Mastering Your Apple Watch Series 9 How To Use: A Comprehensive Guide

Mastering Your Apple Watch Series 9: A Comprehensive Guide” is an imperative resource for anyone seeking to unlock the full potential of their Apple Watch Series 9. This meticulously crafted guide provides a thorough exploration of the latest features, functionalities, and capabilities of the Series 9 model, empowering users to maximize their productivity, fitness, and connectivity.

Siri gets a health boost on the Apple Watch Series 9

Something that made me want to look at the Series 9 again is that some of its coolest features weren’t available when it first came out. One example is Siri’s ability to answer questions about health. When the watch first came out in September, Apple announced that it would have this feature, but it wasn’t until a software update in December that it was added to the watch. This feature can only be used on the Series 9 and Ultra 2 Apple Watches because they need Apple’s newest processor. 

This has been on my list of things to try because it might fix one of the biggest problems with the Apple Watch: it’s hard to see specific health data at a glance. The Apple Health app makes it easy to see things like how many steps you’ve taken this week. What a great feature that Siri can now answer questions like these on the spot! It makes Apple’s digital assistant even more useful. 

I’ve been asking Series 9 things like how I slept last night, how far I walked today, how many minutes I worked out this week, and what my average heart rate is when I walk. Siri has been great at answering these questions, but I think Apple’s virtual assistant could do a lot more in this area. For instance, I’d love to be able to ask Siri what time I should go to sleep tonight based on what I did today and how I slept last night. Siri also couldn’t tell me which day this week was the busiest for me. 

That’s partly because Siri and the Apple Watch can’t do everything. Apple does let you set a bedtime schedule and show you trends about your sleep, but it doesn’t have any sleep coaching features that tell you how to get better sleep. It also doesn’t tell you when to go to bed based on how much you move and sleep like some of its competitors do. If the Apple Watch isn’t looking at that kind of data, how can Siri tell me when to go to sleep based on how busy my day was?

To protect your privacy, Siri can only answer health questions based on information from the last week or so. This is because the watch handles these questions instead of the cloud. Still, Siri’s new health information seems like a big first step towards making the Apple Watch and Siri better health trackers.

Gesture control simple tasks

Users of the Series 9 can now use the new Double Tap gesture control after updating to watchOS 10.1. With the new feature, you can use your device without having to take your other hand off of it.

When you raise your watch to wake it up, pinch your thumb and forefinger together twice to stop music, snooze alarms, end timers, and more.

You can use this gesture to scroll through your Smart Stack widgets from the watch face.

Watch Series 9 battery life

Depending on how you use it, the Apple Watch Series 9 lasts between one and two days. That’s about average for smartwatches in this price range. Fitbit and Garmin watches, on the other hand, usually last for more than one day on a single charge. If you want longer battery life, you’ll need the more expensive Apple Watch Ultra 2, which you can see above.

The Apple Watch Series 9 lasted for about two full days when I didn’t work out, track my sleep, or record my walks outside. I worked out for 30 to 40 minutes inside and went for a walk outside during the day. The Series 9 also tracked my sleep overnight, and when I woke up in the morning, it still had 35% of its battery life left. According to CNET’s tests, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 lasted for about two full days, even after tracking GPS workouts and keeping an eye on sleep. 

The Series 9 can charge pretty quickly, which is good. It went from 35% to 92% in 30 minutes, which worked out well for my morning routine. While I got ready for work, I left the watch on its charger. By the time I left, the battery was almost full. 

Still, the Series 9’s short battery life makes it less appealing as a sleep tracker than other options. While I was testing it, the Garmin Venu 3 lasted about a week. My coworker Scott Stein, who has worn the Oura ring for months, says that it usually lasts about four days.

While Garmin and Oura’s devices may not be as good as the Apple Watch in some ways, their longer battery lives and more detailed metrics may make them a better choice for people who want to track their sleep more than anything else in a wearable. Having a battery life that lasts more than one day makes it easier to track sleep without having to skip some activity tracking the next day. 

Watch Series 9 as a health tracker

As you might expect from a watch in this price range, the Apple Watch Series 9 has all the health and wellness tracking features you could want. Those things are:

Watching the ECG

Alerts for high and low heart rates

Notifications of irregular heart rates

Checking the blood oxygen level

Temperature readings for the night

The following sleep

There are several different kinds of workouts. For some exercises, like walking, running, and cycling, the workout is automatically detected. The Mindfulness app lets you do breathing exercises and keep track of your mood. All of these features are also on the Series 8, but the Apple Watch SE, which costs $249, doesn’t read ECGs, blood oxygen levels, or skin temperatures. The more expensive $799 Apple Watch Ultra 2 has a more durable titanium build and dual-frequency GPS for athletes and people who like to be outside.

It’s a good watch, but I wish Apple had done more to help me understand all the health information it collects. Wearable tech from Garmin, Oura, and Fitbit can tell from things like your activity and sleep whether you’re ready for a workout or need to take a day off. Apple can remind you to move around, but the Apple Watch still doesn’t have these big-picture ideas. In 2024, Fitbit, a Google-owned company, will launch Fitbit Labs, an initiative that will use AI to discover patterns in data.

This is another sign that Apple’s competitors are putting money into new ways to look at health metrics and activity and put them in context. Plus, the Apple Watch doesn’t give you nearly as much information about your sleep as the other trackers we’ve already talked about. The Apple Watch can keep track of how long you sleep and what stage you’re in.

It can also show you trends, like the average amount of time you’ve spent sleeping over the past week and changes in your breathing rate. Some trackers have sleep scoring and coaching features that tell you how good your sleep was. This makes it easier to decide if you need to go to bed earlier or later. With Garmin, I could tell if my sleep was restful, too short, or not restful at all. Knowing that I didn’t get enough sleep the night before made me want to go to bed earlier the next night.

Conclusion

The Apple Watch Series 9 offers a comprehensive guide to unlocking its full potential, focusing on its latest features, functionalities, and capabilities. The watch’s health-oriented features, such as Siri’s ability to answer health-oriented questions, were not available at launch. The Series 9 and Ultra 2 are the only Apple Watches that support this feature, which could improve health tracking. Additionally, the watchOS 10.1 update introduces Double Tap gesture control, making it easier to interact with the device and manage Smart Stack widgets.

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