Apple Watch Series 8

10 Apple Watch Series 8 Hacks You Should Know About

Thursday January 12, 2023 6:22 am EAT by GeeksModo Staff

If you just purchased the Apple Watch series 8, there are a variety of hacks that can help you get the most out of your new wearable. Read on for some guidance on our favorite Apple Watch series 8 hacks to help you make the most out of it.

1. Setting up your Apple Watch activity rings

For the vast majority of people, the Apple Watch is first and foremost a fitness-focused wearable. The key to this is a trio of rings each represented by a different color: red for move, green for exercise, and blue for stand.

By default, the green exercise ring closes when you log 30 minutes of intense activity, the blue stand or roll ring closes when you move around for at least one minute of 12 different hours, and the red move ring closes when you meet your personal goal for active calories burned in a day.

Apple also offers you the ability to customize your exercise and stand goals. Maybe you’re recovering from an injury and 12 stand hours paired with 30 minutes of exercise is too much for your body to handle. People have also been calling on Apple to integrate rest days into the Apple Watch rings system, and this feature at least gives users more control over their goals.

Follow the steps below to change your Apple Watch move, exercise, and stand goals:

On your Apple Watch, open the Activity app.
Scroll down to the bottom and find the “Change Goals” button.
Use the or – buttons to adjust your goals, or use the Digital Crown.
Tap “OK” to confirm your changes.

The exercise ring can be lowered or raised in intervals of five, down to a minimum of 10 minutes or a maximum of 60 minutes. The stand goal can be changed in single-hour intervals, down to a minimum of six hours. You can’t increase the stand goal beyond the default 12-hour mark.

2. Customizing your watch face

Another cool Apple Watch series 8 hack is the ability to customize watch face to your liking. On your watch face, you can add bits of information known as complications, including things such as weather, activity data, heart rate information, and much more. The easiest way to build an Apple Watch face is with the Apple Watch app on iPhone.

You can find the entire library of watch faces in the “Face Gallery” tab of the app, and as you build them, you can add faces to your personal collection. Once you create multiple watch faces, you can swipe between them from your Apple Watch, making it easy to adjust on the fly for different scenarios.

3. Apple Watch App Store

Another Apple Watch Series 8 hack most people don’t know is that you can find apps built specifically for the Watch in the watchOS App Store.

Press the digital crown on your Apple Watch.
Look for the App Store icon and tap on it. Here, you’ll be able to easily find and install dedicated Apple Watch applications without using your iPhone at all.

4. Sharing your activity

Another great Apple Watch series 8 hack is the ability to share your activity data with friends and family. When you do this, you can see when your friends complete workouts, how much progress they’ve made towards their goals, and when they earn new awards.

To share your Apple Watch activity data with others, follow the steps below:

Start the Fitness app on your iPhone.
Tap the sharing icon located at the bottom-right corner.
Tap the “ ” button located at the top corner.
Start typing a name, then tap the name you’d like to add. If the other person has an Apple Watch the name will turn red.
Hit the Send button, then wait for your friend to accept your Activity request. Once accepted, you’ll receive a notification on your Apple Watch.

5. Set up health monitoring features

The Apple Watch series 8 is not only useful for deliberately tracking your fitness progress, but also for passively monitoring it in the background.

Fall Detection

One such feature is called Fall Detection, and it uses the gyroscope and accelerometer to detect if you’ve fallen, and more importantly, if you’ve fallen and cannot get back up. By default, Fall Detection is disabled for users under the age of 65, but you can manually enable it by following the steps below:

Start the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.
Go to Emergency SOS.
Find the Fall Detection toggle. Apple warns that more physically active users may trigger Fall Detection even when you haven’t fallen. This is due to high impact activity, and may appear as a fall.
Tap Confirm.

6. Heart

Another cool Apple Watch series 8 hack is that you can enable a suite of features that will allow your Watch to help you look after your heart.

Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.
Find the Heart category. In this section, you can enable the following features:
Install the ECG app for taking electrocardiograms from your Apple Watch
Set up Cardio Fitness Levels and notifications, which are a strong indicator of your overall health.
Irregular Rhythm notifications for receiving a notification when Apple Watch identifies multiple heart rhythms that may be atrial fibrillation.
High Heart Rate notifications for receiving a notification when Apple Watch detects a heart rate that rises to a certain level while you appear inactive.
Low Heart Rate notifications for receiving notification when Apple Watch detects a heart rate that falls below 50 bpm for 10 minutes.

