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Mac Heads Tips and Tricks

Recovery Mode To The Rescue

During the day, I’m a Mobile Device System Administrator. Every once in a while, I have to schedule the repair of damaged devices or resell/recycle old devices. I try and try…and try to remind my users that they need to remove their data and restore their devices back to factory settings before sending them back to me.

Most comply, but more often than I would like, I get a device from somebody who just packed them up and shipped them off. Since our mobile device policy forces users to add a passcode to their devices, well…let’s just say there’s a good chance that I will get a little surprise (read: do extra work) every time I power up a returned device.

Since I know some of you are the Mobile Device Managers for your friends/family/household, and may have “forgetful users” of your own to support, you can use this little trick to remove the passcode on your device by putting it in Recovery Mode:

  1. Open iTunes on your computer (PC or Mac. If you have a Chromebook, you just lost one) and connect your device.
  2. Press and hold both the Sleep/Wake and Home buttons until you see the “Connect to iTunes” symbol on your device.
  3. Follow the instructions on how to Restore your device in iTunes.

 
iPad in Recovery Mode

BE AWARE, going through the restore procedure WILL wipe all your data off the device, so be sure to have a back up #BackDatAssetUp. The positive is that doing this will keep certain settings intact…Like your Apple ID, so if your device is lost/stolen, it can’t just be completely reset and reused using this method.

Tip: Do not follow this procedure if you are trying to sell/recycle/donate your devices. Check out this Apple support link on the necessary steps to remove the Apple activation lock from your device.

Most importantly, you will now have access to you device. Recovery mode also works if you think you have completely messed up your device while doing things like installing iOS 10 Public beta, or attempting to jailbreak your device.

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Mac Heads Tips and Tricks

Mac Tip: Customize Finder Toolbar

In a previous post, I showed you how to skip the Mac’s “Finder Window” altogether and use the built-in Spotlight tool to quickly find and open files, folders, apps, as well as complete a number of tasks.

If you’re one of those stubborn, can’t teach an old dog new tricks type folks people who have grown too accustomed to using your Mac’s Finder window to suddenly change your ways, here’s how you can customize the Finder toolbar to quickly access commonly used functions…and discover new ones.

  1. Access the Finder Window one of two ways:
    • Accessing the Finder Window “App” in your Mac’s toolbar
    • pressing the “command” + “F” keys (make sure your desktop is the current window)

  2. Right-click (or two-finger click if you’re using a track pad) In any blank space in the current Finder toolbar to reveal the finder options dropdown and select “Customize Toolbar”

    3. right_click_finder_toolbar

  3. Drag desired “buttons” to empty spaces in toolbar menu

drag_items_to_finder_toolbar
Extra Tip: You can use this method to customize any window toolbar (apps, folders, etc).

I’ll be honest, customizing the Finder toolbar isn’t some “power user” tip, but in my travels as a Mac IT professional, I’ve come across many users who use their Mac as-is without any sort of tweaking or customization. So a little insight on something as simple as adding more buttons to the Finder toolbar may just uncover functions that could increase your productivity and overall Mac knowledge.

…And as expensive as these Mac’s are, I would think you’d want to squeeze as much functionality out of these jawns as possible.

You’re welcome

Speed up your Mac with CleanMyMac 2!

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Mac Heads Tips and Tricks

Speed Up Your MacBook Finder Window By Removing Cache

Speed Up Your MacBook Finder Window By Removing Cache via brothatechIf used right, MacBook Finder can be a quick and efficient tool to find your files. If not taken care of, using Finder can be a downright pain, especially if the contents of a folder take forever to display, or just scrolling through your files is slow and choppy.

If you find that looking for files on your computer takes forever, don’t just chalk it up to an old computer, it could just be that your Finder cache is clogged and needs to be cleared out.

Without getting too geeky, all the applications on your Mac store commonly used information in cache files for quick retrieval. Guess what? That little two-toned, smiley face that you frequently click on to find your files is an application, and the more you use Finder, the more stuff gets stored in its cache. Since spring is right around the corner, here are two ways to clear out your Finder cache.

