: messages in work chats, email, and so on. Once upon a time, all this really made sense to me.

However, today the situation is completely different. For urgent work issues, everyone began to quietly call, and text methods of communication usually do not require an immediate response.

Plus, I spend 95% of my working time on a MacBook. I have absolutely all the software on it that I really need notifications from, including web applications based on Google Chrome with all the same “push notifications”. I see notifications → I react (or not).

And there is always an iPhone up next to the switched-on earphone. According to his condition and notifications, the other provided the necessary information. Although most often a computer is enough.

There are practically no urgent signals for me outside of working hours. Yes, and the iPhone is in your pocket with the sound turned on. Lie down, so it’s unlikely that you’ll miss anything important either.

When working on a MacBook in the past, the watch was always removed

This lower part of the strap with the lock is very uncomfortable to hold your hand when it lies on the table.

As noted above, almost all of my professional jobs involve using a computer to work during any hours with the toilet off.

As a last resort, when it comes to a laptop, before the Apple Watch, Garmin and even the simplest smart bracelets, you always have to observe while working. They always lay nearby and discharged smoothly without any benefit.

It’s interesting that this became such a habit for me that I would take off my watch even if I needed to do something urgently on a laptop somewhere in a cafe. It happened that in a hurry I even forgot some watch and remembered it the next day.

Considering that I never sleep during the hours, in the end, in recent years, it turned out that Most of the time I had nothing on my wrist anyway.

When you realize this, you begin to wonder whether a smart watch is even needed in this case?!

Even one hand is enough to control the iPhone 15 Pro Max

Clear proof that one hand is not enough to control the Apple Watch.

Smart watches were first aimed at quickly accessing smartphone locations, which should have been especially convenient in cramped conditions: in the same subway or other public transport, in a supermarket with a full shopping cart at the ready.

Wherein To fully control a smartwatch, you always need two hands.

Of course, the Apple Watch has voice access to Siri, but it has never stood out for its outstanding intelligence. The “pinches” on the new watches also do not inspire confidence.

In the end, it all comes down to the fact that it is almost always much easier to take a smartphone out of your pocket and do any manipulations with one hand.

This even works with the iPhone 15 Pro Max remote, which I’ve been using lately. I’m generally silent about more compact models.

Bring only your iPhone and AirPods Pro to the gym

Usually all this activity tracking on smartwatches during workouts is completely useless.

Smart watchsports bracelets, a variety of useful and not so useful sensors that can be bought in a number of electronics stores, absolutely useless for the gym. This is what we used to say in our youth, IMHO.

Therefore, when from time to time I once again break into the “big sport”, I take with me only an iPhone with the FitnessOnline application (this is an exercise plan with tips on how to do it) and AirPods Pro for my favorite music.

I have nothing against professional devices for monitoring heart rate and other body indicators used by high-level athletes. But it seems to me that the average person who simply doesn’t want to grow a belly simply doesn’t need them.

When I went to the gym wearing a variety of smart watches, I was no longer worried about breaking them, and not about the conditional straightness of my back during squats.

Of course, with the Apple Watch Ultra or titanium Garmin, the issue of the safety of smart watches is not so serious, but it still remains.

I no longer worry about the safety and appearance of my watch.

Yes, it is not so easy to break the sapphire screen and damage the titanium case, but it is also possible, I checked it myself.

The question of the safety of smart watches arises even trivially on the beach. Whether you like it or not, electronics do not like salty sea water, and even the most protected gadgets must be thoroughly washed after intentional or accidental contact.

And the white stripe on my arm after a beach holiday always really pissed me off.

And without a watch, you don’t even have to worry about whether it fits under your clothes. Previously it was for the sake of I had about a dozen branded straps for Apple Watch different colors and style.

Of course, normally, I think we need some interesting classic watches to get people to come out. But lately it’s hard to call events like this in my life any regular.

In short, no clock, no problem.

Everything is described above briefly, and also ends in a year

❶ Now all cables are Type-C → Type-C. You can’t charge any normal smartwatch with such a cable; you always need a special one.

❷ The watch does not notice notifications. All of them, when needed, are already displayed on the iPhone or MacBook screen. During non-working hours, the same messages are usually not available for minutes.

❸ Working on a computer has become easier. I never used a laptop in a smart or other watch, so I constantly took it off and put it next to it. Now you don’t need to remove anything.

❹ The smartphone is easy for me to use. To do anything on a smartwatch, you usually need two hands. For a smartphone, most often only one is enough.

❺ In the gym without a smart watch. During physical exercise, an iPhone is enough to view the list and correctness of exercises, as well as AirPods for music. The rest is unnecessary.

❻ I don’t worry about the watch in any conditions. When you don’t carry anything on your hands, it shouldn’t look decent and match, excuse me, style. And it won’t break.

It’s great that I understand that the entire experience written above is absolutely abstract. Many have completely different habits, problems and their own opinions. I enjoy reading it in the comments.

In my case, it turned out that rejecting an obviously excellent Apple device was even more than justified. To be honest, I like living much better without a watch.

There is another class of devices that I consider absolutely useless. Perhaps we’ll talk about it in one of the following posts. Stay in touch!

📸 All photos in the article: