Apple Watch SE

7owners with an opinion

83%of verdicts positive

2/1positive/negative since 2024

5 yrslongest happy owner

1happy after 3+ years

Praised for ease of use and performance; criticized for battery and reliability.

What people wrote

Likes itOwned 5 years

Ignoring the fashion context (to which, no comment), totally agree. I have an Apple Watch SE that I got the battery refurbed after 5 years, 95% of my use is a quick check on my next calendar, setting timers, managing the morning alarm, and tracking medication and exercise. Oh, and constantly putting it into power save mode after I take it off the charger. It's not a cellular model, so the other 5% is basically letting me know my phone has something to tell me. I have in the past tried to put games on it, but purely as a novelty.

Doesn’t like it

My child has an SE, and the only downside we’ve seen is that without a connected iPhone or WiFi network, the battery life is unimaginably bad. That little LTE radio works hard in the school.

Likes it

I tried a Garmin for a while but the UI bugs/inconsistencies/onboarding process put me off a lot so I eventually got rid of it. Using an old Apple watch SE at the moment and apart from the minor inconvenience of charging it overnight (no need for sleep tracking) it does everything better.

Likes it

I think the problem is that everyone has their own “all I want - it’s so simple” set of features, but there are nearly limitless possibilities of feature combinations. I wanted a long battery life (e-ink would work) minimal watch with health tracking only. In the end I just chose the Apple Watch SE, switched off all phone & message notifications and made recharging part of my daily routine. It’s easier to adapt than find the perfect device and I’ve found many useful features on the SE that I wouldn’t have chosen on my custom smart watch.

Neutral

I've been (kind of) successful with this with my Apple Watch SE and Honda Civic. The issues arise when I have both my phone and watch in the car and it wants to connect to the watch. Then things get confused and don't work out the way you would want. With just the watch, however, it seems to work fine. On a related note, I've had significant issues trying to play music through airpods through the watch. I can get it to connect, and it plays a few seconds of music, then goes silent. The screen still indicates its playing. Very frustrating.

Likes it

The Apple Watch SE is $249, Series 8 is $400. Used version 5, 6 or 7’s can be had for $200. (I picked up a refurbished version 5 off Amazon for ~$200.) I find that the Apple Watch simplifies my life. I have all notifications turned off except for meeting reminders and texts from my spouse. I leave my phone at my desk and no longer carry it with me around thee house or work. Apple Pay works beautifully, allowing me to leave my phone at home to pop over to the grocery store. The timer is convenient for cooking and reminders. As a recreational runner, it has replaced my Garmin. The sleep tracker works well. To my knowledge, it transmits no additional data to Apple than the iPhone itself. And it keeps time. All in all, a worthy investment.

Likes it

> The other big benefit I see is cellular. This. I seldom if ever leave the house with a phone during a normal day or on my bike rides. I use my Apple Watch SE on moderate rides (50 to 100 miles), use NFC during rest stops, and pull up the occasional map when I forget a turn. Cellular is a big plus. And if one day in the future, I can get a cellular enabled Apple Watch that is standalone and not dependent on having an iPhone, I'm first in line. I have no reason to carry an iPhone with me.