1. Delete the MacBook Finder Cache

 
Similar to how we deleted unused application cache folders in a previous post on recovering storage space on your Mac, you’re going to find and delete the com.apple.finder folder.

1. Click Finder and in the menu bar click Go > Go to Folder
2. Type ~/Library/Caches and click Go
3. Locate the com.apple.finder folder and delete it

Delete MacBook Finder window cache via BrothaTech

Don’t worry, you aren’t deleting any important files, you’re just forcing your Mac to rebuild the folder brand-new after a restart.




2. Safe Boot Your Mac

 
Probably the easier way to force your Mac to clear your Finder’s cache is by starting your Mac in Safe Mode. Safe Mode is your Mac’s way of doing a system check, and dumping some stuff (like certain application caches).

To do this, restart your Mac and hold down the Shift Key during startup (as SOON as you hear the “Bong” sound or see any lights on your screen). Don’t worry, that weird thing your computer screen is doing is normal.

You will know if your Mac is in Safe Mode is by looking up in the right-corner of your Mac at the login screen. Now you can ogin in normally and when your computer desktop, icons and other stuff shows up, you can shut down and restart your computer normally.

MacBook Finder window - Boot in Safe Mode

Your MacBook’s Finder window should now be much smoother and more tolerable. So don’t get rid of her yet, use that money to add more RAM (memory) or upgrade to a Solid State Drive (SSD) to speed up your Mac even more.

For tech tips delivered to your inbox, be sure to subscribe to the newsletter. If you need an Apple Certified Support Professional to give your Mac a good Spring Cleaning once over, you know where to find me.

Speed up your Mac with CleanMyMac 2!

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Mac Heads Tips and Tricks

Recover Storage Space On Your Mac

“But I hardly have anything on my computer” is usually the first thing people tell me after their Mac spits out that (paraphrasing) “Yo, I’m too full! You might wanna ditch some of this old junk you’re keeping a hold of before I won’t even startup”

Technically, you didn’t deliberately cram your Mac to the lid with files, but a quick peek at your storage space in “About This Mac” tells a different story. A full Hard Drive may not even be your fault. Even if you take steps to keep your computer “clean” by frequently clearing out the “trash” and “downloads” folders on you Mac, there could be some files you can’t see or didn’t know that are taking up space on your Mac.

So I’ve compiled a task list of things you can do to recover storage space on your Mac.

Disconnect cloud sync accounts

If you think you’re doing your computer a favor by storing all your files in Dropbox, Google Drive, or some other cloud storage service, think again. Technically speaking, they should be called Cloud Synchronization services because all they do is make sure the files in the cloud and the files ON YOUR COMPUTER are in sync. Yeah, you read that right, with cloud sync services, you have multiple copies of your files in multiple places.

So a quick fix to temporarily recover some storage space would be to:

1 Unlink those cloud sync services
2 Delete the copies from your computer.

…Don’t worry, as long as you DISCONNECT/UNLINK BEFORE YOU DELETE, a copy of all your files will be saved in the cloud. Now would be a good time to clean out all those unwanted files and consolidate cloud sync services before you link computer back to your cloud accounts.

Free 15-day trial of BackBlaze Cloud Backup Service (Affiliate Link)

Delete unused Apps and delete app cache

You know good and well you don’t need all those applications you’ve only used twice. Truth of the matter is, everything (including applications) are moving to the cloud, so what you really need can in most cases be accessed via the web. So go ahead and delete those apps, because they too are clogging up your storage.

To completely delete any trails of the application(s) you just deleted, you probably need to delete the application cache (files that store application preferences)…Just pay close attention to what application cache folders you want to delete or will have to redo some application settings if you delete to wrong ones.

