Last Thursday, I had an idea I was surprised I hadn’t had before. The idea was could I replace my iPhone with an Apple Watch? I already own the SE model Apple ⌚️, and I find my iPhone to be extremely distracting to keep around. I especially get sucked into apps that deliver content you don’t ask for and loath anything that resembles reels, tiktoks, or YouTube stories. I just can’t stand those kinds of apps and how they suck you in. Kind of hard to do on a ⌚️ screen though! Right!?
I’m not sure why this didn’t dawn on me earlier, but when it did, I set out to use just my ⌚️ for the weekend (plus Thursday & Friday) as a test.
….And…. I can’t just get rid of my iPhone, namely because of these main issues I found during my four day experiment:
- Can’t Google things on-the-fly on a ⌚️
- Banking not really possible on a ⌚️
- Some apps just don’t work on a ⌚️ or on a 💻
- Can’t tweet on the go!
- Can’t take a picture of a thing on a ⌚️
- Can’t edit calendar entries on the go!
- Can’t read books (audiobooks are great) on a ⌚️
- Can’t setup your ⌚️ or configure it w/out a 📱 anyways
..and probably many more I can’t remember right now.
These are things I could live without if I had to, but it just wouldn’t be worth it. But, having to keep my phone in my pocked for four days helped me learn that most of the things I do on my 📱 I can do on my :watch:, like:
- Audiobooks
- Note-taking (Voice Memos)
- Messaging
- Calling
- Music
- Reminders
- Set timers
- View my account balances (some banking)
- Pay for things (Apple Pay/Starbucks)
- Two-factor Authenticate
- Even look things up on Yelp
…and so, even though I can’t just sell my iPhone and use my Apple Watch 100% of the time I did learn I could probably use my ⌚️ 80% of the time to do most things. And so 80% of the time I’m at home my phone will likely live in my office or bedroom and I will just keep my ⌚️ on me. If I need to Google something, I’ll go get it. My 📱 will likely go with me when I’m out and about though, but for most things (including navigation, music, podcasts, etc) I’m just going to keep it in my pocket and try do do as much with my ⌚️ as I can.
I might even invest in a cellular version of my ⌚️ so I can leave it at home when I’m out and about and I know I won’t have to e.g. do some banking or something (e.g. I’m out hiking, walking, or something). I want to use my ⌚️ more, and I think that’s worth failing at this experiment!
But… I still think the ⌚️ is going to eventually become the new 📱 (e.g. you won’t have a 📱, you’ll just have a ⌚️)…but that’s a little farther in the future.