Apple Watch 'Close Your Rings' page revamped with stories from athletes & others

Posted:
in Apple Watch
Perhaps looking to attract new iPhone owners in the aftermath of Christmas, Apple this week updated its "Close Your Rings" marketing page for the Apple Watch, featuring four more stories of how people use the Activity app.

Apple Watch swimming


One comes from Haley, a swimmer on the U.S. National Team, who says she likes competing with others, and that she tries to double her Move and Exercise rings every day. A second athlete, Lucy, is described as the world's best junior golfer, using her Watch during tournaments to figure out what she needs to improve. She also uses the Activity app for conditioning and swimming with friends.

The other two examples come from an orchestra conductor, Jason, and a yoga instructor, Natsumi. Both suggest that the Watch helps them live overall healthier lives.

When Apple first launched the Watch in 2015 its marketing was broader, positioning the product as a general-purpose wearable and a fashion accessory. Since then its focus has increasingly turned towards health and fitness, pitting Apple in direct competition with the likes of Fitbit and Garmin.

The Apple Watch Series 4 even includes electrocardiogram technology, which was finally enabled with last month's watchOS 5.1.2 update. U.S. owners can load the ECG app to check for atrial fibrillation, a potential warning sign of a stroke.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    spice-boyspice-boy Posts: 1,450member
    Help us Apple please, we should all compare ourselves to those that make a living with their perfectly fit trained bodies. Oh now I feel bad, I guess if I just buy a new Apple Watch at least I'll feel like I'm doing something right.
  • Reply 2 of 10
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    spice-boy said:
    Help us Apple please, we should all compare ourselves to those that make a living with their perfectly fit trained bodies. Oh now I feel bad, I guess if I just buy a new Apple Watch at least I'll feel like I'm doing something right.
    You can actually do it w/o an Apple Watch, or any worry about closing rings. So long as you don't just sit on the couch 24-7, starting to take some steps to a better dietary change will have far more impact than closing rings, and it's incredibly easy to do.
  • Reply 3 of 10
    gutengelgutengel Posts: 363member
    Well, it seems that apple keeps making the AW holiday awards disappear little by little, no 'Thanksgiving day' challenge, no 'Ring in the new year' challenge, no innovating challenge recently. Besides they deleted a bunch of medals i got from different workouts like snowboarding and others. One of the reasons I continued using the AW was because of collecting the awards, its fun and competitive. The monthly awards are pointless and at this point the watch just tell me that i need to close my 3 ring everyday for 28 days which is boring. I couldn't care less if they have whoever wearing the watch on an ad.
  • Reply 4 of 10
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,783member
    spice-boy said:
    Help us Apple please, we should all compare ourselves to those that make a living with their perfectly fit trained bodies. Oh now I feel bad, I guess if I just buy a new Apple Watch at least I'll feel like I'm doing something right.
    A bit sarcastic, but I can't disagree too much. I want to see how I'm doing. How some steroid junkie is doing is irrelevant to my health.
    One note: The ECG sensor was activated FOR US USERS ONLY. It won't be coining to us here in Canada or people elsewhere in the world, until who knows when. It's one of the reasons I held off getting an AW4 last year.
    edited January 2019
  • Reply 5 of 10
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    spice-boy said:
    Help us Apple please, we should all compare ourselves to those that make a living with their perfectly fit trained bodies. Oh now I feel bad, I guess if I just buy a new Apple Watch at least I'll feel like I'm doing something right.
    Actually, I have found it to be just the opposite:  Where it motivates regular, non-athletic people to move just a little more. 
    The Stand ring merely pushes you to stand (not sit or lie) for a few minutes in each of 12 hours throughout the day.
    The Exercise ring asks you to get your heart rate up to that of a brisk walk for 30 minutes each day.
    The Move ring asks you to burn 200 calories via movement throughout your day (but you can increase it).

    None of those is something an elite, competitive or pro athlete would have any trouble completing.  Not even close.   The rings are quite obviously designed to motivate ordinary, non-athletic people to sit less and move more.

    Frankly I'm surprised that serious athletes (the first two) would rate it so highly.   I would figure that they would be well beyond what the rings encourage.   But, perhaps they're no different than mere mortals:   They sometimes need a little encouragement to "just do it".
    jony0
  • Reply 6 of 10
    Apple Watch works for me! After having used a Fitbit and not really doing anything with it, I bought an AW and it rocks. I’ve been motivated to lose 30 pounds and I’m going after another 30. It just works, lol. 
    larryjw
  • Reply 7 of 10
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    GeorgeBMac said:
    Frankly I'm surprised that serious athletes (the first two) would rate it so highly.   I would figure that they would be well beyond what the rings encourage.   But, perhaps they're no different than mere mortals:   They sometimes need a little encouragement to "just do it".
    Yeah, I doubt the rings themselves are meaningful to any serious athlete. Yet, most serious athletes do get into measuring and tracking their workouts. I'm not sure how much the AW is useful in that (at least in comparison to other more dedicated devices).

  • Reply 8 of 10
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    cgWerks said:
    GeorgeBMac said:
    Frankly I'm surprised that serious athletes (the first two) would rate it so highly.   I would figure that they would be well beyond what the rings encourage.   But, perhaps they're no different than mere mortals:   They sometimes need a little encouragement to "just do it".
    Yeah, I doubt the rings themselves are meaningful to any serious athlete. Yet, most serious athletes do get into measuring and tracking their workouts. I'm not sure how much the AW is useful in that (at least in comparison to other more dedicated devices).

    Yeh, for runners, there is an automatic assumption that Garmin is the only way to track a run.   But, the Apple Watch is gaining ground there.
    cgWerks
  • Reply 9 of 10
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    GeorgeBMac said:
    Yeh, for runners, there is an automatic assumption that Garmin is the only way to track a run.   But, the Apple Watch is gaining ground there. 
    I suppose the capabilities (for the most part?) are similar or better, but it's more a matter of app support/features. I'd think the iPhone would have a ton though, so if the Watch stores the data and then 'syncs' it when you get home, it should be able to do a lot. (Oh, thinking a bit more about it... maybe it's about live display of info during the workout?)

    I'm still not all that interested in the AW, as pretty much anything I currently do can just as easily be done with the phone. But, if I get into kayaking one of these days (years?), I might want an AW, as I probably wouldn't want to take the phone along, and the AW is quite waterproof and physically attached (in case of accidents).
    edited January 2019
  • Reply 10 of 10
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    There's a lot that feeds into the preference for Garmins:
    -- Running stores (who support the runners) sell them and encourage them
    -- Past practice
    -- Brand bias/religion
    -- Popularity ("everybody has one")

    But too:  the Garmins have some features for runners that that the AW doesn't such as:
    -- Always on display (although the AW has become so quick that's not an issue
    -- Battery life
    -- Physical buttons instead of a touch screen
    -- Better software

    That's not to trash the Apple Watch, not at all.   It can more than hold its own -- especially when you throw in 3rd party apps.  And, it does a LOT more than any specialty watch.   And, each year it gains a little more respect and popularity in the running crowd.

    As for "the iPhone can do what I need".   That's probably true -- and for awhile I got by that way.   But, it's not what it does but how it does it.  The Apple Watch is one of those totally unnecessary gadgets -- until you actually own one.   Then it becomes indispensable, "can't live without it"!
    cgWerks
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