Apple Watch Series 4

8owners with an opinion

33%of verdicts positive

0/3positive/negative since 2024

5 yrslongest happy owner

2happy after 3+ years

Praised for reliability and battery; criticized for software and comfort.

What people wrote

Likes itOwned 5 years

Android users have been banging this drum about the iPhone supremacists for an actual decade at this point and it so, so goddamn tiring. I buy iPhones for a number of reasons: - Ecosystem which has been explained at length so often you'd have to have your head under a rock to not know what it means - Ease of transfer of data between phones/tablets and replacements, along with constant sync - Excellent build quality - The OS is consistently good (not perfect, but good) and devices in general have a long life from purchase to replacement. I just recently had to FINALLY replace my gen 4 Watch with an SE, that I originally purchased in 2018. That's FIVE YEARS of daily use. "An Android" by contrast can be fucking anything from a $20 Aliexpress special farted out with spare parts from NIGYEHO Ltd. and an ancient version of the OS that barely runs on the hardware, to a mid-tier perfectly acceptable phone that will no doubt be nearly bricked in the event you try and update the OS, to a multi-thousand-dollar premiere Samsung powerhouse that would utterly spank most iPhones at most functions and will probably last you ten years if you take good care of it. And what irritates the shit out of me is Android users that treat the last one like you get it at the price of the first one, and then call Apple users elitist for buying a very similarly priced phone. It is truly mind-bending to me how effective Google's marketing has been to paint themselves constantly as the scrappy underdog fight…

Likes itOwned 5 yearsStill going

Is it? I have a nearly 5 year old Apple Watch (series 4) on my wrist and I've never had any issues with it. I'll probably replace it when a new watch comes out with a feature I really want (unlikely) or the battery stops lasting a full day, which might take a few more years as I don't even get close to running out unless I forget to charge it overnight.

Doesn’t like itOwned 0.25 years

I bought an Apple Watch 4 back in February and by May had stopped using it entirely. I wanted to use it as a complete replacement for my cell phone, and I think the main thing that kept me from doing that was 2fa codes. You have to charge most smartwatches fairly often, and most people charge them at night, so sleep tracking is difficult. Plus I've read that some of them don't do sleep tracking very well, and I can confirm that with my experience with the Apple Watch 4. It would indicate I was asleep when I knew I was awake (like to use the restroom in the middle of the night), and would indicate I was awake when I'm pretty sure I was asleep. I bought a cheap-o Mi Band or whatever it's called, and was using that for sleep tracking. It was like $25. I would suggest you start with that. Their Mi Smart Band 4 advertises that it tracks sleep, so maybe it does a good-enough job?

Neutral

There is a material difference between the older Apple Watch (where the charging puck uses USB A) and the newer Apple Watch and/or the Ultra (where the charging puck uses USB C). Plugged into an appropriate source, the USB C puck gets much faster charging and is usually sufficient for a day's wear after about 10 minutes (depending, of course, on what the day includes). Charging to 80% is likely to be more than enough for most uses, and topping it up with another 15% just before bed is enough for overnight (probably). I had the Series 4 previously and the Ultra 2 now; with the older watch, I would charge it for about an hour while watching TV in the evening. With the Ultra 2, I charge it for about 20 minutes here and there depending on what I’m doing and whether I remember. I’m currently at 39% which will be just fine for my hourlong exercise ride (with GPS), and then I can toss it on the charger while I shower and it’ll probably be at 70% which is good enough for another full day.

Doesn’t like it

I last tried to ditch my phone and just wear the watch with a Series 4, so things might be different now, but you give up way too much compared to using a smartphone. Only being able to take calls on speakerphone, not having access to the long tail of apps you might need on occasion, and not being able to effectively input text into the apps you do have are the biggest problems for me. Its alright for the kids and old people thing they have now where you really want a life alert/GPS tracker combo and calling/texting is a nice bonus but the form factor isn't viable for solo use.

Doesn’t like it

Real happy to hear this. As i said, it was series 4 and the first airpods pro and here in europe (where we sometimes lag a bit behind in features), so maybe things are different now. Re forwarded calls: maybe i misremember, maybe it was my local carrier or maybe apple has changed things but i’m glad things have changed. Can you recieve sms too? I couldn’t and this reply corroborates my experience https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40994017 Also, if you take your watch for a run with music playing on your aipods, does your watch stop the playback once you’re back in phone range? Mine does and i hate it. I think music and podcasts are synced through iphone too, right? If you leave your phone turned off, will watch sync everything correctly? In other words, constant sync and connection issues was what made me ditch my watch as any sort of replacement phone.

