Minimalist Apple Watch Setup | No More Smart Watch Notifications

Summary

The video script discusses the minimalist approach to using an Apple Watch, inspired by the design principles of Dieter Rams. The creator shares their customized watch faces, including a minimalist aesthetic with a focus on health and habit tracking. They detail their process of disabling notifications to reduce distractions and simplify their digital life, while also showcasing useful apps like Drafts for voice notes and Streaks for habit tracking. The script also touches on the customization options available on the Apple Watch and the creator's personal preferences for a streamlined experience.

Takeaways

• 📱 The Apple Watch is a beautiful piece of design and technology, but it may not align with Steve Jobs' design principles due to its obtrusiveness.
• 📵 The Apple Watch's default notifications are considered annoying and distracting.
• 📉 The speaker has been trying to simplify their life and minimize distractions, including on their Apple Watch.
• ⌚ The speaker customized their Apple Watch with two minimalist watch face screens featuring a black, white, and gray aesthetic.
• 📝 The primary app used on the watch face is Drafts, which allows for quick voice-to-text notes.
• 🏋️‍♂️ The second watch face screen focuses on health and habit tracking, including Apple Fitness rings and the Streaks app.
• 🚶‍♂️ The speaker tracks daily steps using the Pedometer app and tries to achieve various daily habits.
• 🌈 The speaker turned off most notifications on the watch and uses grayscale mode to reduce stimuli.
• 📱 Customizations are primarily managed through the iPhone's Watch app, where notifications are individually turned off.
• 📦 The speaker offers minimalist watch face designs on Etsy, promoting a clean and distraction-free experience.

Q & A

What is the speaker's opinion on the Apple Watch's design in relation to Steve Jobs and Dieter Rams' principles?

The speaker believes that while the Apple Watch is a beautiful piece of design and technology, Steve Jobs, who was a student of Dieter Rams, might not approve due to Rams' design principle that good design should be unobtrusive. The speaker finds the Apple Watch's default notifications to be annoying and contrary to this principle.

What changes did the speaker make to their Apple Watch to minimize distractions?

The speaker customized their Apple Watch by turning off all notifications, using minimalist watch faces with grayscale, and limiting the installed apps to only those necessary for their daily use.

How many watch face screens does the speaker have on their Apple Watch, and what do they display?

The speaker has two watch face screens. The first one displays the date, time, and a Drafts app for quick voice notes. The second screen is focused on health and habit tracking, showing the Apple Fitness rings, daily steps, and a habit tracker app.

What is the purpose of the Drafts app on the speaker's Apple Watch?

The Drafts app is used by the speaker for recording voice notes and converting them into text when they are out on walks and have an idea they want to quickly jot down without pulling out their phone.

What health and habit tracking features does the speaker use on their Apple Watch?

The speaker uses the Apple Fitness rings to track daily activity, the Pedometer app to count daily steps, and the Streaks app to maintain habits such as stretching, journaling, closing activity rings, having a calorie deficit, and tidying up for 20 minutes.

Why did the speaker choose to have their Apple Watch display in grayscale?

The speaker chose to display their Apple Watch in grayscale to reduce visual stimuli and distractions, making the interface cleaner and less obtrusive.

How did the speaker customize the notifications on their Apple Watch?

The speaker went through the watch app on their phone, turning off all notifications one by one to ensure they were not carried over from the phone and were not打扰ing their minimalism goals.

What apps does the speaker have installed on their Apple Watch, and why?

The speaker has installed the Drafts app for voice notes, the Pedometer Plus Plus app for step counting, Peloton for workouts, Spotify for music, and Streaks for habit tracking. These apps are chosen for their utility in the speaker's minimalist lifestyle.

What is the speaker's view on the number of apps available for the Apple Watch?

The speaker believes that not all apps are necessary for their Apple Watch and have chosen to install only a select few that align with their minimalist lifestyle and daily needs.

How does the speaker feel about the Apple Watch's default settings in terms of notifications and distractions?

The speaker finds the default settings of the Apple Watch to be overly intrusive with notifications, buzzing, and ringing, which they consider to be annoying and in contrast with their goal of minimizing life and removing distractions.

What additional customization does the speaker do on their iPhone to align with their minimalist approach?

The speaker has a minimalist setup on their iPhone, which includes turning off most notifications, using grayscale display for reduced stimuli, and maintaining a limited number of essential apps.

Outlines

00:00

🤖 Minimalist Apple Watch Customization

The speaker discusses their minimalist approach to using the Apple Watch, inspired by the design principles of Dieter Rams, which Steve Jobs admired. They find the default notifications on the Apple Watch intrusive and annoying, so they've customized their watch to be more unobtrusive. The speaker presents two watch faces: one with minimalist backgrounds and an app for 'Drafts' that allows speech-to-text recording for quick note-taking, and another focused on health and habit tracking. They've designed their own minimalist watch backgrounds and have an Etsy shop for these designs. The speaker also mentions turning off all notifications on the watch to reduce distractions and using grayscale to minimize visual stimuli.

