Five reasons the Apple Watch is #lifechanging

I never thought I’d actually say this, but I flippin’ LOVE my new Apple Watch. I’ll admit it – I was an Apple Watch naysayer for a long time. I thought they were kinda…well, silly. I didn’t want another device, another piece of technology to make me a slave to my phone and computer. But, when one of my friends and I ran recently, she tracked us with her new Nike Apple Watch…and got me intrigued. I’ve been thinking a lot about my safety when I’m running (I guess that’s what growing up means?), and I thought the watch would be perfect to keep me a little safer on my solo runs. I really didn’t think much further than that until my husband surprised me with the Nike Apple Watch for Christmas.

Now, I know there are a billion technical reasons why “smart” watches are awesome, and I know they’re great to different people for different reasons, but these five reasons are why I, the diametric opposite of a gadget geek, think the Apple Watch is #lifechanging for a busy mama (and as my friends know, I take the term #lifechanging VERY seriously ;-)).

Also note I haven’t taken ANY classes on the watch, and my eleven-year-old son helped me set most of it up so I am sure I missing some amazing functionalities. That being said, these five make me happy every single day. When’s the last time you said THAT about a watch?!

1. I know the weather all. the. time.

This is a biggie for me. Most of the faces on the Apple Watch display the current temperature, and the high and low for the day, so that means with the flip of your wrist, you know the weather. It seems to insignificant, but I LOVE knowing the weather from the second I wake up to the minute I go to bed. I know how to dress for an early morning run and whether or not to make the kids wear pants to school within minutes of waking up – and without waking my other half.

2. I can be away from my phone but still connected.

This is what surprised me the most about using the Apple Watch. I’m actually looking at my phone LESS. Before, I was constantly checking my phone thinking I was missing some sort of mom emergency, but now that I can see what’s happening just by looking at the watch, I can prioritize how quickly I need to respond to something (PS – the voice-to-text is legit – much better than my iPhone 6!). I can also be in the middle of barre and know if there’s a kid emergency without bothering anyone else. PLUS I really don’t have to take my phone out of my purse unless I really want to – AMAZING.

3. SOS is a click away.

This is why I wanted the watch in the first place. Even if you don’t have your phone nearby, you can call emergency. And, you can list up to three contacts that will get a message that you’ve called emergency and your GPS location. L-O-V-E this for my solo (and partner!) runs. I also convinced my dad to get the watch for this very reason (among everything else listed here) – I think all aging parents need smart watches (not that you’re aging, Dad – you know what I mean! ;-))!

4. The activity tracker and Nike Run app are fly.

I’ve never been one to track my workouts, but I have fallen in love with the watch’s activity tracker and Nike Run app. I use the activity tracker for Pure Barre and the Nike Run app for running. The activity tracker also keep track of total calories burned per day and other such goals, which is pretty handy. And one of the best features of the Nike Run app? It automatically pauses when you stop and will automatically start back up when you do (think streetlights, tying shoes, etc. – and yea, I’m not hard to please, but I know when something has smart functionality, and this is SMART). It also has ways to connect with other users (that I quite honestly haven’t used yet, but might) and offers playlists, suggested runs, and more. You can swim, bike, dive, run, sweat. You get the picture. It’s a great tool if you’re into running.

5. Google Maps is handy as ever.

I usually end up using Google Maps on my phone for, say, a birthday party. The invitation comes from Evite, goes to my Google calendar (which, PS, will ding you when you have an upcoming event – PERFECT for working mamas in meetings constantly!), and will automatically use Google maps to get me there. Well, the Apple Watch connects with Google Maps, so it will buzz me when I need to make a direction change. Like every other reason above, I know it doesn’t SOUND so #lifechanging, but it actually just makes life easier. And, I think it has potential to be even bigger. Say I’m walking around a big city…say New York City. Instead of constantly having the phone in my face trying to figure out which way to go, my watch will demurely notify me. If it weren’t for my wearing bright colors in the Big City, I’d blend riiiiiight in (my NYC BFF calls me “Rainbow Brite” so maybe the watch will make me look New York chicer?). This would have come in handy when the family went overseas last year – my husband was constantly glued to Google Maps on his phone navigating us through the streets (we had the bright thing going on then too – my daughter called us “human highlighters”). I would’ve love to have had this capability then.

Now all of these fun features could very well be on other smart watches, and I have no clue. Like I said before, I am totally not into gadgets so this is all new to me. But, I’m curious, if you have a smart watch now, what’s been #lifechanging to you? What might I not know about that I MUST?