If I had a choice of applications you need to keep on your computer, one tool I frequently use and suggest would select Disk Doctor. To make a long story short, after launch, Disk Doctor searches your Mac and reveals multiple types of files, including files in the trash/downloads folder, application logs/caches, mail downloads, and other files you can safely remove without damaging your computer.

Disk Doctor Scan via brothatech

Delete iTunes device backups

If you backup your iPhone, iPad, or other iDevice to your Mac via iTunes, chances are, all those backup files are being stored on computer. They are kept there even if you no longer use, or have switched phones. If left unchecked, the list of devices, more importantly, the amount of data in the form of backups stored on your is counting against your available space.

Going into iTunes Preferences > Devices will show you all the device backups. From there, you can decide which backups are old enough to be deleted.

Side Note: If you want to change where iTunes saves iDevice backups, check out this tutorial, or skip iTunes altogether and use iCloud for device backup.

So I’ve given you the lowdown on how to recover storage space on your Mac. You have two choices, take some time to work through these steps, or call me in a panic when you see that “Your startup disk is almost full” message.

You know where to find me

Easy online backup. Try it for free

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Mac Heads News

Your iPhone Data Is Safe With Apple…For Now

On Apple’s website yesterday, CEO Tim Cook posted a letter reassuring its customers that the encrypted iPhone data will not be compromised…even at the request of the government.

“February 16, 2016

A Message to Our Customers

The United States government has demanded that Apple take an unprecedented step which threatens the security of our customers. We oppose this order, which has implications far beyond the legal case at hand.

This moment calls for public discussion, and we want our customers and people around the country to understand what is at stake…”

Backstory

 
What Tim Cook is responding to is in the Aftermath of the San Bernradino California shooting back in December, the FBI requested Apple’s help in recovering password-protected iPhone data that belonged to the shooters.

The FBI went as far as obtaining a court order from U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym of California to force Apple to “supply highly specialized software the FBI can load onto the county-owned work iPhone to bypass a self-destruct feature, which erases the phone’s data after too many unsuccessful attempts to unlock it. The FBI wants to be able to try different combinations in rapid sequence until it finds the right one.”

Reading deeper into the letter on Apple’s website, Tim Cook expands on the need for encryption and why weakening said encryption for whatever reason is a slippery slope:

“…The government suggests this tool could only be used once, on one phone. But that’s simply not true. Once created, the technique could be used over and over again, on any number of devices. In the physical world, it would be the equivalent of a master key, capable of opening hundreds of millions of locks — from restaurants and banks to stores and homes. No reasonable person would find that acceptable.

The government is asking Apple to hack our own users and undermine decades of security advancements that protect our customers — including tens of millions of American citizens — from sophisticated hackers and cybercriminals. The same engineers who built strong encryption into the iPhone to protect our users would, ironically, be ordered to weaken those protections and make our users less safe.

We can find no precedent for an American company being forced to expose its customers to a greater risk of attack. For years, cryptologists and national security experts have been warning against weakening encryption. Doing so would hurt only the well-meaning and law-abiding citizens who rely on companies like Apple to protect their data. Criminals and bad actors will still encrypt, using tools that are readily available to them…”

This is not a new argument as Silicon Valley and the U.S. government have frequently been on the opposite ends of the privacy versus safety debate. Tech companies have been very vocal about the dangers of allowing the government to access private data trusted to tech companies (via their devices) by its customers. Conversely, the government has argued that there are certain instances like terror attacks where accessing specific data from specific individuals could help the government learn more about past attacks and even prevent future threats.

For now, Apple has decided to take a stand and resist any requests by the government, court ordered or not, to keep our iPhone data password-protected, encrypted data, well…password-protected and encrypted. We will have to see how far this debate goes.

Where Do You Stand?

 
Since it’s OUR data that tech companies want to protect and it’s OUR data that the government wants to access in order to protect us, do you think it was right for Apple to “Just Say No” to the FBI in the name of keeping our data secure from even the government? Or do you feel that the government should have some type of access to specific, court-ordered consumer data in the name of possibly preventing future attacks that could jeopardize our safety?