7. Blood oxygen

The Apple Watch Series 8 offers support for taking blood oxygen readings with your device. Apple Watch can also take measurements in the background so you have data to regularly reflect on.

Launch the Watch app on your iPhone,
Find the Blood Oxygen category and tap on it.
Enable the settings as you desire.

8. Rein in your notifications

The Apple Watch series 8 makes it pretty easy to stay on top of your notifications. Every time an app sends a push notification, you’ll get a tap on the wrist and hear a sound. For many people, however, this can actually be overwhelming and unnecessary.

To manage notifications on your Apple Watch, follow the steps below:

Start the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.
Choose the Notifications category.

Here, you can see a list of applications and manage notifications as necessary. My recommendation is to limit notifications as much as possible on your Apple Watch, otherwise, you might become overwhelmed.

9. Check out Apple Fitness

Apple Fitness offers access to a library of hundreds of on-demand workouts across popular categories such as running, cycling, HIIT, rowing, yoga, and more.

Apple Fitness features deep integration with Apple Watch series 8, showing live data from your Apple Watch on the screen during your workout. Plus, if you recently got a new Apple Watch, you likely have three months of free access to the service.

You can find Apple Fitness in the Fitness app on your iPhone or Apple TV. It’s also available on the iPad, and you can download it from the iPadOS App Store to get started.

10. Rearrange Control Center

Just like Control Center on your iPhone, Control Center on the Apple Watch is where you go to quickly adjust settings like do not disturb and airplane mode and to activate the flashlight.

You may find the default list of options in the Control Center isn’t the best fit for how you use your watch, however, and you want to rearrange the list. For me, that means moving the Bedtime toggle from near the bottom of the list to the top. That way when I want to track my sleep over the weekend when I don’t have sleep goals set, I can swipe up and tap the icon.

To access the Control Center on your watch series 8:

Swipe up from the bottom of the watch face, or when in an app you can long-press on the bottom of the screen until you see Control Center start to slide up, after which you just need to slide your finger up to access it. The same trick works to view your notifications from anywhere.
Change the order, or hide some buttons in the Control Center by tapping the Edit button at the bottom of the list. The icons will begin to jiggle and show a red minus sign to hide an option. Drag and drop the icons into your preferred order, or tap the red minus button to remove the option altogether.
When you’re done, tap Done or press the Digital Crown on the side of your watch to go back to the watch face.

Tag: Apple Watch Series 8

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Can the Apple Watch Series 8 measure blood pressure?

Wednesday January 11, 2023 5:50 am EAT by Kevin Hollington

The Apple Watch Series 8 offers cool features such as heart rate measurements, statistics revolving around exercise and active calorie burning, and much more. Does it support blood pressure measurements, though?

The Apple Watch Series 8 misses out on blood pressure measurements

As of 2022, non of the released Apple Watch models supports blood pressure measurements, and that includes the Apple Watch Series 8. So if you intend to purchase this wearable for this particular purpose, you may want to look into a dedicated medical device instead. Notably, Apple advises customers not to depend on its watches as medical devices. So if you suspect you have a certain medical condition, consult your doctor immediately.

Apple Watch Series 8 keeps on with the same sizes that launched with Apple Watch Series 7. That’s 45 and 41mm cases and a larger display that’s 20% bigger than Series 4-6/SE and 50% larger than Series 3. However, New with Apple Watch Series 8 is a temperature sensor that enables advanced cycle tracking and new hardware to detect car crashes.

Apple’s temperature sensor measures skin temperature, similar to how other wearables work. The measurements are collected at night while sleeping, and it takes five days for the watch to collect enough data to establish a starting baseline. (According to Apple, the baseline temperature will keep calibrating over time.) From that point on, the measurements only show up in Apple’s Health App on the iPhone, under Skin Temperature.

One more immediately useful area for temperature-sensing data is ovulation tracking, another new watch feature. Similar to how Fitbit and Oura already work, the temperature shifts are used to track fertility cycles, as well as possible interruptions.

The Apple Watch Series 8 also offers great features such as an Always-On display, fast charging, and ECG.

If you’re willing to pay more for AOD, ECG, Blood Oxygen monitoring, and the other exclusives, then consider buying an Apple Watch Series 8.

Tags: Apple Watch Series 8, Apple Watch Tips

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Can the Apple Watch Series 8 detect heart attacks?

