The hype around the Apple Watch has been building for months and months, and commentators have worked themselves into a frenzy about how it could potentially change the face of wearable technology. However the day-to-day reality of owning an Apple Watch has already been found to have its annoyances, writes James Cook for Business Insider.
Notifications make for an uncomfortable experience
Despite its sleek packaging and obvious cache, the writer’s Apple watch began to annoy him because of its constant buzzing and vibrating due to a constant stream of notifications. It only took around 40 minutes for the notifications to begin to annoy Cook, and he decided to try and do something about it.
The issue with the Apple Watch is that it does not matter which apps you decide to install on the Watch itself, the default setting is that it will receive all of the same notifications that you receive on your iPhone. As a result, your Apple Watch will receive all of the tweets, Instagram likes, Facebook notifications and Foursquare check-ins that also get sent to your phone.
Having a timepiece which vibrates every minute is not most people’s idea of a good time, and the Apple Watch surely works best when it only alerts the wearer to the most important things, which they choose.
How to select which notifications you receive
Despite the fact that many people will probably want to select which notifications to receive, it is not an easy task. Users cannot do so directly on the Apple Watch, but instead have to use the Apple Watch app on the iPhone and select the notifications menu. Here users are able to choose which apps to receive notifications from on their Watch, reducing them to the bare necessities or certain important apps depending on their personal choices.
Cook left Messages, Email and Whatsapp notifications enabled, but each Apple Watch user can set up their device as they wish. Being aware of how to stop their new watches from buzzing too much will go a long way to improving the user experience for those who are excitedly finding their way around their new piece of wearable technology.
