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Apple Watch and ADHD

A few tips and apps an Apple Watch if you have ADHD or are Autistic

Apple Watch and ADHD

Apple Watch and ADHD

I’m currently recovering from a migraine so this weeks newsletter is a collection of tips for using the Apple Watch if you’re Autistic or have ADHD. As I’ve been wearing an Apple Watch for 10 years, I feel like I need to reset it and start fresh. Could it be setup in a new way to help me be productive? I’ll share my findings next time, but for now here’s my research.

Complications and apps suggestions via Reddit

  • Calendar - I can click it to open the app and see/edit my whole calendar
  • Reminders or another to-do list app. Being able to say "Siri, remind me..." helps with the total lack of working memory. Can be setup to do shopping lists.
  • TimeGlance - HIGHLY recommend this app - it adds a complication that is just the current digital time; you can do 24H, add AM/PM, etc. & you can customize the color of the time itself & the optional progress bar underneath
  • Weather / Temperature - daily low/high + current temp, plus I can click
  • Next Alarm - I can click it to open the app and adjust my morning alarm
  • Timer - when I set a timer, or multiple timers, it shows the minutes+seconds countdown to the most-nearly-done timer. Plus, if you set it using siri and tell it what to call the timer, the timer app will show you what each timer's for.
  • WaterLlama - to stay hydrated
  • AnyList -- amazing all-around app for lists, especially for totally integrated grocery list and meal planning and recipes, I use it every single day; it also works very well with Alexa, just say "Alexa, ask Anylist to add _____ to [name of list]" - siri will also cooperate but I think you have to say "Siri, in the AnyList app, add ____ to [name of list]"
  • Countdown - lets you set lots of countdowns with correlating emojis & set complications on the watch face AND on the stack for whichever events you want. well-designed and cute. also has cute widgets on the iPhone
  • Tiimo
  • Structured
  • AutoSleep (for the gamification and includes the Smart Alarm option).

Watch Faces

  • One face with a bunch of complications -- the date, time, weather, my next calendar event, a timer shortcut, my rings, the workout shortcut, and the sunset time.
  • A plain face with no complications that I swipe over to when I feel like the watch itself is distracting me.
  • You can use different watch faces depending on what you're doing and have different setups. You can set these up to do automatically. For example, you can make certain focus modes or Apple shortcuts. When I arrive at my grocery store, my watch automatically changes to the face that has my grocery shopping app, so I can easily mark items off. I also use this for working out in the mornings. I have my exercise ones to track it and to help me do the sets or routine etc.

User tips

  • Hourly Chimes: Activate the subtle haptic buzz every hour or on a custom interval to increase awareness of time passing.
  • I want the watch to be a seamless tool, not another distraction.
  • The "swipe up to make your phone make a noise" feature. I use this, no exaggeration, at least 5 times a day.
  • The gamification of the Activity rings -- it really does help when I'm hyperfocusing to make me take a walk and shows visually that a little bit adds up. Movement is really crucial to improving my ADHD symptoms and my watch absolutely has made me make long-term changes around daily activity. (I wish Apple weren't so week-dependent in its streaks; it's easy to say, well, not going to have a perfect week this week since I missed my goal Monday, and just let it slide.)

Notifications

  • Be selective about your notifications. Ask yourself if you really need the digital equivalent of someone tapping you on the shoulder to tell you something RIGHT THEN. I do messages (no group texts), breaking news alerts from one news organization (need them for work), Slack (ditto), phone calls, and calendar events.

Productivity

  • I time block my day, so I'll often have my BusyCal app show the upcoming event. I put a lot of different types of events on my calendar. I have to with ADHD. For example, my husband wanting to review the taxes with me? We put that on the calendar. I can't do that spontaneously. Or maybe when you want to tackle a deep clean. I put that time block on my calendar and see when it's coming up that day.
  • You can have your checklist or task manager. I can just check off that it's completed. I have some habit trackers or goal trackers that have literal timers for different misc tasks and mini goals. I'd say this is one of my favs. Like I just finished a goal where for 10 min a day I'd flip through ALL of my paperback cookbooks (that I hardly used lol) and would put a tab on the maybe ones and then I'd pass the book to my husband and he'd review the tabs and lemme know which sounded good and (most importantly!) which he'd be willing to cook. Another mini goal was digitizing my physical photos.
  • Being able to put my phone away. This has faded as I've worn it longer, but for awhile, the peace of mind that I would not miss something important made it much easier for me to spend less time on my phone and be more present in the moment. Not sure if this is an ADHD thing or just a human thing.
  • Using an analog face instead of digital. I read somewhere that for people w/ time blindness it's helpful to be able to "see" how long you have before, say, 1 pm, and I've found that to be the case.
  • It's so tempting to set everything up just so, but cosplaying at being organized -- installing apps, fiddling with your watch faces, making to-do lists -- is not the same as actually getting things done.

Sources

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