Wednesday January 11, 2023 5:49 am EAT by Kevin Hollington

The Apple Watch Series 8 can detect a lot of things, but can it detect heart attacks? Here’s what you need to know about heart attack detection on the Series 8 model.

The Apple Watch Series 8 cannot detect heart attacks

As of 2022, none of the released Apple Watch models can detect heart attacks, including the Series 8. In fact, there are no smartwatches on the market that can alert you to a cardiac event as massive as a heart attack. While the hardware may be capable of detecting it, the wearable doesn’t notify you or allow you to view the relevant data revolving around this particular matter. If you suspect you’re having a heart attack, contact emergency services as soon as possible.

However, the Apple Watch Series 8 can monitor your heart rate and notify you when it’s too high or low. Additionally, it can alert you if it detects signs of atrial fibrillation (AFib). Nonetheless, the iPhone maker advises customers not to depend on the Apple Watch as a medical device. If you believe you have a heart-related condition, seek a cardiologist immediately.

The Apple Watch Series 8 offers great features such as an Always-On display fast charging, and low power mode.

In addition, the Apple Watch Series 8 carries all of the normal heavy lifting for the health sensors on the Series 8 as the Series 7. That means you’re still getting blood oxygen monitoring, one of the best heart rate monitors on the market and electrocardiogram (ECG) support. As you’d expect, all of these features work great, with solid accuracy and plenty of detail. You still can’t use the Apple Watch as a medical device, mind you, so keep in mind that data from these sensors should only be used for reference and sharing with medical professionals if you’re concerned about your health.

What’s perhaps the biggest new feature associated with the Apple Watch Series 8 is temperature sensing, thanks to a new sensor located at the bottom of the watch. The marquee way temperature sensing is used is in cycle tracking, which lets you see a retrospective chart of when you likely ovulated, which helps in family planning. You also get improved period predictions as well as notifications if your data shows a possible cycle deviation. All of this data is stored securely on your iPhone and can’t be accessed by anybody you don’t explicitly share it with, such as your doctor or health care provider.

Tags: Apple Watch Series 8, Apple Watch Tips

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Apple Watch Series 8 tips and tricks: 20 great features to try

Wednesday January 11, 2023 6:16 am EAT by Dave Johnson

In this article, we’ve listed 20 best Apple Watch Series 8 tips and tricks you should definitely know about.

Best Apple Watch Series 8 Tips and Tricks

1. Get Email Notifications When Not Connected to iPhone

Apple Watch users have long been able to receive email notifications from third-party email accounts pushed from their paired ‌iPhone‌. But in ‌watchOS 9‌, you can also be alerted when an important message arrives when you’re wearing your Apple Watch, but away from your ‌iPhone‌.

The option uses iCloud servers to securely access the third-party account, and needs to be manually enabled. To set it up, launch the Watch app on your ‌iPhone‌, tap My Watch, tap Mail, then turn on Email Notifications under “When Not Connected to ‌iPhone‌.”

2. View Activity Rings During Workout

Previously if you were doing an Apple Watch workout and you wanted to see how it was impacting your activity rings, you had to exit out of the Workout app and switch to the Activity app.

Now you don’t have to, because with this Apple Watch Series 8 trick, you can get a glance of your activity rings right in the workout display simply by scrolling up with the Digital Crown.

3. Follow Podcasts

In ‌watchOS 9‌, Apple finally fixed its hobbled Podcasts app, and for the first time you can now follow and unfollow podcasts directly from your Apple Watch.

Tap Listen Now -> You Might Like, then tap a show and select Follow. You can also find the same options by searching for a show and tapping on it.

4. Add Calendar Events on Your Wrist

Thanks to this Apple Watch Series 8 trick, you aren’t just limited to viewing calendar events synced from your ‌iPhone‌ on your wrist – you can now add them too. Simply tap the ellipsis (three dots) button that appears in the corner of the screen when you stop scrolling, then tap New Event.

On the next screen you can add all the usual details including event title, location, start date and time, end date and time, and whether to make it a repeat event. Before you Add the event, you can also choose which calendar to add it to, add invitees, opt to receive alerts, and include any notes.

5. Astronomy Watch Face

Apple in ‌iOS 16‌ added new dynamic wallpaper options to its revamped ‌iPhone‌ Lock Screen settings, and the watch face that arguably mirrors these enhancements in ‌watchOS 9‌ is Astronomy.

