Smartwatches and fitness bands aren’t just about tracking your steps or your running times. Here are some that come with some really clever features that you might not even know existed.
Samsung Gear S3
The Gear S3 is one of the best smartwatches out there and it has a ton of clever features that make it a joy to use. From the rotating bezel for scrolling through menus to the customisable face, it just oozes class. It’s got some clever hidden features too…
Use the touchscreen while wearing gloves
The standard settings won’t let you do this but, it’s an easy fix. Just go to Settings > Device > TouchSensitivity and tap the tick to turn it on. Feeling the chill? Not any more.
Send an emergency SOS message
This is a very handy feature for the security and safety conscious - just tap the home button three times and it’ll send a message to up to four contacts.
To set up SOS requests, you’ll need the Samsung Gear app on your phone. When you’ve installed the app, open it and go to Settings > Send SOS requests. From here, you can choose who to send the message to, what the message should say and tweak some other settings.
Check out the Samsung Gear S3
Fitbit Charge HR
Change the dominant hand settings
Most people tend to wear their watch or fitness band on their non-dominant hand, but if you prefer to use your dominant hand, make sure you change the settings. You’ll get more accurate tracking if the settings match how you wear it.
To change the dominant hand, open the Fitbit app and go to Settings > Devices > Dominant Hand, then just pick the hand you want to use.
Take a look at the Fitbit Charge HR
Apple Watch S4
The latest watch in the Apple range is one of the most powerful and intuitive watches on the market, it has heaps of useful features and plenty of apps to help you get the most out of it.
But what about some of the less obvious features?
Take a screenshot
This is a great feature for sharing your fitness achievements with friends. Or, as we prefer to call it, showing off (nothing wrong with that).
First, you’ll need to open the Watch Settings app on your iPhone, tap General, then tap Enable Screenshots.
To take a screenshot on your watch, just press the dial button and side button at the same time and the screenshot will automatically save to your iPhone Photos app
See your apps in list view
The standard display for your apps looks great on the Apple Watch S4, but if you’ve got a lot of apps, it can be difficult to find the one you want while scrolling around the screen. Don’t worry though, Apple has thought about this…
When you’re on your Apps screen, just ‘ForceTouch’ the middle of the screen (press with a little more pressure than a normal tap) and tap List View to see all of your apps in alphabetical order.
If you want to switch back to Grid View, just Force Touch the list and tap Grid View.
Set a custom watch face straight from your photos
Customising the watch face isn’t exactly a hidden feature, but you might not know it can be done straight from your photos…
Just go to the Photos app on your watch, find a picture you’d like to use and Force Touch it, then choose Create Watch Face.
From here, you can choose Photos Face which simply sets your photo as the face image. Or select Kaleidoscope Face which creates a kaleidoscopic design using your image.
Take a look at what else the Apple Watch S4 can do
Have you found any handy hidden features on your smartwatch or fitness band? Let us know in the comments below.