The Apple Watch is truly one of Apple's greatest inventions. It can do many things better than other Apple devices, and it packs a ton of unique functionality. We love helping the Ownloop fam get the most out of their Apple products. Here are some cool tricks you might not know your Apple Watch can do.
Keep Those Hands Nice and Clean
In this germy world, you'll be glad to know your Apple Watch can help make sure you wash your hands for just the right amount of time. When you start running the tap and rinsing your hands, a timer will start with a cute bubbly graphic, counting down from 20 seconds to make sure you're sufficiently washing any nasties away.
You can turn on hand washing reminders by opening the Watch app on your iPhone, scrolling down to Handwashing, and toggling on the Handwashing Timer.
Pro Tip: This is a fantastic feature for kids with an Apple Watch — it helps keep the house clean and establishes good habits.
Stay on Top of Your Health Metrics, Like VO2 Max
With every passing year, Apple is turning into more and more of a healthcare company. One cool update is the ability to track VO2 Max — a measure of your cardiovascular fitness and an awesome estimation of your overall health.
Open the Health app on your iPhone, tap Health Checklist, and scroll down to Cardio Fitness Levels to set it up. You can also set up your Apple Watch to send you a notification if your VO2 Max starts trending downwards. To do this, search for Cardio Fitness Notifications within the Health app and tap Turn on Notifications.
Get a Better Night's Sleep
The Apple Watch now natively tracks sleep, and with a comfortable band like the Infinity Loop, you can wear your Apple Watch to bed and let the Health app work its magic for a more restful night's sleep. It tracks time asleep and the consistency of your bedtime — two hugely important factors for good rest.
For more detailed sleep data including sleep stages and quality ratings, check out third-party apps like AutoSleep or Pillow.
Pro Tip: If you prefer not to wear your watch to sleep, turn it on its side while charging to enable Bedside Mode. The Loop Stand makes this super easy and keeps everything tidy.
Unlock Your Mac from Your Apple Watch
If you use a Mac, you can use your Apple Watch to log in instead of typing your password. To set it up:
- Make sure your Mac has WiFi and Bluetooth turned on, and both devices are signed into the same iCloud account.
- Ensure your Apple Watch has a passcode enabled.
- On your Mac, go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy, and in the General tab, enable the option to unlock your Mac with your Apple Watch.
Automatically Call for Help If You Fall
Apple's Fall Detection feature can detect when you take a hard fall and automatically call for help — but it isn't turned on by default. To enable it, open the Watch app on your iPhone, tap the My Watch tab, scroll down to Emergency SOS, and toggle on Fall Detection.
Note: Apple warns that physically active people may trigger false positives, so test it out first.
We'll be sending out more tips and tricks every few weeks — let us know what you want to learn more about! Visit ownloop.com to find the most comfortable Apple Watch bands you'll ever wear.