Astronomy is actually a revamped version of the original Astronomy watch face, but it has been remastered and includes a new star map and current cloud data based on your location. You can set the Earth, Moon, or Solar System as the main view, and customize the font. It supports two complications, and turning the Digital Crown lets you fast forward or rewind to see the moon phase/planet location on another day.

6. Retrace Your Steps With Backtrack

You don’t need an Apple Watch Ultra to use the redesigned Compass app’s Backtrack feature. With an Apple Watch Series 8 ‌, you can use it to track your route and then help you retrace your steps in case you get lost.

Tap the footprints icon in the bottom-right of the screen, then tap Start to begin recording your route. When you’re ready to retrace your steps, tap the pause icon in the bottom-right of the screen, then tap Retrace Steps.

Your starting location will appear on the compass, and a bouncing white arrow will point you in the right direction. Follow the path back to return to where you first turned on Backtrack, then when you’ve arrived at your starting location, tap the footsteps icon and you’ll be able to delete your steps.

7. Change Watch Face Based on Focus

In ‌‌‌iOS 16‌‌‌, you can customize pretty much everything about your Focus. It’s not just the Home Screen and Lock Screen that you can set – with this Apple Watch Series 8 trick, you can select one of your Apple Watch faces to activate on your wrist for a specific Focus mode.

On your ‌iPhone‌, go to Settings -> Focus, select an existing Focus or create a new one. Set any notification silence options for people and apps when your Focus is active, then under “Customize Screens,” tap Edit under the watch face option. Choose a watch face from your Apple Watch face gallery, then tap Done.

That’s all there is to it. With your chosen Apple Watch face now linked to your Focus Mode, it will be activated automatically on your wrist the next time you enable the Focus on your ‌‌iPhone‌‌.

8. View Edited Messages

In ‌iOS 16‌, Apple added the ability to edit texts sent over iMessage, and with Apple Watch Series 8 ‌, you can view any edits to a received message that have been made.

Simply tap and hold the word Edited in blue below the message to reveal the edits. Tap Hide Edits to make them disappear again.

9. Edit Reminders

Previously, the Reminders app only let you view or add reminders. With this Apple Watch Series 8 trick, you can now Edit existing reminders and add key details, including date and time, location, tags, and notes. You can also move reminders between lists right on your wrist.

10. Change Calendar View

Not only can you now add calendar events in the Calendar app on Apple Watch, you can also switch to day, list, and week views.

Simply tap the ellipsis (three dots) button that appears in the corner of the screen when you stop scrolling, then under “View Options,” choose from Up Next, Day, and List. When you’ve made your choice, tap Done.

11. Add Favorites to the Dock

Accessed with a press of the Side button, the Dock was originally the place you went for quick access to your most recently used apps. With ‌this cool Apple Watch Series 8 tip‌, however, you can change it to list your favorite apps in order of preference.

Open the Watch app on your ‌iPhone‌, then tap Dock. Under “Dock Ordering,” select Favorites, then tap the Edit button to choose your favorite apps. You can have up to 10 docked apps on Apple Watch, and you can drag the three lines beside each app to re-order them.

12. Turn Off Cellular Data

For years now on ‌iPhone‌ you’ve been able to turn off cellular data without losing the ability to make and receive calls. Previously, the same option wasn’t offered on cellular Apple Watch models – whenever your cellular service was enabled, so was cellular data, eating your battery right up.

In ‌watchOS 9‌, Apple has helpfully added separate switches for your watch’s basic cellular/mobile service and mobile data, so now you can control them independently. You can find the settings in your watch’s Settings app, under Cellular/Mobile Data.

13. Kickboard Swim Detection and SWOLF Score

In good news for swimmers, Apple Watch Series 8‌ can now automatically detect when you’re using a kickboard during a pool swim workout.

The Workout app can even give you your SWOLF score, one of the key swim-specific metrics. SWOLF is calculated using a combination of your stroke count and your time spent in the water. The fewer strokes and the less time you take, the lower your SWOLF score, as a measure of your swimming efficiency.

14. Text Size Control

In another boon for accessibility, Apple has added a Text Size control to the Control Center in ‌watchOS 9‌, so now it’s even easier to ensure Apple Watch apps that support Dynamic Type adjust to your preferred reading size.

