How do Apple watches work?

An Apple Watch pairs to your iPhone 8 or newer.

You can get a cellular model and make phone calls away from your iPhone. I you get a GPS only model, you can do everything the cellular model can do AS LONG AS your iPhone is nearby, where nearby is generally in the same moderately sized home.

The Apple Watch prefers using Low Energy Bluetooth to piggy back off of your iPhone, but it can also use WiFi, and if you have a cellular model then cellular. The WiFi and Cellular are the less desirable, more power hungry radios, and are only used if Bluetooth is not available.

Things I do with my Apple Watch, and you can too, assuming you have a recent iPhone that will pair with an Apple Watch:

• It tells time, date, day of the week. 

• Every alarm, alert, notice that happens on your iPhone, appears on your wrist, where you can acknowledge it, dismiss it, etc…, without needing to take your iPhone out of your pocket or purse.

• I personally like the iPhone 3rd party “Alarmed” app (http://yoctoville.com), and I can even reset an alarm to 15 minutes in the future from my wrist. 

• Weather on your wrist. 

• MyRadar 3rd party app will even give you a radar weather image.

• MyRadar and WeatherBug 3rd party apps will send weather alerts to your Apple Watch (rain/snow starting/stoping, lightening warning, etc…)

• Answer your phone calls on your wrist. 

• Silence your call ring tone on your wrist by pressing the digital crown. 

• Hang up on spam calls on your wrist. 

• Make phone calls from your wrist (can be GPS only via your nearby iPhone, or the cellular model when away from your iPhone). 

• Send & receive iMessages on your wrist. 

• Send & receive TEXT/MMS on your wrist (requires the iPhone to be powered on, and accessible via Bluetooth, WiFi or the Internet for cellular models). 

• Use Apple Pay from my wrist, and all I have to do is a quick Double-Click on the oval side button.

• Use store rewards cards stored in my Apple Wallet, by again a quick Double-Click on the oval side button, and scroll down to the specific store reward card.

• Say “Hey Siri, 14 and a half minute timer” from your wrist. 

• With a 3rd party garage door add-on from MyQ, you can open and close your garage doors from your wrist (I do this when going for a walk; and I can open and close them from anywhere I have internet access; so I’m not range limited). 

• Say “Hey Siri, remind me when I get home to do xyz”, and you get a geolocation reminder. useful when out for a walk or leisurely bike ride, or even while driving. 

• Say “Hey Siri, message my wife/husband/Susan/George/etc…”, and the Apple Watch will prompt you for your message (assumes you have identified wife/husband/Susan/George in your contacts). 

• You can check your calendar from your wrist. 

• If you need to take a picture with your iPhone where you cannot see the screen, such as a picture of your back, you can use the Apple Watch Camera app as a remote viewfinder. 

• If you go to the ocean (say on vacation), you can get a 3rd party app that tells you where the tide cycle is, on your wrist). 

• You can set the Apple Watch to remind you to wash your hands when you return home.

• When washing your hands, you can set an option that automatically starts a hand washing timer for 20 seconds.

• You can use your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac.

• You can use your Apple Watch to unlock your iPhone when you are wearing a mask.

These are the most common things I actually use my Apple Watch for. There are many other features I do not use. I also track my exercise, but I am not hard core.

Before I got my Apple Watch, I was not sure I needed one. I got the Series 4, when they offered Fall Detection and ECG. 

After getting the Apple Watch, I found all of the above useful things, and I now could care less about ECG and Fall Detection. 

If my Apple Watch was lost, stolen, or broken, I would order a replacement as fast as possible, as I would miss it so much. 

I have a GPS only model, as my iPhone is always with me, so I can do everything the cellular model can do, only using the iPhone to relay phone calls and provide Internet access when away from home. And the GPS only is less expensive. 

My wife has a cellular model, because she does not want to carry her purse on walks, and is not the kind of girl that puts her iPhone in her back pocket. 

OH YEA!  Since my Wife got her Apple Watch, we have been able to iMessage each other reliably, as she never had her iPhone where she could hear new iMessage notifications. The iPhone was in her purse in the kitchen, or in her purse in a noisy supermarket, etc… Now with the Apple Watch on her wrist, she sees all my iMessages, and can answer all her phone calls. The Apple Watch is a great invention for women everywhere. 

Very, very well :) Do you have a specific question about a function or a feature? Are you considering a specific model of Apple Watch?

I've had several, they all function great, lots of fun features that work well with your phone, sleep tracking, temperature sensing, lots of health features. Great for exercise and tracking walks, tons of apps, texting, making and receiving calls....on and on, I would recommend getting one if you are in the market.

Hello chy177!

Here’s a video on how to set up and pair your Apple Watch, even though you didn’t ask for it. Please tap Here.

Here’s a link to the Apple Watch - Apple Community, if you ever run into problems with your Apple Watch.

I hope this is helpful. Good Luck!