Apple Watch Series 6 For Seniors: A Ridiculously Simple Guide To Apple Watch Series 6 and WatchOS 7

By Scott La Counte

★★★ Learn how to use Apple Watch Series 6 ★★★

Apple Watch Series 6 will keep you safe, healthy, and connected. It's everything you love about your iPhone packed onto a device that fits around your wrist! 

It sounds fantastic! But how exactly do you use it?!

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• Language: English
• Publisher: SL Editions
• Release date: Sep 26, 2020
• ISBN: 9781629175447

Book preview

Introduction

Apple Watch Series 6 will keep you safe, healthy, and connected. It’s everything you love about your iPhone packed onto a device that fits around your wrist! 

It sounds fantastic! But how exactly do you use it?!

If you have never used an Apple Watch, the UI can be a little frustrating at first. It looks nothing like the iPhone and iPad interface that you’ve grown to love. Even if you have used an Apple Watch before, there are a lot of new features packed into WatchOS that you may not even know about. 

If you are lost and don't have a lot of time to comb through thousands of pages of tech-speak just to learn how to use a watch, then this book is for you! It keeps things simple.

Some of the many topics included:

What's the difference between all of the Series

What's new to WatchOS 7

Using watch gestures

Apple Pay

How to change and share watch faces

Sending messages and making phone calls

Sleep tracking

Use Siri

Using the Handwashing app

Hearing protection

Understanding blood oxygen level and ECG

Using the calendar

Using reminders

Driving directions

Playing music

Checking the weather

Updating and resetting the watch

Connecting AirPods

And much, much more!

This book is based on the book The Ridiculously Simple Guide to Apple Watch Series 6 but includes sections specifically for seniors (including accessibility features that make the text easier to see).

Are you ready to start enjoying your new Apple Watch? Then let's get started!

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What’s New In WatchOS 7

WatchOS 7 is the latest operating system available for Apple Watch. Unlike previous WatchOS updates which were pushed to almost every previous generation watch, WatchOS is only available to the following Apple Watches:

Apple Watch Series 3

Apple Watch Series 4

Apple Watch Series 5

Apple Watch SE

Apple Watch Series 6

It should also be noted that not all features are available on older models. So if you hear someone talking about a great new feature on their watch and you don’t see it, then it’s probably because you have an older watch.

If you aren’t sure what model number you have, go to the Watch app on your iPhone, then tap General, and About. Here you will see the model number. It will look a little weird—like MU643211. Just copy and paste that into Google and it will tell you what the model number stands for.

In terms of the overall look of WatchOS 7, one of the biggest changes is what’s called List View. On older WatchOSes, there was only one view called Grid View, which looked like the below image.



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Some people probably love that view. It’s the easiest way to see all of your apps. The problem is it’s also tiny. Some people have trouble seeing it and others have trouble tapping on the right app and will frequently open the wrong one. If that sounds like you, then List View will help. List View puts all the apps in an alphabetical list that you can scroll through.

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To switch from Grid View to List View (or vice versa), go to the Settings app; tap App Layout; and finally toggle to the view you want.



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Apple has been putting a heavier emphasis on making the Apple Watch a device that doesn’t rely on being connected to the iPhone. This is especially true with the addition of the App Store app. This actually isn’t a new feature to WatchOS 7, but it is a newer feature. Previously, to install any app to the device, you would need to do it on your phone, which would then push the app to the watch. You are now able to download apps directly to your watch without your phone.

In terms of new features, the biggest ones you should be aware of are below:

Family Setup - As the name suggests, Family Setup is to help children (and even adults) stay connected; the idea is to give people who don't own an iPhone the ability to use an Apple Watch. This is entirely new. Previously if you didn't have an iPhone, then it didn't make sense to own an Apple Watch. There is a catch: the person in charge of the setup does need to have an iPhone. Once it's set up, each person will have a unique phone number. If you are setting it up for kids, you can setup different rules—like approved contacts and apps. You can also add a Schooltime mode, which limits what the watch does during certain times of the day—which means your child won't be able to play games while they are supposed to be learning. You can also track when your child arrives and leaves different places.

Watch Faces - Apple releases cool new watch faces every year. If you aren’t familiar with the terminology, a watch face is what you see when you look at the watch to tell the time—think of it as your watch wallpaper. This year, Apple has released new faces, but what makes this year truly different is you can now create custom faces and even share faces with your friends. So you can create your very own watch face, and then share it with anyone else with an Apple Watch so they can have the same one. That also means you’ll probably start seeing a lot of companies start offering custom faces that you can download for your watch. You can also find new faces on the App Store.

Fitness - It's a big year for fitness and the Apple Watch. As has been the case with other updates, Apple is adding new workouts (Dance, Functional Strength Training, and Core Training); this year, however, Apple is really stepping it up a notch with the introduction of Fitness+. Fitness+ is a premium service (meaning you have to pay for it) that will give you access to video workouts (that change weekly) that sync right up with your watch; so you can see in real-time on the video how you are doing.

Sleep App - Sleep tracking isn’t entirely new to the Apple Watch; developers have been creating sleep tracking apps for some time. This year, however, Apple decided to introduce their very own sleep tracking app. When you sleep with your watch on, it tracks your sleep habits and starts creating a sleep schedule and routine for you. That means it will automatically go into Do Not Disturb mode when you go to bed, so no one wakes you up. It will also send you alerts for when it's time to go to bed and even has a Wind Down feature to help you launch bedtime shortcuts—like a meditation app to help you sleep.

Handwashing - You probably never thought that you'd need an app to help you wash your hands, but alas, it is here. The Handwashing app automatically detects the sound of water and motion your hand is making, and it will recommend how to properly sanitize your hands. That means it will count down from 20 seconds and recommend you keep washing them if you stop too soon. If you are out of the house, it can even remind you as soon as you walk through the door when you get home to wash your hands.

Memoji App - If you haven't used Memoji on your iPhone, you are missing out; it basically lets you create an avatar of you; the new watch app lets you share that