Using Your Apple Watch For Travel Can Save You Time, Energy, and Worry

Keep your wallet and phone secure in your pocket or bag. Double-tap the function button (just beneath the crown), and Apple Wallet opens. Select the credit card you want to use, then put your watch near the reader. Done. You can even select a credit card for Express Mode, and then all you do is put the watch near the reader. No button-pushing required. NOTE: If using the Apple Watch for travel abroad, I recommend setting your default credit card to MasterCard or Visa. AmEx isn’t as widely accepted outside the US. (That’s been my experience!). The image to the left is a screenshot from my watch.

Quickly convert between metric and imperial. Want to buy that 1,650€ cuckoo clock in the Black Forest, but you don’t know how much that is in dollars? Next town is 55 km away? Tomorrow’s temp is supposed to be 17°C, but what does that even mean!? Press the crown of your watch and hold until you see the blue swirl, then ask, “How many miles is 55 km?” Practically before you finish your sentence, the answer will show on your screen and be spoken for you: 34.18 miles. My Siri is set to be a male voice with a British accent. Anybody else customize their Siri voice?

Avoid looking like a tourist who has no idea where they are. You don’t want to walk around crowded downtown areas looking at your iPhone map. When routing from one place to another, hold down the crown of the watch until you see the blue swirl, then say “directions to (wherever you want to go).” Your watch will vibrate whenever you have a turn coming up. In my experience, it’s best to first set your location on the iPhone. Then, you can put the phone away and use your watch. It’s natural for people to look at their watch, so you don’t call attention to yourself, and since it’s strapped to your wrist, the “bump and grab” pickpocket won’t have any luck.

Keep track of your health! You probably already know this, but it’s great to see how many steps you get when traveling. Not only that, but for people with asthma or COPD, using the Apple Watch for travel could save your life! The newer watch models include an oximeter so you can know your blood oxygen content. The watch also tracks your temperature and your heart rate, notifying you if your heart rate is abnormally high (or low), and alerting you to any irregular heart rhythms. It can also do an ECG to check heart rhythm as well. (The base version, the SE, does not track blood oxygen or have an ECG app.)

When we travel, we spend our hard-earned money to get a break from our day-to-day grind. And you know what part of that grind is? Staring at our phone constantly to see who is calling us and what our texts are. We don’t really want to wander the Acropolis while staring into our phone. At the same time, most of us have important things going on in our lives. Maybe there’s a grandbaby due any day, or maybe we have a relative in the hospital. With the watch, you can put the phone away, and with one glance at your wrist, you’ll know if a call or text is something you need to read or answer right away.

Like to go for a walk or run while listening to music with your AirPods or other wireless headphones? You can skip to the next song, restart a song, rewind, control volume, everything, without breaking your stride. Two ways to do it: you can go into the music app you listen to (my screenshot is from Spotify) and everything is self explanatory other than you twist the crown to turn the volume up and down. If you’re not in a music app, just swipe up from the bottom of the watch face, and press the ear icon. You can adjust the volume up and down by sliding the volume bar on the screen, or you can tap on it and then turn the crown of the watch to adjust it.

If I’m in Europe, what time is it in Atlanta? Can I call right now, or is everyone still asleep? No need to do the math. You can choose a watch face that displays more than one time zone, so at a glance, you’ll know what time it is back home. Alas, I’m not in Europe. In the screenshot, you can see that my local time is 8:23, and Paris is living in the future, at 2:23 pm.

At lucky number thirteen, here’s another Apple Watch saving us all from math. When you’re at a restaurant with a group and it’s time to split the bill, open the calculator app on your watch. Enter the amount of the total check, then press the “tip” button. Your watch will prompt you for the percentage you want to tip and how many people are sharing the bill (to modify the number of people splitting the bill, you twist the crown up or down). Instantly, you’ll know how much everyone owes, tip included! NOTE: Countries differ in their tipping guidelines, so check out an article like this one to see what the usual practice is. Americans tend to over-tip, so save your money for Ladurée macarons! Sharing the bill is really easy at European restaurants because the server never takes anyone’s card to the register. You pay at the table, and each person tells the server how much they want on their card.

Sometimes you just need to get a quick message to someone you’re traveling with. Maybe you’re out shopping and went into different stores, or maybe you ran out to the grocery and have a question about something your partner needs. Instead of texting and impatiently waiting for a response, you can press and hold the walkie talkie button on your watch and have instant communication. NOTE: Your iPhone must have either cellular or WiFi for this feature to work.

Hopefully you’ll never need to use this, but if you were to fall or get into a car crash, your watch can call emergency services for you and also send a message to your emergency contacts! If you’re in another country, it will call their local emergency services. Not only that, but you can keep an updated Medical ID linked to your phone! You will be SO GLAD you wore your Apple Watch for travel! NOTE: Your iPhone needs to be nearby unless you have a cellular model of Apple Watch. Learn more about SOS services and how to use them here.

When I was traveling in France last summer, my watch would occasionally pop up a notification saying, “rain is expected in the next hour.” I was surprised at how often I had no idea it was even coming! That’s great info I can use to plan when I’ll stop for lunch… or whether I should do the walking tour or the museum first. You’ll be automatically informed of severe weather as well, of course. Apple’s built in Weather App is good for overview information, but I recommend a more detailed app like Carrot or MyRadar for important, but non-emergency weather updates. Both apps are free with optional in-app purchases. If you’ve never used Carrot, well, let me just say get ready to get a huge dose of personality/attitude along with your forecast.

Charger: You’ll need to charge your watch at some point every 18-36 hours. Many people charge theirs overnight. The charger I’ve linked to can charge your watch, your iPhone, and your AirPods simultaneously. Others like to track their sleep with their watch and need to charge it during the day. They should get a USB travel charger (two options below). This charger works with dual currents, so all you need to use it abroad is a plug adapter.

USB Travel/Car charger: I use my Apple Watch to track my sleep, so I need to find time to charge the watch during the day. I’ll often put mine to charge while I take a shower or, if I’ll be on the road for thirty minutes, I’ll let it charge while I drive.

Portable charger: If you need to charge your phone during the day, this is my favorite super portable charger. It’s inexpensive, and comes in five different colors. (I have the pink one!) It clips to a bag, a purse, a buckle… whatever you need it to.