15. Dictation Auto-Punctuation

Dictation is a popular feature on Apple Watch for sending messages, since it converts your speech to text, which is so much quicker than typing on a tiny keyboard. This Apple Watch Series 8 trick lets you automatically insert punctuation into your sentences in real time, so you no longer have to say “comma” or “question mark” out loud.

The feature should be turned on by default, but if it isn’t, you can go to Settings -> General -> Dictation and turn on Auto Punctuation.

16. Apple Watch Mirroring

With ‌iOS 16‌ and ‌watchOS 9‌, Apple introduced a new Apple Watch Mirroring feature that lets you see and control your Apple Watch screen from your paired ‌iPhone‌. It’s designed to make the watch experience more accessible for people with physical and motor disabilities, but it can also be useful if, say, your Apple Watch screen is cracked or unresponsive.

To enable it, launch the Settings app on your ‌iPhone‌, tap Accessibility, then under “Physical and Motor,” tap Apple Watch Mirroring, before toggling on the feature in the next screen.

A graphical representation of your Apple Watch will appear on your ‌‌iPhone‌‌’s screen, while a blue outline will appear around the face of your Apple Watch to indicate that mirroring is enabled. You’ll now be able to control your Apple Watch by tapping and swiping on the watch image that appears on your ‌‌iPhone‌‌. You can even tap the Side button and swipe the Digital Crown to mimic the same physical actions that you would perform on your watch.

17. Quick Actions

With this Apple Watch Series 8 trick, users with upper body limb differences can now do even more with a double-pinch gesture to respond to alerts on their Apple Watch, including answer or end a phone call, take a photo when the viewfinder and shutter button are showing in the Camera app, play or pause media in the Now Playing app, and start, pause, or resume a workout. You can also use quick actions to snooze an alarm or stop a timer.

To enable Quick Actions, Open the Watch app on your ‌iPhone‌, tap Accessibility, then under “Motor,” tap Quick Actions. Choose from one of the following options: On, When AssistiveTouch is Enabled, and Off. You can also choose their appearance to be Full or Minimal.

With Quick Actions on, when you see an alert on your Apple Watch, you’ll be prompted to perform a Quick Action. For example, when you’ve paused a workout, a prompt lets you know that you can double-pinch to resume it (tap index finger to thumb twice quickly).

18. Control Your iPhone With Apple Watch

In a sort of reverse take of Apple Watch Mirroring, you can also control your ‌iPhone‌ with your Apple Watch. On your watch, go to Settings -> Accessibility, then select Control Nearby Devices. Select your ‌iPhone‌ (or iPad) from the list.

Once connected, you’ll see a series of control buttons enabling you to perform a variety of actions on your ‌iPhone‌, including Go to Home Screen, Open App Switcher, Open Notification Center, Open Control Center, and Activate Siri. Tapping the More button will also give you media playback controls.

19. Find Your Car

The redesigned Compass app includes the ability to create Compass Waypoints and then find the distance and direction between them. The feature can also be used to find your parked car.

If your car has CarPlay or Bluetooth connectivity, you don’t actually have to do anything to set it up. Provided your ‌iPhone‌ is paired with your car in some capacity, your Apple Watch can recognize when you’ve parked and disconnected, and it will drop a waypoint where your car is located.

Launch the Compass app, then look for a blue waypoint on your compass dial. If you turn the Digital Crown, the dial will zoom in and out, giving you a better idea of how far away your car is. Tap the waypoint to get more information about it, then tap Select to see a pointer that will guide you to your car.

If you find yourself relying on this feature frequently, you can even add a Parked Car Waypoint complication to your Watch face that will lead you to your vehicle.

20. Add Favorite Timers

If you use certain timer durations frequently, why not favorite them? Thanks to this Apple Watch Series 8 trick‌, you can.

Simply open up the Timer app, swipe left on a recently used timer, then tap the star icon that appears. The favorited timer will now live at the top of your timer list, until such a time when you swipe left on it and tap the red X to remove it.

Your favorite Apple Watch Series 8 tips and tricks?

So these were some of the best Apple Watch Series 8 tips and tricks you would love to try today. My favorite Apple Watch Series 8 tips and tricks include the ability to get Email notifications when not connected to iPhone and the ability to follow podcasts. There’s surely plenty more hidden Apple Watch Series 8 tips and tricks to discover, so I’ll keep tapping, swiping and noting anything I find. Did we miss out on something important that needs to be added to the list? Which are your favorite Apple Watch Series 8 tips and tricks? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Tags: Apple Watch Series 8, Apple Watch Tips

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