Practical uses for the Apple Watch for People Who are Blind or Visually Impaired

Vision Forward's Tech Connect

On today's Tech Connect, Cory shows off his favorite practical uses for the Apple Watch!  Investing in a smart watch can be a big decision, and while its easy to get excited about all the cutting edge advancements, it is more important to consider how you will actually use such a device in your day to day life. Cory will demonstrate how he uses the apple watch from a blindness perspective.    0:00 Start 01:05 Notifications  4:30 Phone Calls 6:20 Apple Pay  7:45 Health  11:25 Complications: Voice Memos  14:30 Wrap Up Review    Be sure to leave a comment with your favorite Apple Watch feature so that others can enrich their knowledge!  Join us next time on Tech Connect, and be sure to leave your thoughts down in the comments below and ask plenty of questions!  Vision Forward's Tech Connect continues to bring you the information you need to make the most out of your devices. Our experts know there are many factors to consider, so if you have any follow up questions please post them in the comments and we will help you find the assistive tech that's best for you.    Join us, find the schedule by visiting out website: https://vision-forward.org/techconnect   Contact Vision Forward Association:  Call us: (414-615-0103)  Email us: infocus@vision-forward.org  Visit us online: https://www.vision-forward.org   Online Store: https://www.vision-forward.org/store  Want more Tech Connect in your life? Try us Live! Be sure to join us for the upcoming Youtube Live! show on November 9th at 11am CST.   Most Recent: iOS 17: What's New? https://youtube.com/live/w711KMzS0jY Previous: Best Way to Start Your Smart Home https://youtube.com/live/L5sjLY2Hh4Y  Before that: Lazarillo: Accessible GPS https://youtube.com/live/5tTWAYoyBBk  Earlier: More Morphic! https://www.youtube.com/live/t-LqmxbRto8?si=L-iwmVlBzCiORkRv  Previous to that one: Orcam Read 3.0: https://www.youtube.com/live/x8jmbTA9_UU?feature=share  A bit before that one:  LVI Magnilink S: https://youtube.com/live/l6pQvrMs9wA  And Microsoft Teams with a Screen Reader: https://www.youtube.com/live/Z8uVhGXb9oA?feature=share  Way before that: "Apple Vision Pro and the Future of Tech Connect Live" https://www.youtube.com/live/iKAqrGbaNuk?feature=share  Long before that: "Live Grilling for People with Vision Loss!" https://youtube.com/live/FWUCJe0PWA4 Even Older: "How to use our online learning program" https://youtube.com/live/oD1pW98xr9U  Yet Older Still! "Snow 12 vs Compact 10" https://youtube.com/live/_1pG7HEscrE

Transcript

00:00 Hi all welcome back to another tech connect live. I'm Corey Ballard today

00:04 I'm riding solo, but don't worry Luke will be back in our next video today. We are focusing on the Apple watch

00:12 We're not going to be talking about

00:14 Exactly what the Apple watch is and how to use it

00:17 There's plenty of great videos that you can find on YouTube and even on Apple's website

00:22 But today I want to talk about the five ways that I use my Apple watch every day as somebody who is blind

00:30 The Apple watch has a lot of great features that can really benefit individuals, especially from an accessibility

00:36 standpoint from

00:39 Magnification or large font or even the inclusion inclusion of voiceover the screen reader which makes these devices

00:48 Accessible to people with vision loss, but the question is how will you use it? Is it worth the investment?

00:54 Stick around. That's what we're going to look at right now

00:58 The first way I like to use my Apple watch is to look at

01:09 Notifications if you're like me you get a lot of notifications that come in and depending on what you're doing

01:16 It might not be convenient to pull out your iPhone

01:19 Find out what that notification is and most likely ignore that notification

01:24 But being able to get the notifications across on your wrist on the Apple watch can really make things much easier

01:32 So one of the biggest notifications I typically get is text message

01:37 Notifications, so I'm gonna do a couple things here first

01:41 We're gonna show how you can use your Apple watch to send a text message

01:46 and we're primarily gonna use Siri because I find it to really be the easiest way and

01:50 Then hopefully we'll get a response from who we send a text to and we can see how that

01:56 Notification comes across the Apple watch and what it's like then to access it

02:02 So first we're going to go ahead and hold down the crown or the digital crown and that's gonna launch Siri

02:09 And we're gonna text Luke and check on and see what he's up to

02:12 Send a text message to Luke. Hey karma. We're doing a video. Where are you question mark?

