I removed all my Apple Watch friends

I recall, when Apple pivoted towards health, the Apple Watch was the product that was targeted towards people who cared about being healthy and fit.

Apple Watch users can add other Apple Watch users and share metrics and encourage/motivate each other. Apple also gamified fitness by allowing competitions among Apple Watch friends. For the first 12 to 18 months, it worked well. I competed with various friends and even won a few, the prize being bragging rights. However, as the years went by, the Apple Watch, at least for me, was becoming a device that always nudged me and just required a lot of attention. Every time, a friend completed a workout or finished their activity rings, I was notified. With almost 10 friends, this was annoying. So about 2 years ago, I turned off Apple Fitness notifications. Problem solved.

About eight months ago, I was once again getting frustrated by the Apple Watch. This time it was the notification that alerted that me I had started a workout. I enjoy going for a walk. In about 10 minutes of the walk, the Apple Watch would detect that I am doing a workout. This is a great feature, but for me, who takes the same walk every day, I didn’t need it to be tracked. So I turned off automatic workout detection. Here in lies the issue: if you are constantly doing the same workout, is it worth tracking it? It is not for me. Basically, I was rethinking how to use the Apple Watch that suited my current lifestyle. Why shouldn't I do that? My needs change. That's life. Examining your ends sporadically, it's worthy exercise for things that are large or small.

This morning, I went for a run and I don’t know why, without even thinking it through, I started an outdoor run workout. I haven’t done this for months. A few minutes later, I realized that once I finish this run, all my Apple Watch friends will receive a notification about my completed run. I asked myself, do I want my friends to be notified?

The answer is NO.

If I don’t enjoy getting notified, I also don’t like others getting notified of my workout either. As Apple Watch friends, all I want is my friends to see each other's metrics but not get any notifications relating to what I do. After all, it’s my workout. If I don’t want others to be notified of it, I should be able to do that.

But there is no way to do that currently. So, the only option where my friends are not alerted of my workout is to remove my friends from the Apple Watch. This is precisely what I did.

Note, my Apple Watch friends list includes my wife, my mom, my sister and also friends.

I did not consult or inform my friends. Honestly, some of them wouldn’t care, as they get countless notifications anyway. Curious, how many even bother to look at what their friends are doing fitness wise? But it’s not about them. It’s about what I want. Yes, perhaps I am overthinking it. However, if it puts my mind at ease, it’s worth it.

I was a little selfish today, a little mindful and a little overly dramatic. However, I am glad that I am.

Until next time, be kind to others and also to yourself.

I am writing this blog post on Ulysses on my iPhone 15 Pro Max.