How I Actually Use My Apple Watch Ultra 2 Every Day (Real Life, Not a Spec Sheet)

Most bloggers and creators focus on going through every feature you get when you buy the Apple Watch Ultra 2— but this post is not going to be that.

What I want to share is how my Apple Watch Ultra 2 actually fits into my everyday life. And honestly? It’s nothing complicated. It’s the simple things — filtering out the noise, keeping my fitness on track, and removing little bits of friction from my day. From tracking my steps to controlling my iPhone camera from my wrist, it’s become something I genuinely miss when it’s not on.

So let’s dive into how I actually use my Apple Watch Ultra 2!

In This Post

1. A Watch First

Strangely enough, I actually use it first and foremost as a watch — yes, to tell the time! 😊

I say, strangely enough, because it feels like this gets completely forgotten about when we buy these smartwatches. But the watch face is actually one of the most important parts of the experience for me, because it’s the thing I look at dozens of times a day.

I have mine set up in a way that puts what matters most front and centre. Here are the complications I have set up for quick access:

Activity Rings
Exercise
Battery
Weather

I actually have two weather widgets. The large middle widget shows the hourly forecast, and in the bottom right, I have the temperature widget. It might feel like overkill, but it means I never have to open my phone just to check if I need a jacket. Everything I need is right there on my wrist.

2. Fitness Tracking

This is where the Apple Watch Ultra 2 really comes into its own for me. It goes beyond being a watch and actively supports me in achieving my health and fitness goals — and more importantly, it keeps me accountable.

Step Count and Vitality

The main metric I track is my step count, and there’s a very practical reason for that. I have my health insurance through Vitality here in the UK, and they reward you for being active — and the Apple Watch is the perfect tool for making the most of it.

Here’s how it works. Each day, you earn points based on how active you are:

7,000 steps = 3 points
10,000 steps = 5 points
12,500 steps = 8 points

You can also earn points through exercise — hit 30 minutes of activity at or above a certain average heart rate, and you can earn up to 8 points that way, too. However, the total is capped at 8 points per day and 40 points per week, so the step points and exercise points work together toward that daily maximum rather than stacking on top of each other. To hit the full 8 points in a day, you need both — 12,500 steps and a 30-minute workout — which encourages you to spread your activity consistently across the week rather than cramming it all in.

Those weekly points then unlock real rewards — things like free coffee or cinema tickets. But it goes beyond the weekly perks. Your points accumulate over the year and determine your status level: Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Platinum. The higher your status, the better the perks and — crucially — the better your insurance premium. So staying active doesn’t just make you healthier, it literally saves you money.

Having my activity rings on my watch face means I’m always aware of where I am against my daily target. Glancing at your wrist and seeing you’re 3,000 steps short at 4 pm is often all the nudge you need to go for an evening walk. The watch makes it effortless to stay on top of, and the Vitality rewards give you a genuine reason to care about the numbers beyond just fitness.

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Exercise Sessions and Race Training

I also log all of my exercise sessions through the Apple Watch Ultra 2, whether that’s a walk, a run, or a strength training session.

Right now I’m in the middle of training for a 10K in June, with a half marathon in October already in the diary — so running is a big part of my routine at the moment. This is where the heart rate tracking on the watch has become really valuable for me. Depending on the type of run I’m doing, the target heart rate zone changes. An easy base-building run calls for Zone 2 — that lower intensity, conversational pace that builds your aerobic engine over time — whereas a harder tempo run or interval session will push you into higher zones. Being able to glance at my wrist mid-run and see exactly which zone I’m in means I’m not guessing, I’m training with purpose.

It also means I can look back on previous runs and track how things are progressing — whether my pace at a given heart rate is improving, or whether I need to dial things back and recover. That kind of data has made a genuine difference to how I approach my training.

I also keep an eye on how many exercise sessions I’ve hit each week. It sounds simple, but having that visible record makes it harder to let a week slip by without moving.

VO2 Max

The other metric I check regularly is my VO2 Max. This is a measure of your aerobic fitness — essentially how efficiently your body uses oxygen during exercise. A higher score means better cardiovascular fitness. I check mine every week or so to see whether it’s trending up or down. It’s a slow-moving number, but over months it tells you a lot about whether your training is actually working.

3. Notifications

I try to keep notifications on my watch to a minimum — just the ones I genuinely need to see. For me, that’s:

Messages (WhatsApp mainly)
Phone Calls
Health & Fitness notifications (activity ring updates 😊)
A handful of social media apps (Instagram, Threads, and YouTube)

But here’s the thing I don’t see talked about enough — I don’t really use my watch to respond to notifications. I use it to filter them.