05:00

🏞️ Streamlining the Apple Watch Experience

In this paragraph, the speaker continues to describe their streamlined Apple Watch setup, focusing on reducing distractions and unnecessary notifications. They mention the apps they have installed, such as 'Drafts' for voice notes, 'Pedometer Plus Plus', 'Peloton', 'Spotify', and 'Streaks' for habit tracking. The speaker also talks about their minimalist philosophy, choosing not to install apps they don't need, such as podcasts or photos. They show two watch faces, one with a photo background and the other with a simple design featuring the 'Streaks' app, workouts, and a pedometer. The speaker emphasizes their desire for a clean, distraction-free experience on their wrist, only wanting to track steps, take notes, and monitor daily habits.

Keywords

💡Apple Watch

The Apple Watch is a line of smartwatches designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. It is a key part of the video's theme, representing a piece of technology that can be both a tool for productivity and a source of potential distraction. In the script, the speaker discusses their personal experience with the device, emphasizing the need to customize it to minimize distractions and align with their minimalist lifestyle.

💡Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple Inc. His influence on design and technology is mentioned in the script as a contrast to the intrusive nature of the Apple Watch's notifications, suggesting that Jobs, as a student of Dieter Rams, would have preferred a more unobtrusive design.

💡Dieter Rams

Dieter Rams is a German industrial designer known for his influential principles of good design. His ten principles are referenced in the script to highlight the idea that good design should be unobtrusive, which the speaker feels the Apple Watch fails to achieve with its default settings.

💡Minimalism

Minimalism, in the context of the video, refers to the practice of reducing or eliminating unnecessary elements in one's life to focus on what's essential. The speaker is trying to apply this concept to their use of the Apple Watch by simplifying its functions and appearance to reduce distractions.

💡Notifications

Notifications are alerts or messages that inform users of events such as incoming calls, messages, or updates. In the script, the speaker finds the default notification settings of the Apple Watch annoying and intrusive, leading them to customize the device to minimize these interruptions.

💡Customization

Customization refers to the process of adapting or modifying a product to suit one's preferences. The video's theme revolves around the speaker's efforts to customize their Apple Watch to fit a minimalist lifestyle, including changing watch faces, turning off notifications, and using specific apps.

💡Watch Faces

Watch faces on the Apple Watch are the visual interfaces that display information such as time, date, and other customizable elements. The speaker discusses creating their own minimalist watch faces and using them to personalize the device's appearance and functionality.

💡Apps

Apps, or applications, are software programs designed to perform specific functions on devices like the Apple Watch. The script mentions several apps that the speaker uses for note-taking, step tracking, and habit tracking, emphasizing the selective use of apps to maintain focus and simplicity.

💡Habit Tracker

A habit tracker is a tool used to monitor and maintain daily habits or routines. The speaker uses the 'streaks' app on their Apple Watch to track daily habits, which is part of their minimalist lifestyle and focus on health and productivity.

💡Grayscale

Grayscale refers to the use of black, white, and shades of gray, as opposed to color. The speaker mentions using grayscale on their Apple Watch and iPhone to reduce visual stimuli and create a cleaner, more focused interface.

💡Distraction

Distraction, in the context of the video, refers to anything that diverts attention from the essential aspects of life that the speaker values. The script discusses the speaker's efforts to minimize distractions from their Apple Watch, such as unnecessary notifications and colorful, busy interfaces.

Highlights

The Apple Watch is considered a beautiful blend of design and technology.

Steve Jobs' design principles, influenced by Dieter Rams, emphasize unobtrusive design.

The Apple Watch's default notifications can be seen as intrusive.

The user has customized their Apple Watch to minimize distractions.

Custom watch faces with minimalist backgrounds were designed by the user.

The user has created and is selling over 40 minimalist watch face designs on Etsy.

Only one app, Drafts, is used for quick speech-to-text note-taking.

The Apple Watch is utilized for health and habit tracking.

The user has disabled most notifications on their Apple Watch for a distraction-free experience.

Grayscale mode is used on the Apple Watch to reduce visual stimuli.

Only essential apps are installed on the watch to maintain simplicity.

The user prefers a minimalist setup on their iPhone as well.

Watch faces can be customized with personal photos and multiple backgrounds.

The user avoids unnecessary apps to maintain focus on health tracking and notes.

The user's goal is to track steps, take notes, and monitor habit progress without distractions.

The video invites viewers to share their favorite Apple Watch apps and explore the minimalist iPhone setup.

