One Week With the Apple Watch on Campus

College can be a place with a lot going on all at once, whether it be in the classroom or in a coffee shop. Over this past week, I have been able to use my Apple Watch on campus, and I have to say that it can be very useful both on and off campus. Here is how the Apple Watch impacted me in just one week of usage on a college campus.

Apps that I use are Swarm (Foursquare check-ins), Evernote (looking at notes and making sure they are in my account), AP News (I need to keep track of the constant news of the day), and Twitter for Apple Watch (gotta stay up-to-date with my tech journalism). One of Apple apps I use a lot is iMessage. It can be handy when needing to send that quick text message to my brother on when to meet up for lunch or for wanting to hang out with a friend after class. It’s a lot more efficient and at the end of the day, I’m not taking out my phone during class.

Another way how this has helped me off-campus is by using Apple Pay at select stores. Just this past week, I was able to use it at three stores and was able to use the Wallet app to access my HyVee Fuel Saver card for groceries. It’s a lot easier to pay for things when you’re not having to pull out your chipped debit card or wait for change when paying with cash. More importantly, you’re saving time and being secure in the process.

The Apple Watch also looks very good on-campus. I personally try to keep mine under my sleeve to prevent it from getting stolen, but every so often, I like to have it be seen. There’s nothing better than looking “technologically fashionable.”

Lastly, another way how the Apple Watch is useful on a college campus is when you’re getting a phone call. I keep my iPhone on Do Not Disturb often so that I do not get distracted by it during class, so if it were to ring, I would not be able to hear or feel it. Now with the Apple Watch, I get little vibrations from my wrist that allow me to get my iPhone out of my pocket and answer the call. No more excuses for missing phone calls!

I hope to find more uses for it on-and-off-campus this semester. It still has that “new feeling,” so hopefully the inspiration will naturally come to me. It can be very helpful and helps me get through the day!