Doesn’t like it

I really like this product, but I have been on this journey, and will repost a comment i made to a recent thread about replacing your phone with an apple watch. — on: One year of using an Apple Watch Ultra as a phone ... I have done this as well, but with series 4. Some notes: - Apple Watch receives calls forwarded from your phone which creates a bunch of weird problems: 1) Imagine you’re at a bar and get a phone call. You need to either answer on your watch immediately on speakerphone which means its hard to hear the caller and hard for them to hear you, and your conversation is not private. Or, dismiss the call, go outside, put your airpods in, hope they connect, call back, hope they answer, and hope the traffic isnt too bad around you because airpods do not have best mics. 2) connecting airpods really suck, especially at home. You have to have your phone in the charger for it to forward calls to your watch, so when you put on your airpods, they will likely connect to your phone, so you run to your phone, then your airpods “magically” connect to your watch all the while your caller is shouting “hello” into the void. Not ideal for work calls. - I really hated not having a notes.app - messages are kinda bad, especially if you’re non-english. And again, if you’re out at a bar and meeting someone, you cant really wait to get home to message back, you have to noodle around on the small screen. - Your friends will tease you. I didnt mind, but its good to be prepared. - its a teen…

Doesn’t like it

The regular apple watch has some bugs that have been around for years, too. One of my favorite features is on the mickey/minnie watch face, they verbally tell you the time if you tap them..... except when they don't. Sometimes they just stop working until you power cycle the watch lol. Also phone calls to/from the watch seem to go through fits of random failure. Like at least once a week it'll inexplicably fail to get notifications or fail to answer phone calls. And then once a month I'll have to power cycle both the watch and the phone because they fall into a trap where any call in/out fails. I first noticed these bugs on my s4 and iphone xs. I'm currently using an s8 and iphone 13. Still got those bugs lol. Oh I thought of one more. Any iOS device with a home button and an alphanumeric password won't show you the keyboard when it first starts up. You have to hit the power button and then wake it with the home button to see the keyboard lol.

Neutral

iPhone X for me. Bought in mid-2018, got a new battery in late 2022. I'll probably keep it for another year or two. The reasons I'll eventually upgrade are: 1. I would like a better camera. iPhone X was before iPhone cameras had good low light performance. 2. The older I get the more I could use a larger screen. 3. It cannot run the latest iOS. There's not much I directly need the latest iOS for. I think there are some passkey things that don't work on mine, but it does have some passkey support, which is mostly good enough currently. 4. I cannot upgrade my Series 4 Apple watch to the latest WatchOS. The latest WatchOS requires iOS 17+. And new watches ship with the latest WatchOS so a phone upgrade will be necessary if I ever want a new watch. I expect that the next time I get an iPhone its camera will be good enough that "better camera" will never again be a reason for me to update. I think they have reached the point where the cameras are better than any camera I will personally ever need.

Doesn’t like it

I have done this as well, but with series 4. Some notes: - Apple Watch receives calls forwarded from your phone which creates a bunch of weird problems: 1) Imagine you’re at a bar and get a phone call. You need to either answer on your watch immediately on speakerphone which is means its hard to hear the caller and hard for them to hear you, and your conversation is not private. Or, dismiss the call, go outside, put your airpods in, hope they connect, call back, hope they answer, and hope the traffic isnt too bad around you because airpods do not have best mics. 2) connecting airpods really suck, especially at home. You have to have your phone in the charger for it to forward calls to your watch, so when you put on your airpods, they will likely connect to your phone, so you run to your phone, then your airpods “magically” connect to your watch all the while your caller is shouting “hello” into the void. Not ideal for work calls. - I really hated not having a notes.app - messages are kinda bad, especially if you’re non-english. And again, if you’re out at a bar and meeting someone, you cant really wait to get home to message back, you have to noodle around on the small screen. - Your friends will tease you. I didnt mind, but its good to be prepared. - its a teeny bit annoying wearing a tech-watch. Can get a bit hot etc. - You need an iphone to update the watch. This really suck because you never really feel you actually let go of your phone, its a hassle updating over bluetoo…