Transcripts

the apple watch is a beautiful piece of

design and technology but

i don't think steve jobs would approve

because he was a student of dieter rams

and his 10 design principles and one of

the design principles is that good

design

is unobtrusive and the apple watch with

all of its

notifications buzzing ringing

as it comes right out of the box is

downright

annoying so as i've been trying to

minimize my life

simplify things and remove distractions

i had to do the same

with my apple watch so let's take a look

at my apple watch so i have two watch

face screens

on my watch the first one has the

date time and then a little

app for drafts and you can see i have

these nice

minimalist backgrounds nice black white

gray aesthetic and i actually

designed these backgrounds because i

couldn't find anything that really

fit my needs and if you're interested in

checking out the designs that i made

i've got a link down below made a little

etsy shop for them because i made over

40 designs for my apple watch

but here nice clean and simple and

here's the one app that i have

which is drafts which if you click it it

opens up

the drafts app where i can hit record

and it'll do

a speech to text function i use this

when i'm out on walks and i have an idea

and i don't want to take the time

to maybe pull out my phone and write

something down

but it definitely does make me feel like

007 or

inspector gadget when i use it out in

public

remember to tell them to like this video

going back to the main screen then we

head on over and the second screen

is where a lot of my health and

habit tracking happens so right now you

can see the apple fitness rings

where i try to close those every single

day again

the time it's kind of annoying that on

an apple watch you can't make a watch

face that

doesn't have the time because if you

have multiple watch faces i don't think

you necessarily need the time on all of

them

you can just switch back and forth down

here i

installed the pedometer app so i can see

my daily steps

a little low for today but i plan on

going on a

very long walk up here

we have the streaks app which is a habit

tracker

trying to get my 10 000 steps a day

doing some stretching

journaling closing out my activity rings

having a calorie deficit

and doing 20 minutes of tidying up

here you can see if i complete

journaling

all i do is hit the button and there we

go

i have completed journaling still trying

to get in the habit of actually

using this habit tracker back over

to the main watch if i want to do a

quick workout

here they are oh here's the yoga session

that i did this morning and you will

notice that

everything on the watch is

grayscale i removed all the color to

remove

some of the distractions so let's head

over to my phone where most of the

customization

happens on an apple watch here

is my phone in the minimalist iphone

setup which i already made

a video on but let's head on over

to the watch app

and see some of the customizations that

i have done

i mean the first thing is going into

those notifications

and turning them all off it is a little

bit annoying with the apple watch that

you have to go

one by one and turning them off making

sure

that they're not carrying over

notification settings on your phone

and even though most of my notifications

are on my phone are turned off there are

some that i do want

but i don't want those being carried

over to my watch

so it definitely took a while to get all

those turned off especially

the text messages and the phone calls

for some reason they just kept coming

back

and then if you go over to accessibility

that's where i have the grayscale

turned on just the same way i do with my

phone

just cuts down a little bit on the

stimuli and

makes it look a little bit cleaner you

get used to it after a while

but unfortunately with the watch which

isn't really necessary there isn't a way

to quickly turn it on and off

like with the iphone which you can see

you can just easily do with a triple

click

here are the apps that i have installed

on the watch

i have the drafts app which i use to

take those voice notes

then i have the pedometer plus plus app

peloton which i've been trying out in

addition to

apple fitness plus spotify and streaks

here's a bunch of other things that i

could install if i wanted to

but i don't see the point i don't need

all of this available

on my wrist i don't even use the the

podcast don't really use the photos

and i do like some of the health things

so i have those

and use those regularly now here you can

see

my two watch faces that i have

i'm here because i have the grayscale

turned off right now

on my phone you can see them in color so

this one is just a photos one

where i have the photo selected my after

i made the backgrounds

brought them into the phone and then had

them set

as a nice backdrop and it's nice that

you can actually set multiple ones

so it changes you can just have one if

you would like

but i like the fact that it changes

every now and then

and as i said i made 40 different ones

that you can

pick up on etsy if you want to support

the channel

and if you don't like the black and gray

you can actually add a little bit of

color to them

and switch them up which is pretty cool

and then back over here pretty simple

where it's just i have

the top i have the dots which is the

streaks app i have my

workouts and then the pedometer so

overall pretty nice and simple but

cutting out

all of those distractions i don't need

news coming to my wrist i don't need

social media notifications i don't need

text messages

phone calls really i just want to see my

steps

maybe take a quick note see how i'm

progressing on my habits for the day

and that's about it so hopefully you

enjoyed this video let me know if you

have any favorite apps that you use

on an apple watch i would love to know

to comment down below

and if you're interested in checking out

my video on my minimalist iphone setup

you can find it here and if you're

interested in doing a dopamine detox you

can find out why i think it won't work

here see you later bye

you