I have been a fan of the Apple Watch since the first one came out. I hadn’t worn a watch since I was 12 but I have had one on my wrist since the Apple Watch was introduced. The Series 3 Apple Watch with cellular has become an essential tool for me.

What do I use it for? Well, here’s a short list:

• Control my HomeKit gear – open and lock the door, adjust the thermostat, turn on the lights
• Keep track of my sports scores – “Hey Siri, What’s the Cubs score?”
• Get text messages and respond
• Answer and make phone calls without my iPhone
• Embarrass me by only occasionally meeting my move, stand and exercise goals
• Check my heart rate
• Open my hotel room door at Hiltons or Starwood
• Go swimming
• Wake me up with alarms while traveling
• Carry my boarding passes when traveling
• Pay for stuff with Apple Pay
• Siri settles trivia disputes
• Reminds me of meetings and calls
• Send Apple Pay cash to my granddaughter
• Get the news
• Know the weather
• Summon a Lyft or Uber
• Give me directions – great for the directionally challenged, like me
• Scan my email
• Lock and unlock my car
• Play music to my Beats X while I am chilling in the hammock
• Control my Apple TV
• Track my sleep
• Keep track of my to-do list

Of course it can do a lot more but these are the kind of things that I use my Apple Watch for each day. It has become an essential part of my digital life.

Apple Watch Series 3 with cellular is packed with features to help you stay connected, be more active, and listen to your favorite music. Cellular is the ultimate expression of Apple Watch, giving you the freedom to go with just your watch. Track your run with built-in GPS and never miss an important call. Hang out at the beach and reply to a message. Or book a ride home. All without needing your phone. With faster performance, a barometric altimeter, and watchOS 4, Apple Watch Series 3 offers you the flexibility to go anywhere.

Cellular really makes the difference. Now, I am free to roam without my iPhone in my pocket. It uses the same cell phone number as my iPhone so the connection is seamless. It uses the built-in cellular capability whenever it is not connected to your iPhone or Wi-Fi. Setting it up is easy and most carriers only add a small monthly fee.

Apple Music customers can stream 40 million songs right to their wrist. You can listen to Beats 1 or any other Apple Music Radio channel with the new Radio app and the Music app has a new UI and automatically syncs curated playlists to Apple Watch. The watch can’t hold too many songs but as long as you are on cellular or Wi-Fi you have access to Apple’s enormous music library

Apple Watch Series 3 is the fastest Apple Watch ever with a dual-core processor delivers up to 70% faster performance, faster app launch times, and an overall smoother user interface. The Apple W2 wireless chip delivers up to 85% faster Wi-Fi and is up to 50% more power efficient

Apple added a barometric altimeter which measures elevation gain for outdoor workouts, such as running, hiking, skiing, and snowboarding. You get more Move and Exercise credit for moving uphill – which might be handy in Vermont. It also tracks how many flights of stairs you climb during the day.

The Apple Watch Series 3 is swim proof (water resistant to 50M), so you can leave it on when you’re in the pool or the ocean and it has this cool little water expulsion system using the speaker to push out any water from the speaker.

watchOS 4 makes the Apple Watch tick. The Siri watch face intelligently updates throughout the day, showing what you need when you need it. Smart activity coaching can help you close your rings every day (if only). The Workout app makes it easier to do multiple workouts in one session, and there’s also a new workout type—High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). The updated Heart Rate app shows additional insights—while you’re resting, walking, or in the recovery phase after a workout. It also serves sleep monitoring apps that can give you some insight into your sleep patterns.

I highly recommend the Apple Series 3 watch with cellular. We have them in stock at all locations!

At the end of March Apple released updates to all four of its operating systems, but iOS 11.3 was the most notable. It boasts a variety of new features and other changes—you can think of it as the midpoint update between iOS 11’s first release and iOS 12, probably coming next September. All remaining updates to iOS 11 are likely to be minor maintenance updates.

iPhone Battery Health

The most anticipated change is the Battery Health feature that Apple promised to add in the wake of revelations that the company was quietly reducing the performance of older iPhone models (starting with the iPhone 6) to lessen the chance of unexpected shutdowns with weak batteries. You find the new Battery Health screen in Settings > Battery > Battery Health, and Apple explains it in detail here.

If your iPhone battery is ageing, you may see a lower maximum capacity, and if your iPhone has shut down because of a weak battery, the screen will tell you that performance management has been applied. You can disable performance management if you prefer the iPhone shutting down to degraded performance, but it will turn on again the next time your iPhone shuts down. Finally, if your battery is bad enough, the screen will recommend replacement. Also, note that iPads running iOS 11.3 can better maintain battery health when they’re plugged into power for long periods of time. Be sure to upgrade if you have an iPad that stays plugged in all the time.

Data & Privacy

We haven’t yet seen this, but Apple says that iOS 11.3 (and macOS 10.13.4) will display a new privacy icon whenever Apple asks for access to personal information, as it might do to “enable features, secure Apple services or personalize an iOS experience.” The icon should be accompanied by detailed privacy information explaining the situation. In an era when every company seems hell-bent on collecting and exploiting our personal data, it’s nice to see Apple increasing the transparency of its data collection practices.

Safari

iOS 11.3 tweaks Safari in several small ways that make it easier to use and more secure:

• Autofill now inserts usernames and passwords only after you select them on Web pages.
• Autofill now works in Web views within other iOS apps.
• Safari warns you when you interact with password or credit card forms on non-encrypted pages.
• Safari now formats shared articles sent via Mail as though they were in Reader mode.
• Favorites folders now show icons for the contained bookmarks.

Other Improvements

Apple made lots of other minor improvements in iOS 11.3. You can see a full list in the release notes, but those that we find most noteworthy include:

• iPhone X users get access to four new animoji: a lion, dragon, skull, and bear.
• iOS 11.3 adds support for the Advanced Mobile Location (AML) standard, which provides more accurate location data to emergency responders when Emergency SOS is triggered.
• Podcasts now plays episodes with a single tap, and you can tap Details to learn more about episodes.
• Apple Music now streams music videos uninterrupted by ads.
• Apple News has improved its Top Stories feature and includes a new Video group in the For You collection.

iOS 11.3’s improvements may not change the way you use your iPhone or iPad, but they’re welcome nonetheless, and Business Chat and Health Records should become more interesting as additional institutions sign on. And, of course, anyone with an older iPhone should check the Battery Health screen right away.