02:20 Okay sending to cancel you can also press the digital crown on your watch

02:28 Send

02:33 To Luke's ribbon

02:38 9 18 a.m

02:40 Perfect. We've sent that text message using Siri. Now. We're gonna kick back wait, and hopefully we get a response quickly

02:47 All right, my

02:52 Watch just alerted me with a ding. That means I've got a notification most likely a text. I'm guessing it's from Luke. Let's find out

03:05 Alright so usually it's gonna pop right up on our home screen here for us to look at it

03:12 But for some reason it didn't do it this time, but that's okay from our home screen here

03:17 I can go ahead and swipe down and I'm gonna move to my notification center so I can go back and review any

03:23 existing

03:25 notifications

03:27 9 21 8 control sent notification center

03:31 Messages Luke's ribbon. You just woke me up. I was dreaming of Apple watches

03:35 All right, so I find it interesting that Luke said he couldn't make the video today

03:40 But now he's telling us that he is sleeping and he's dreaming of Apple watches a little odd

03:44 But to each their own as I mentioned

03:47 typically text messages and

03:49 Notification show right up on the home screen when they come in and you can use your swipe gesture

03:54 To go ahead and look at them and then there's typically action buttons depending on what that notification is

04:01 For example, if it's a message there might be a reply and one of the cool things too

04:05 Is there's usually some quick replies that you can just tap on and it'll send a short phrase that you might choose

04:13 And this instance it didn't do exactly what it was supposed to but not a big deal

04:17 We showed how you can go to the notification center from your home screen

04:21 And that's gonna allow you to go back and review any notifications

04:25 Including that message from Luke that came in

04:28 Besides getting notifications. I also like to use my Apple watch for phone calls both

04:36 Receiving calls and also making calls just like notifications

04:41 Sometimes it's inconvenient to pull your phone out of your pocket

04:45 I know it's gonna be such a tough thing to do

04:48 It takes so much energy, but we can just reach to our wrist and have Siri and the Apple watch

04:53 Make those phone calls for us. So Luke said he was sleeping. He was dreaming of Apple watches

04:59 I want to actually give him a call

05:01 Give him a hard time and let's demonstrate how we can use the Apple watch to make phone calls again

05:08 I'm gonna use Siri to do that. I'm gonna hold down the digital crown

05:11 Call Luke's driven mobile

05:16 Yes, how may I help you?

05:18 You don't exactly sound like you're tired like you just woke up

05:22 Oh, uh, no, I have a condition

05:24 You have a condition yes, I understand your condition

05:30 Well, let's you know what the condition is gonna be that we are gonna be in a bad condition

05:36 If we get no views on this YouTube channel because you're not here to be on the video

05:41 I'm very sorry, I think what we need to do Corey

05:43 I believe that the store sells large print alarm clocks with extra large numbers and extra loud as well

05:50 I think that's what I need here

05:52 All right, I will head to the store purchase one for you and this will never happen again

05:56 I promise all right two finger double tap

05:59 We're gonna go ahead and hang up this call that magic tap that we use so often on our iPhone

06:05 We can still use on our Apple watch not only to start and stop music playback or media playback

06:11 But just like on our iPhone we can start answer phone calls and also hang up phone calls

06:17 Third way I love to use my Apple watch is using Apple pay and make purchases

06:23 There's something really convenient about having that ability to use your phone and your watch to quickly make purchases

06:31 At locations that accept digital payments that accept Apple pay a lot of times

06:37 I forget my wallet and so it's nice to know that I still have a way to make purchases

06:43 We have a purchase we need to make Luke. We need to make sure he gets up again

