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I've been wondering about the new cellular Apple Watch. In particular, I wonder if I could get away with just having that, and use it to train myself out of idl

I've been wondering about the new cellular Apple Watch. In particular, I wonder if I could get away with just having that, and use it to train myself out of idly reading the news during periods of micro-boredom. The main thing keeping me from trying it as an experiment, is that I use my phone primarily for mobility (transit schedules, Car2go, ReachNow, lyft, bikeshare, etc.). And it appears that the majority of the services I use don't have watch apps.

jf 9y ago
I bought a Series 3 Apple Watch with LTE for this exact reason. I'm on day 5 of going phone-less and while it isn't a seamless transition, I expect to go without a phone for the foreseeable future. What works without a phone: - SMS/iMessages - Phone calls via AirPods - Checking weather reports - Turn-by-turn navigation - Setting timers - Getting my focus back What I wish worked without a phone: - Updating contacts Other: I've been having an issue with my Outlook calendar not updating on the watch, though I'm not sure what the root cause of that issue might be. I'm going to try connecting my iPhone directly to Exchange. I have the Lyft app on my watch, and it is supposed to work without the phone nearby. I haven't had a chance to test it yet though. When I find myself missing an app, I remember how liberating it was when I spent 3 months living in Rwanda without the need to carry a wallet, keys, or phone.
- noirbot 9y ago
  Can you do this without having a phone at all? Or does it have to have an iPhone "base station" to check in with at home?
  - peatmoss 9y ago
    AFAIK, you still need the iPhone, but it can remain plugged in at home.
    - jf 9y ago
      Yeah. You need the iPhone. It's primarily used to configure the watch, I also suspect that the iPhone proxies some of the requests to the phone, though I'm not sure. I just leave mine plugged in at home.
      - peatmoss 9y ago
        Can I message you in a month to see how your experiment is going? If you've ever had a desire to blog, I'd love to see a Medium post or similar.

jf 9y ago

I bought a Series 3 Apple Watch with LTE for this exact reason. I'm on day 5 of going phone-less and while it isn't a seamless transition, I expect to go without a phone for the foreseeable future. What works without a phone: - SMS/iMessages - Phone calls via AirPods - Checking weather reports - Turn-by-turn navigation - Setting timers - Getting my focus back What I wish worked without a phone: - Updating contacts Other: I've been having an issue with my Outlook calendar not updating on the watch, though I'm not sure what the root cause of that issue might be. I'm going to try connecting my iPhone directly to Exchange. I have the Lyft app on my watch, and it is supposed to work without the phone nearby. I haven't had a chance to test it yet though. When I find myself missing an app, I remember how liberating it was when I spent 3 months living in Rwanda without the need to carry a wallet, keys, or phone.

noirbot 9y ago
Can you do this without having a phone at all? Or does it have to have an iPhone "base station" to check in with at home?
- peatmoss 9y ago
  AFAIK, you still need the iPhone, but it can remain plugged in at home.
  - jf 9y ago
    Yeah. You need the iPhone. It's primarily used to configure the watch, I also suspect that the iPhone proxies some of the requests to the phone, though I'm not sure. I just leave mine plugged in at home.
    - peatmoss 9y ago
      Can I message you in a month to see how your experiment is going? If you've ever had a desire to blog, I'd love to see a Medium post or similar.