# Apple Watch 246 Hacker News commenters recommended Apple Watch and 272 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 5 years (29 owners). **Verdict:** Recommended for long-term health and sleep tracking, triaging notifications without picking up your phone, silent alarms and Apple Pay; critics cite iPhone lock-in, distracting nags and questionable VO2 max estimates. ## Why people recommend it - Long-term health and sleep tracking (5 comments): "Advanced health tracking is when my Apple Watch watched my activity versus heart rate over time and warned me it saw signs of hypertension" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49285460)) "Once I started to wear my watch at night, and seeing the sleep stats, I actually felt a stronger push to force myself to bed early." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49645422)) "if you tell your Apple Watch you have AFib, it will take many more measurements of your HRV, making the value much more accurate" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46674333)) - Notifications keep you off phone (3 comments): "It works for me. I know whatever is on my phone will be there when I get back to it and in the meantime I know if I'm getting an urgent message or not." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46740100)) "I love my Apple Watch. Alerts mean I don't look at my phone which means I don't unlock it and get sidetracked." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49279052)) "I’ve disabled all activity notifications. It actually helps me avoid the phone on other type of notifications." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47669001)) - Silent alarm and phone finder (3 comments): "Apple Watch's killer feature is the alarm. It is so much more pleasant to be woken up silently by your watch vibrating than your phone beeping." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45902642)) "It helpfully points the direction and distance, so even if I cannot hear the phone ding I know how to get close enough." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49280151)) "the Apple Watch killer feature is a bit embarrassing... it's the button that makes your phone ring so you can find it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45903023)) - Pay without your phone (2 comments): "Of all the Apple Watch's many failings (such as its hilariously bad transcription) I've never had Apple Pay not work flawlessly on it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49087179)) "I do kind of envy my apple watch friends who can track our rowing pace and pay for coffee without a phone" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48605994)) ## What people warn about - Inaccurate VO2 max estimates (3 comments): "The trick with the vo2 max measurement on the apple watch though is that the person can not waste any time during their outdoor walk" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46774426)) "These findings indicate that Apple Watch VO2 max estimates require further refinement prior to clinical implementation." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46774268)) "Apple Watch is pretty poor at estimating VO2 max and it seems to be more correlated with how often you record exercises with said watch" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46777232)) - Always-listening transcription privacy concerns (4 comments): "As a non-user who will talk with people wearing Apple Watches, I disagree being recorded and my conversations with the watch owner summarized." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49797198)) "Having a device listen to your conversations for you, so that you can avoid the hassle of having to ask someone to repeat themselves" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49706757)) "The video demo is so strange. A waitress spoke too fast - just act like a normal person and politely ask them to repeat themselves" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49632809)) - Distracting notifications and workout prompts (3 comments): "they've managed to make WatchOS some weird nightmare of distractions and things I need to actively shut off on my phone, and I've grown very tired of it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49035889)) "My Apple Watch is set up by default to assume any 15-minute walk is a "workout" and interrupt me to ask if I wanted to record it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49201345)) "The notifications caused me to be way too connected to my phone, and the "tracking" aspects of it were kind of useless to me." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48947719)) - Tied to iPhone, locks out rivals (2 comments): "The problem is no other third party is able to make a smartwatch that competes on an level playing field with the Apple Watch on Apple Devices, because Apple locks them out." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45946843)) "it’s hamstrung by its software and being forced to be anchored to an iPhone to be activated just makes it unsuitable as a primary device" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49633056)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Pebble smartwatch](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pebble-smartwatch.md): 117 recommend - [Apple Watch Ultra](https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-watch-ultra.md): 33 recommend - [Bangle.js 2 smartwatch](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bangle-js-smartwatch.md): 13 recommend - [Garmin Vivoactive](https://hackerapproved.com/p/garmin-vivoactive.md): 9 recommend - [Amazfit smartwatch](https://hackerapproved.com/p/amazfit-smartwatch.md): 9 recommend ## Where to get it - [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Apple+Watch&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link) - [Official site](https://www.apple.com/watch/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Apple Watch", https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-watch/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).