06:48 We really can't have another video that he sleeps through

06:51 So we are at the vision forward store where we do accept Apple pay

06:56 We're gonna buy him a nice large print alarm clock and maybe that will help him out

07:02 So let's make our purchase

07:04 Our purchase is ready to go. We're gonna hit our digital crown two times to activate Apple pay

07:09 950 8 a.m. Duck activity bring it close

07:13 I felt the vibration on my watch letting me know that the payment went through

07:19 And it was that easy to use my watch to make a payment

07:23 I did get you your clock. I do not ever want to hear the excuse that you have overslept again

07:30 I'll think of a different excuse and I will you owe me $37 and 82 cents. I don't think so

07:36 I write the fourth way that I use my Apple watch on a daily basis is for the health benefits now

07:44 Looking at me. I am a specimen of a human being almost godlike

07:50 For those that are blind. I'm completely blind

07:54 I actually need to use the health parts of the Apple watch more often

07:59 But you know what? I at least have the watch here and it's got some really good benefits that can help me

08:05 So there's a number of different ways that I do use the health benefits of the Apple watch

08:11 And to be honest, that's really one of the biggest benefits of the Apple watch is all of the benefits

08:17 You can do from with it including having your heart rate monitored so that you can check your heart rate

08:24 Or get alerts if your heart rate ever is too high or too low

08:29 On certain models of the Apple watch you also have blood oxygen levels

08:34 So you can check and see what your blood oxygen is. I checked it before and it was a little bit low

08:40 But I can see that it's a little bit high and I can see that it's a little bit low

08:45 But I can see that it's a little bit high and I can see that it's a little bit low

08:51 I also use it for workouts too and there's a lot of pre-programmed workouts where it will track your activities

08:57 So let's take a look really quick on how we can quickly start maybe an indoor walk on a treadmill

09:03 I'm going to go ahead and hit the digital crown. I'm going to hit it once and that's going to open up a list of all of my apps

09:09 And I'm going to be taking a look at the workout app. I could also use Siri, but I do want to show swiping through all the different apps quick

09:17 932 am

09:21 Apps one password seven alarms

09:25 Now I have my app list in list view. You can change that. So mine's in list view

09:31 So I have an alphabetical order here. So I'm going to do some quick swiping

09:36 And we're going to get down to the workout. If it's too long of swiping

09:40 I can also do a two-finger swipe up and that will move by page

09:45 All right, we've made it to work out. We'll double tap to open it

09:49 And now we're going to swipe through and choose the workout type that we're doing

09:55 And there we go. We're doing an indoor walk open. So I'll go ahead and double tap to open it

10:01 All right, there's our indoor walk. We'll go ahead and double tap and let's start our indoor walk

10:06 All right, there's our indoor walk. We'll go ahead and double tap and let's start our indoor walk

10:13 All right, our workout is now started. So it will be tracking our heart rate, how long we're walking for distance

10:20 And all of those important things that you want tracked

10:24 During a workout. When you're done, you'll go ahead and tap the end button and that will give you a summary of your workout

10:31 And then automatically save it to the health app on your iPhone

10:35 Besides workout, I also like to check my activity. This is where I can go and look at the steps that I've done for the day

10:43 I'm going to go ahead and tap my digital crown again to bring up my list of apps

10:47 So I'm going to go ahead and tap my digital crown again to bring up my list of apps

10:51 I'm going to swipe to activity

10:55 And I'll swipe through activity

11:00 Now the day has just started. It's still early in the morning. I'm only at 902 steps

11:06 All right

11:10 So I can quickly check what my steps are for the day

11:16 So I can quickly check what my steps are for the day

11:22 So I can continue to make sure I hit my 10,000 steps

11:27 Last thing really quick on the face of our watch, the home screen, we have something called complications

11:35 These are little areas on the screen that you can configure to show any information that you choose