What say you?

Source: Apple | MSN News

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Mac Heads News

Error 53 Will Brick Your iPhone If Just Anybody Repairs It

“What’s your best price?” Is a question I get all the time as an Apple repair guy…ALL THE TIME. I understand, folks work hard for their money and want to make sure they are getting the best deal. So I always have to pitch my value as a certified repair guy and it goes something like “I understand that there could be cheaper prices out there, but I’m certified and I only use OEM parts and they are backed by a lifetime warranty…(“womp womp womp womp” is what I assume they hear after I give them the price).
 
Not trying to scare the hell out of you, Well…maybe I am, but if you’ve busted up your phone and it needs repair, be careful who you let fix it. There is a new iOS 9 update that affects all iDevices with Touch ID “fingerprint” home buttons that your el cheapo average repair guy on craigslist or Yelp with a super low repair price may not know, or care about and could result in rendering your entire phone useless.
 

Backstory

There is an “Error 53” message making its way around the web that’s reported to brick iPhones. Based on all “the world’s ending” tech articles published on the subject, Error 53 has been traced to devices where the ORIGINAL Touch ID home button has been replaced. Not a common procedure, but if your home button has been damaged beyond repair OR if you customize your device with pretty colors, there are situations where the original home button could have been replaced.
 
If the original Touch ID home button is replaced, that could also threaten the integrity of Apple’s security features. So what I’m assuming was a stop gap measure by Apple, it has released and confirmed a recent iOS 9 update that will cause major issues if your Touch ID-enabled device detects a foreign home button:

“We take customer security very seriously and Error 53 is the result of security checks designed to protect our customers. iOS checks that the Touch ID sensor in your iPhone or iPad correctly matches your device’s other components. If iOS finds a mismatch, the check fails and Touch ID, including for Apple Pay use, is disabled. This security measure is necessary to protect your device and prevent a fraudulent Touch ID sensor from being used. If a customer encounters Error 53, we encourage them to contact Apple Support.”

How can you avoid Error 53

The simple answer is “Don’t replace your home button”. Now here’s where repair guys like me come in. MOST if not all of my repairs are cracked screens. I’ve been in the game for quite sometime and already knew that putting in a foreign home button on a Touch ID-enabled device would render it useless. So when I get a Touch ID-enabled home button repair request I tell my clients “You will have to holla at Apple to get that fixed (paraphrasing)”.
 
Additionally, I test all devices before and after the repair and I’ve been CRAZY CAREFUL to not damage the home button during screen repair. MOST if not all iPhone repairs are of the cracked screen variety. Inside Baseball: During a cracked screen repair, the home button must be transplanted from one screen to another. So even if the home button is working fine there’s still a chance it can get damaged during an otherwise routine screen repair.
 
Not tooting my own horn (Can grown men use the word “toot?”), but my skill, experience and professionalism is why I command a higher price. But there are some folks who don’t care and opt to go with the “lowest bidder”, which boggles my mind – Why pay so much for an Apple device to only go the cheap route when something goes wrong? But I digress.
 
As the old saying goes “You get what you pay for”. There are some repair shops who will buy the cheapest parts, and do shoddy work, INCLUDING damage your Touch ID-enabled home button during repair and try to replace it on the sly. Before now it wasn’t a huge deal. Now Apple is forcing repair shops to step up their game in order to maintain its security features and protect your data.
 
So when (it’s not a matter of if) you crack the screen on your iPhone, you might want to rethink your repair budget and do a little more research before you let just anybody repair it. A cheap or half-ass repair could result in your entire phone getting bricked.
 
….You know my number

Categories
Mac Heads

Money On My Wrist: Square Cash Adds Apple Watch Support

All the time Every once in a while, my family and friends reach out and ask to borrow money. Now I don’t mind sending them the loot, my only requirement is that it has to be as simple as possible for me to send it. You know what that means – Tech to the rescue!

