Apple Watch Review ⋆ Growing Up Kemper

Remember that time I had a blog and I wrote like every single day? Oh yeah, that little slice of the Internet has been a little neglected, a little left behind this past 10 days because life has been crazzzzy lately!! We start a huge main floor renovation next Wednesday so not only does my whole main floor have to be relocated to another level, but I also have been finalizing all the design plans and fixtures. I also was a co-head of a parish fundraiser that gathered school supplies for almost 500 students in the Kansas City, MO school district. Amazing fundraiser for such a passion of mine!

So now I’m back on and you’ve got my full attention! 🙂 For my birthday this year, my sweet husband bought me an Apple Watch Series 1 in white and I’ve been dying to share my opinions on it with you since then!

What I Use it For

Being More Present

Social media is such a huge time suck for me! Anyone else? Oh…all of you? Good. If I have my iphone in front of me, I’ll go on to check an email and then spend the next ten minutes scrolling my Insta feed and looking through Snap stories. Set my phone alarm and I’m looking through the weather, my notes pages, and how many points I have left to my next free Starbucks drink.

I work so hard to be more present with my husband, my kids, and friends, but every time my phone would ding, my reaction is to look at it. How rude that can be for someone engaging in conversation or playing a game with me. I found myself taking attention away from my kids when that ding would go off. I felt like I was teaching them something I am so against and I had to make a change.

With the Apple Watch, I keep it on vibrate so when a message, an email, or a notification pops up on my phone, my watch will buzz. I can do a quick glance, see if it needs immediate attention, and never show that phone or take my attention away. It has already made me feel lighter and more present with my kids!

Activity Goals

I have goals set on my watch for time spent standing, exercise minutes, and calories burned and my watch keeps you so accountable for it! Little alerts telling me to stand after I sit for too many consecutive minutes and a “get off your butt” notification for when I haven’t burned enough. I’m competitive and the alerts and the “rings” the watch shows you with how much you’ve done throughout your day motivate me to close those rings every day.

Workouts

Right along with the activity rings, each time I workout, I’m able to track minutes exercised, how many calories I’ve burned, and heart rate. Hands down my favorite part of this watch is being able to push myself to burn more calories during my workouts.

Pros

Everything I mentioned above are MAJOR pros!! Activity trackers, goal setting and a more “hands-off” way with your phone are all such amazing positives!
You can answer your phone from you watch like you’re straight out of an early 2000s Tom Cruise movie. 🙂
All your apps automatically load onto your Apple watch so you’re able to use all your apps without having your phone nearby. Scan your watch at the Starbucks counter, check bank accounts, or scroll your email right from your watch.
I’m constantly playing Pandora stations around the house from my phone and when I’ve heard the fourth version of “If You’re Happy and You Know It…,” I can change the song straight from the watch.

Cons

With Series 1, it’s not fully waterproof like Series 3 (Series 2 was discontinued). I say not fully because my Series 1 can handle this Sweaty Betty during my crazy workouts, but I’m not able to shower or jump into the pool with my watch.
If I’m too far away from my iphone, I’m not able to still receive calls, texts, or notifications. Within my house and backyard, I never lose connection, but I’m not able to walk down the street with my phone at the house and still get the Bluetooth capabilities.
I don’t run so this isn’t a con for me but definitely worth mentioning for all you running fans. With the Series 3, you are able to track your runs and with the GPS feature, you can see the map of where you ran, how far, calories burned, etc.

If you are questioning whether to dive into this purchase, I can’t recommend it enough, and in my personal opinion the Series 1 is just as good as the 3 unless you’re a swimmer or a runner. Pay the $179 instead of almost triple that and you’ve got yourself a gem that you’ll forget what it was like to have your phone by your side! 🙂