Apple Watch For Dummies. Marc Saltzman
discover its many features, including the Digital Crown button and the side button.
Pair your Apple Watch with your iPhone and then learn about setting up a passcode and cellular connectivity, monitoring battery usage, and protecting your valuable investment.
Explore the many ways you can interact with your Apple Watch, including tapping, pressing, typing, and swiping, as well as conveniently accessing Siri with your voice to help you complete watch-related tasks.
Chapter 1
Watch This: Introducing Apple Watch
IN THIS CHAPTER
So are you excited or what?
You’re a proud owner of the trendy Apple Watch. Or perhaps you purchased this book in anticipation of picking one up or receiving it as a gift. Either way, thank you for reading Apple Watch For Dummies 2022 Edition. This easy-to-read book has one goal in mind: to teach you everything you need to know about Apple Watch. With simple step-by-step instructions, clear images, and accessible tips and tricks, this book will help you gain the most from your new wearable gadget.
In this chapter, I walk you through the basics of Apple Watch to help you discover what this teeny wrist-mounted computer is capable of doing. You find out about the different parts of the watch — on the outside and inside — as well as the layout of the Home screen. From ways to interface with content on the watch to the hidden wireless technologies to integrated sensors that track your moves, you’ll soon have a clear picture of the 21st-century magic you’re wearing on your wrist.
It’s a beefy chapter, so let’s get to it.
Exploring the Apple Watch Collections
Apple Watch comes in a few sizes and configurations. For Series 1, Series 2, and Series 3 watches, you have a choice of a screen that’s either 38 millimeters (about 1.5 inches) or 42 millimeters (roughly 1.65 inches).
For Apple Watch Series 6 and Apple Watch SE (a less expensive model introduced in 2020), sizes measure 40 mm (1.57 inches) or 44 mm (1.73 inches), but the watches have narrower bezels (borders) than their predecessors.
Apple Watch Series 7, which debuted in the fall of 2021, has two sizes: 41 mm (1.61 inches) and 45 mm (1.77 inches). These watches have the thinnest bezels of all Apple Watches to date; therefore, the watch face is virtually all screen (and it’s a beaut!).
Although you likely bought a watch before buying this book, note that a few versions of Apple Watch are available today (the most popular, Apple Watch Series 7, is shown in Figure 1-1), and you can purchase a few accessories to customize your watch. For a more extensive discussion of the Apple Watch collections, or for ways to persuade a friend or co-worker that they need an Apple Watch, visit www.apple.com/watch.
FIGURE 1-1: The newest Series 7 Apple Watch (right), compared with the Apple Watch Series 6 (middle) and older Series 3 model (left).
Excluding the various bands you can buy from Apple, the six Apple Watch options are
Apple Watch Series 3: Although it’s not the newest Apple Watch available, this model was the first to offer either a Global Positioning System (GPS) chip — to accurately capture location information — or a GPS and cellular option. More on this later in this chapter.
Apple Watch Series 6: Still available for sale, this Apple Watch debuted in the fall of 2020. Along with new band materials and styles, this model added an even better “always on” screen, blood-oxygen monitor, always-on altimeter, and more (which I cover in this book, of course).
Apple Watch Series 7: This watch is the latest Apple Watch model (as of this writing), which adds a bigger and tougher screen, faster wireless charging, all-new colors, an optional QWERTY keyboard for typing, and more. Choice of materials include aluminum, stainless steel, and titanium.Apple says the challenge of the Series 7 redesign was to create a bigger display while barely expanding the dimensions of the watch itself. To accomplish this feat, the Apple Watch display was reengineered to reduce the borders by 40 percent, which allows for nearly 20 percent more screen area than Apple Watch Series 6 (and more than 50 percent more screen area than Apple Watch Series 3).
Apple Watch SE: Much like the less expensive iPhone SE, Apple Watch SE is meant to give you premium features at a more affordable price. It includes a great-looking Retina display, advanced sensors to track your movement, sleep, and more.
Apple Watch Nike+: Ideal for fitness types who like the Nike brand, this special edition Apple Watch Series 4 (and special loop band) was designed to be your running partner. The watch synchronizes with the Nike Run Club app and Nike Training Club app.
Apple Watch Hermès: A partnership between Apple and Hermès, this fashion-centric watch includes bold, colorful (and extra-long wraparound) leather bands and an exclusive new watch face.
You also have a ton of choice when it comes to materials you want in an Apple Watch and what style of band to choose. With Apple Watch Series 6, you can go with aluminum, stainless steel, titanium, or ceramic. Apple Watch Series 7 offers five new aluminum case finishes, along with a range of new band colors and styles. See Figure 1-2.
FIGURE 1-2: Apple Watch Series 7 gives you more colors and band options to choose.
In the fall of 2019, Apple also announced Apple Watch Studio, a website that lets you choose a case and pair any band. Try it out for yourself at www.apple.com/shop/studio.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
Despite there being nearly 200 countries on Earth, only 9 of them received Apple Watch when it debuted on April 24, 2015: Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Now dozens of countries sell and support Apple Watch — including models with cellular connectivity.
Figuring