Nowadays, sending money electronically is pretty simple. The simplest way I’ve sent money is via Square Cash. The same folks who make it easy for small businesses to accept credit card transactions via their smartphone or tablet, are the same people making it easy to send money to friends and family via their mobile device.

The reason why I like Square cash over similar services is because all you have to do is download the app, link your debit card and the money goes right from your bank account and into the recipient’s bank account (provided they are using the app and linked their debit card) within seconds…Yeah, you read that right.

I have written about Cash before, but with the latest update, they have added Apple Watch functionality, making it even easier to money (and receive money, even though I don’t sweat people for my money…or sucker punch them).

Opening the Square Cash on my Apple Watch shows my recent transactions or I can search my contacts for other Square Cash users to quickly send money to their bank account. Once you find the recipient, You’re presented with dollar denominations of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $100. So If I wanted to send $47 dollars (my family and friends are weird like that), I just tap the $20×2, $5 & $2.

If I don’t even want to do all that, I can tell them to use the Square Cash app to request money from me. The notification will hit my Apple Watch and I can quickly view and approve money request right from my wrist…And I didn’t leave my couch, or dig in between my seat cushions looking for my phone.

Don’t believe me? Use my invite code and get $5 free bucks to try it out and let me know what you think.

While you’re at it, Lemme hold $5 until Friday?

Categories
Mac Heads

App Pick: Disk Doctor For Mac

I’m anal retentive a neat-freak when it comes to organizing my files on my Mac. I regularly scour my pictures, movies, documents and downloads folders for no longer needed files. Real Talk – I should’ve spent the extra money for more internal storage space on my Retina MacBook Pro.

All that to say, I’m not a file hoarder. But I know some of you out there are. Afraid to get rid of anything, that is until that ever-so-annoying little spinning “beach ball” constantly keeps your Mac from being great.

The first thing you should do to keep your Mac running smoothly and to ensure you get your money’s worth is get rid of unused, unwanted, and unknown files. One of the apps I use and recommend that will help you find and quickly delete those files is Disk Doctor.

Simply put, open Disk Doctor, start a scan and it will search the “Un-ususal Suspects” (Application caches & logs, Browser data, downloads, and a few other spots) to sniff out files and data you didn’t know existed (and really don’t need).

Disk Doctor Free-able Space

From there, you can go heavy-handed like the Jets training camp and sucker-punch all the listed files like they owed you money and had the nerve to get mad when you asked about it, and delete them all. Or if you’re more scary, you can view the details of each suggested category and hand-pick what you want to delete.

Once you have decided what you want to keep and delete, you can click “clean” and Disk Doctor will jettison your unwanted files in a matter of minutes (or seconds if you’re like me and only have a total of 2.5GB that could be cleaned…Told y’all I keep my Sh*t clean. Actually, that line is an oxymoron, but I digress.)

Disk Doctor Cleaning Results

To cool thing about Disk Doctor is that it lets you know what’s going on every step of the way and lets you preview (with explanation) files, so you don’t accidentally delete something you probably needed to keep.

An added bonus includes giving you a snapshot of your storage space (Free Space, Used Space, percentage of space used, and Total Capacity) when you first open Disk Doctor – Comes in handy when you need to quickly see your storage at-a-glance before calling a Mac Head like me to complain that your computer “sooo slow”.

Disk Doctor Space at a glance

After you’ve gotten rid of all those meme images you stole from the Drake vs. Meek Mill beef, I recommend you check out Disk Doctor for Mac to finish the clean up job.

Or, you can wait to delete unnecessary files after your Mac starts running super slow or worse, won’t start at all because the “startup disk is full” and you have to schlep your way to your local Apple store with an external drive, weave through all the fanboys and folks with way to much disposable income, just to beg an Apple Genius to help you get files off your computer just so it will boot up…True story

…Not mine, though. I don’t roll like that.

Categories
Mac Heads Tips and Tricks

Why You Want Thieves To Login To Your Mac

There are some things we all immediately do after we power up that brand-spankin’ new Mac. Some download and organize new apps, while others customize their desktop/lockscreen images.