When a message comes in, I glance at my watch, decide whether it needs an immediate response, and if it does, I get my phone out. If it doesn’t, I leave it. It sounds simple, but it means my phone stays in my pocket far more than it used to. The watch acts as a gatekeeper, and that’s been genuinely good for my focus.

The same goes for phone calls. I can see who’s calling and decide in two seconds whether to answer or let it ring — without having to find my phone.

I’ve turned off email notifications entirely. I was getting work and personal emails pinging constantly, and it just wasn’t helpful. I’ve also switched off all news notifications — it’s rarely good news, and it was stressing me out more than I realised.

If you’re setting up your watch for the first time, my advice is to be ruthless from the start. Turn off everything and only add back what you actually miss. It takes a week to dial in, but it’s worth it.

4. Other Helpful Features

There aren’t loads of other features I use regularly, but the ones I do use I’d genuinely miss.

Timers and Reminders via Siri

I use Siri on the watch constantly for two things — timers and reminders. Mainly, timers when I’m cooking. Being able to raise my wrist and say “Hey Siri, set a timer for 20 minutes” without putting down what I’m doing or unlocking my phone is one of those small quality of life things that adds up. The same goes for reminders — quick, frictionless, and it means I don’t forget the little things.

Camera Control

This one is a bit more niche, but as someone who creates content — tech reviews and lifestyle videos — it’s genuinely one of my favourite features on the watch.

My typical setup is my iPhone on a tripod, and before I had the Apple Watch, I was constantly walking back and forth to the phone to check my framing, hit record, and stop recording. It’s one of those things you don’t realise how annoying it is until you don’t have to do it anymore.

Now I just set the phone up on the tripod, step back to where I need to be, check the framing right on my wrist, and start recording — all without touching the phone. For talking head pieces, it means I can get into position and be ready before the camera starts rolling. For b-roll and tech shots, it means I can frame up exactly what I want and trigger the shot from wherever I’m standing.

It’s also brilliant for photos when you want to be in the shot — set the phone up, get into position, and shoot from your wrist when you’re ready.

The only minor thing is that it can occasionally lag a little, so there’s sometimes a very slight delay between tapping your wrist and the camera responding. It’s a small thing, and it’s never been a dealbreaker, but worth knowing if you’re thinking about relying on it for time-sensitive shots.

For solo creators filming on iPhone, this is one of the most underrated things the Apple Watch does.

5. Things I Don’t Use

Sleep Tracking

I don’t use the Apple Watch for sleep tracking. I’m not keen on wearing a bulky watch to bed, and if sleep is something you want to track seriously, there are better tools for it — the Oura Ring and Whoop are both designed specifically for that and are far more comfortable to wear overnight.

Part of the reason for that is practical, too — I charge my watch overnight. Let’s be honest, the battery life on the Apple Watch Ultra, while better than the standard Apple Watch, still isn’t class-leading. Overnight charging just makes sense for how I use it.

Apple Pay

I’ve never really got into the habit of paying with my watch. I just use my phone. No strong reason — it’s just never stuck.

The Action Button

I’ll be completely honest — I forget it’s there. I have it set to open the exercise app, but I already have that as a complication on my watch face, so it’s redundant for me. I’m sure there are people who use it brilliantly, but I’m not one of them.

6. Final Thoughts

Here’s something I want to be upfront about — you almost certainly don’t need the Apple Watch Ultra 2 if you’re planning to use it the way I do. The standard Apple Watch Series 10 or 11 will do everything I’ve described just as well, at a significantly lower price.

The reason I went for the Ultra is straightforward: I like big watches, and I prefer the way it looks on my wrist. That’s genuinely it. Not the titanium case, not the extra battery, not the dive computer. The size and the look. So if you’re expecting me to tell you the Ultra is worth the premium for everyday use, I can’t, because for my use case, it probably isn’t.

What I can tell you is that the Apple Watch, whichever version you go for, is a brilliant smartwatch if you’re in the Apple ecosystem. The integration with iPhone, iPad, and Mac is seamless in a way that’s hard to appreciate until you’ve used it for a while.

One honest caveat — if fitness and health tracking is your primary reason for buying a smartwatch, and battery life matters to you, it’s worth looking at Garmin. Their fitness tracking is deeper, their battery life is in a different league, and if you’re a serious runner or cyclist, they may serve you better.

But for me? If I stopped wearing the Apple Watch Ultra tomorrow, the thing I’d miss most is the fitness tracking. The activity rings, the step count, the Vitality rewards — it all just keeps me moving and keeps me accountable. And sometimes that’s exactly what you need. 😊