11:42 I have one of my complications to be my health ring

11:47 So on the Apple Watch, health related, they typically give you three rings

11:52 There's your exercise ring, your standing ring, and then your workout ring

11:59 I believe those are the three

12:01 So I've got that as a complication

12:04 So let's go ahead and just swipe through my home screen here

12:08 And we'll see how our progress is early in the morning

12:12 Battery 52%, 1130 AM, 12 feet, moving 15%, exercising 10%, standing 25%

12:20 All right, so we did see our moving goal

12:23 We saw our exercise goal and we saw our standing goal

12:27 And they're represented as percentages

12:30 So during the day, I can just check those and make sure that I'm hitting 100% by the end of the day

12:36 And the fifth and final way that I like to use my Apple Watch is voice memos

12:43 As somebody who is blind, I find making quick voice memos, voice recordings

12:48 The best way for me to jot down quick notes so that I can come back to them in the future

12:55 Especially if it's a to-do list or some kind of task I need to remember to do at work

13:01 So there is a voice memos app on the Apple Watch

13:05 We can go through that app list as we saw before and swipe all the way down to voice memos

13:11 But I like to use complications

13:13 As you saw in the health section, we had a complication designated specifically for health

13:20 I also have a complication set specifically for voice memos

13:25 Because those voice memos, the point of it is so that you can quickly create that voice memo

13:32 Alright, we're going to wake the watch up, go ahead and swipe through and find that voice memos complication

13:38 [Voice memo] 1130 AM, moving, 50 voice memos

13:41 There it is, double tap

13:43 [Voice memo] Voice memos, heading

13:46 And one swipe

13:48 [Voice memo] Record, button, record, stop, button

13:52 We are currently recording a voice memo

13:55 I will single finger double tap to stop

13:57 [Voice memo] Record

13:59 It's that easy and fast to quickly get a voice memo down

14:04 From this page I can continue to swipe and see the voice memo I just created

14:10 Or go back and listen to other voice memos

14:13 Or it's also automatically being updated and sent over to my iPhone

14:20 And I can bring up the voice memos app there in the future

14:23 And go ahead and access any of those voice memos

14:28 [Music]

14:30 The Apple Watch does a lot and sometimes it can be a bit of a decision

14:35 Do I want to make that investment to purchase this watch when a normal talking or braille watch is significantly less expensive

14:45 Again, today's goal isn't to go through what the Apple Watch is and exactly how to use it

14:50 You can find a lot of great videos on Apple Watch, how to use voice over and some of the other accessibility features

14:56 But what I really wanted to do today was just show you five ways that I use my Apple Watch

15:03 I love the ability to return quick notifications, especially text messages

15:09 I love the ability to make phone calls

15:12 Paying for things, knowing that I have Apple Pay right here on my wrist is awesome

15:18 And the health benefits, that's really very important

15:22 Especially for individuals who really need to focus on their health like myself

15:27 It's great to be able to have that Apple Watch there helping me track all those important pieces of information

15:35 And last, that voice memos is great being able to quickly get voice recordings down

15:41 Because I just can't remember everything that I used to be able to remember

15:45 But at the end of the day, it's up to you to decide if that Apple Watch is worth the investment

15:51 Hopefully this video helped you today

15:54 You know what, put it down in the comments

15:56 If you have an Apple Watch already, which I bet a lot of you do

16:00 Put in the comments the ways that you use your Apple Watch most frequently

16:05 That'll really help out other viewers get a better idea of how the Apple Watch could be used

16:10 Because there are so many other ways than what I talked about just today

16:15 So go ahead, like this video, please go ahead and subscribe to the channel

16:19 It really does help the channel out

16:22 Share this video, that also really helps

16:25 If you'd like to contact us with any questions, you can do so

16:29 Shoot us an email at techconnect@vision-forward.org

16:34 You can also check out any of our past videos and webinars on our learning management platform

16:42 At techconnect.vision-forward.org

16:47 Remember, we are live every other Thursday

16:51 Just head over to the YouTube channel you're on right now, 11am Central on Thursday

16:57 You can check out our live show

16:59 Thanks for joining us, and stay tuned

17:02 [music]

17:08 (whooshing)

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