Me, myself, personally…I tweak all the settings to get them just right. One of the first settings I mess with is turning off the ‘Guest User’ account – Nobody else is using my baby, so there isn’t any reason to even tempt me to allow a stranger’s germy hands to touch my keyboard.

But after some some studying for my latest Apple certification, I dug up a pretty interesting fact that forced me to immediately turn back on the Guest User account so strangers (particularly a thief) could actually login to my computer and connect to the internet.

If you’re not familiar with ‘Find My Mac’, it’s an iCloud security feature that lets you locate your iOS or Mac devices anywhere. You can login to you iCloud account online and as long as your Mac 1) Is powered on 2) Has the ‘Find My Mac’ feature enabled, and 3) Is connected to the internet, you can locate, track, lock, and even wipe your devices remotely.

Now traditional security procedures for locking down a Mac so nobody can do anything with it would be to use to use a strong password and force it to lock itself after a couple of minutes. The thought process behind that is if your Mac decided to grow legs and walk away, nobody could access your data, or browse the web to do whatever it is folks do on the internet…which is any and everything.

Here’s the hook: If a thief can’t get past the login screen, they are less likely to connect your Mac to a network to establish an internet connection, which would subsequently connect it to Apple’s iCloud servers, which would then let you use the ‘Find My Mac’ feature to locate and possibly retrieve your device (Please call the cops…Don’t try that vigilante crap).

On the flip-side, if the Guest User account on your Mac is enabled (there is no guest user password required to login to your computer), that just might tempt a thief to access the web which will initiate a connection between your Mac and your iCloud account.

I know what you’re thinking and don’t worry, a Guest User account can only do very basic things, and you can restrict a Guest User account even more by turning on and adjusting the Parental Controls, and/or encrypting your computer’s Hard Drive with the built-in (Read: $free.99) FileVault feature.

I know it sounds crazy, but if you want to even try to get your Mac back after it’s been stolen, you actually want the thief to be able to take selfies of themselves or yell at people on Facebook, Twitter, or Reddit using your baby.

…Just wipe off the keys with alcohol and a rag if you do get him/her back.

Categories
Mac Heads

1st Week Apple Watch Impressions

When I got my first MacBook, iPad and iPhone, I was in geek heaven for weeks as I figured out all the functionality. It took a while for me to finally get to a point where they were merely a laptop, tablet, and smartphone.

When I got my hands on my Apple Watch last week, I had that same feeling…for about a couple of days. After a week, that feeling of “it’s just a smartwatch” has already hit me. Maybe it’s because Apple wasn’t the first to hit the smartwatch market, so it couldn’t set the standard to which all other smartwatches would be judged. Maybe it’s that Apple Watch wasn’t my first smartwatch, so I already had a idea of what to expect.

Whatever the reason, I can say that after only a seven days on my wrist, my 1st week Apple Watch Impressions are “The thrill is gone” BUT, it has the features, functionality, and deep integration that I was looking for that will keep it on my wrist for years to come.

To give you a quick update, I ordered the 42mm (large) Space Gray “Sport” Edition with the black Sport Band. I must say that it looks and feels good on my wrist, but it’s not too flashy. I like watches, but I’ve never been a “hey look at this big, gaudy thing on my wrist” timepiece guy. Even if I would’ve opted for a more design-ier version, it still wouldn’t come off as flashy. In my opinion, Apple Watch design was right on the money.

Don’t Miss: Spigen Launches Line of Apple Watch Accessories

Setting up Apple Watch via the separate iPhone app was initially intimidating because there are a ton of functionality options that you can set up. Which makes sense – Something this technological that will be on your body most of the day needs to be calibrated to match a wide variety of people.

“If an important notification came through, I dealt with it right on my watch, and continued about my business, versus getting distracted by other things when I pulled my iPhone out of my pocket.”

After going setting up and testing most of the settings, I found myself only pushing important notifications to my watch (email from only one account, text messages, calendar events, phone calls, and a few app notifications). I didn’t want to constantly be pinged on my wrist when every little notification came through…Maybe that’s why the novelty has worn off faster simply because I’m not messing with my wrist as much due to reduction of notifications?

*Rubs chin*

Once I had my watch dialed in…That was it. Since the screen is small and notifications are at a minimum, most interactions with Apple Watch were natural and intentional — I only used it when I needed to. There was no frequent messing with the watch to check social media feeds, play games, triage email…or randomly find things to do like on my iPhone, iPad, or MacBook. That in an of itself reduced the amount of distractions. If an important notification came through, I dealt with it right on my watch, and continued about my business, versus getting distracted by other things when I pulled my iPhone out of my pocket.

Another side effect to the lack to random interaction was the battery life. Apple claims “up to 18 hours” with Apple Watch. I can say that not a day has gone by where I’ve been worried that my watch would die. From a full change at 8 a.m., to when I was ready to hit the sack around 11:30pm-ish, my watch was always above 40%. So for me, myself, personally, Apple Watch battery live has not been an issue.

When I had to intentionally interact with my Apple Watch was where its usefulness shines. Here are some features that I’ve used the most.

Activity and Workout Apps


I sit in my chair and stare at computer screens most of the day. I’m not a heavy “monitor my activity” person, so I don’t pay attention to most of the Activity features and functionality. But, I do know that I need to be more active throughout the day. Activity notifications remind me every 50 minutes or so that I need to “stand up”. So during those times, it get up, get on the ground, and do some pushups – Yes, I’m trying to get my “guns” back, and being reminded every hour to do a set of 20 push-ups, I should be set in about a month.

One of the main things I was interested in with Apple Watch was can I play music and can I track my runs without being tethered to my iPhone. Apple Watch has up to 2GB of built-in storage so I can save playlists directly to my watch. All I needed was a pair of Bluetooth headphones, and I was set on the tunes.

Without getting too techie, Using the Workout app, Apple Watch can learn more about your stride after a couple of runs. Without my phone’s GPS, it can’t track my location, but can offer indoor and outdoor time, distance, and pace readings. I did a couple runs this week using the Workout app, and compared then with the readings of those same runs using the Nike+ Running app, and they were similar within a couple of seconds of each other. I don’t care about where I run, as long as I can track time/distance/pace (and heart rate), I’m good.

Apple Watch unboxing via brothatech

Maps

apple watch maps
I don’t know why people hate on Apple’s version of Google Maps. It works fine for me. Using Maps on Apple Watch especially comes in handy when I’m walking, or even driving. When I need to make a turn, it taps my wrist and displays the next directions. Since I drive with my left hand, all I have to do is twist my wrist for navigation instructions when notified. I can also use Siri to dictate locations or addresses, so technically, I never have to pull out my iPhone for directions.

Siri

apple watch siri
I’ve really noticed that I’ve been using Siri to interact with my watch way more than using Siri on my iPhone. I just seems more natural to verbally interact with my smartwatch versus my smartphone. Maybe because the screen is smaller, my mind is forced to talking to my wrist to respond to text messages and emails, check my calendar, the weather, and take notes, instead of touching and twisting. I can dictate all Apple Watch commands, but I’m using Siri whenever I can to interact with Apple Watch. I even do it in public.

Those are just a few of the features/functionality I’ve used the most during my 1st week. I’m positive that when more and more watch apps that offer seamless interactions with Apple Watch, I will find even more reasons to keep my iPhone in my pocket, or on the charger.

While “I’m over it” is the phrase that comes to mind when thinking about my lack of hype-ness, over Apple’s first smartwatch after only a week, the idea that I will be constantly uncovering new ways to streamline my frequent daily activities in my wrist is pretty exciting.

Any Apple Watch owners who read my site? What are your 1st week Apple Watch Impressions?

No affiliate links were harmed in the making of this post