Over the last couple years, I’ve grown to enjoy using AnyList and my Apple Watch for grocery shopping and other errands. This setup offers a few nice conveniences like sharing lists with Jessi, a directory of things we regularly buy, and easy glance-ability when I’m actually doing the thing.

AnyList offers a bunch of perks when it comes to organizing lists. You can share one or multiple lists with other people, and they have a super affordable family plan that covers multiple users.

As you add items, AnyList creates a directory to save you typing the next time you need to shop. Instead of typing “Triscuits Family Size Less-Fat” every time I need some, I usually can just type “tri” and tap once to re-add it to our grocery list. It also automatically categorizes items by typical store departments, making it easy to grab related stuff together.

The Watch app is pretty darn good. The app is overall fast and responsive, and sync and navigation are snappy. You also can use Siri to add items to lists, although in my experience this seems to create a new item in the directory each time, even if you repeat an existing item’s name verbatim.

My habit now is to add things to our shopping list over time, and/or have Jessi add a few things while I’m on my way for an impromptu run. But when I get to the store, I like being able to put my phone away and quickly glance at my wrist for my next scavenging targets. For me, it reduces a lot of friction from carrying a printed list or keeping my (droppable) phone at the ready and constantly unlocking it.

I use the Watch option that, upon every wrist raise, displays the current app on screen for an hour from last use (Watch app on iPhone > General > On Screen Wake Show Last App). I can quickly flip my wrist for the agenda, tap items as I pick them up, and scroll to the next section.

This works really well for me. If you’re interested in a way to use your Watch in more aspects of your life, I definitely recommend giving it a shot for cases like this. AnyList is a great app and Watch companion.

I’ve owned a Series 0, 2, and now this 4 (space gray aluminum, 44mm, cellular but it isn’t hooked up for now). If it matters, I also upgraded this year from an iPhone X to a XS Max. Since the original Watch, the sentiment about Watch apps has generally been “if it takes longer than a second or two to launch and let me do the thing, I’ll just reach for my phone.” Third-party apps have generally performed poorly on the Watch, causing many people to give up trying and even some companies to scrap their apps entirely.

This Series 4 feels like a breath of fresh air. Third-party apps like Streaks, Carrot Weather, Bear, Things, Drafts, Day One, and Fantastical both launch and are immediately useful for me. I often use Siri on my Watch for a handful of tasks, but it too has always felt sluggish. Now, Siri is instantaneous.

A lot of friction has been removed from the Watch apps experience. Over the weekend, I’ve really liked using my Watch to create and complete tasks, check the Carrot Weather app, save thoughts and article ideas for later, and send messages, all with pleasantly fast feedback and performance.

To be clear, not all apps perform well. But I suspect that is a function of their need of an update or simple poor design, rather than a problem with the Series 4 or watchOS 5.

Developers: if the Watch hasn’t had the performance you want in the past, you might want to check out Series 4. For everyone else: if you gave up or just never tried Watch apps, I definitely recommend giving them a look on a Series 4.

I’m not sure where I got this idea, but I thought the fire and water faces Apple uses to promote the latest Watch Series 4 upgrade were exclusive to that series. But I have a Series 2 and they’re available.

I found a few neat extras about them too:

• Fire and water are combined into a single face aptly named “Fire & Water.” This makes it easy to force press the face, then scroll the Digital Crown to switch between elements on the fly
• You can tap each element to rotate between a couple different versions of that effect
• This face has a third option that combines the two. Tap the face to randomly rotate all versions of fire and water effects
• By default this face doesn’t display complications, but you can add three: top left, top right, and across the bottom

Here is a roundup of the anecdotes they shared:

• They both really like their Apple Watches
• Both stated early on, almost apologetically, that they were “not very technical,” and “I don’t know everything this does. I just know what I like.” Somehow we’ve made too many non-tech folks feel bad for not having PhDs in their gadgets
• They both text fairly often
• They make more phone calls than they expected to
• They like the nudges to get more active
• One had RunKeeper installed but she didn’t mention it
• One said she likes to look at her pictures, and made a point to add an album of just the ones she wants
• They both use some notifications to stay in touch with things but “definitely turned off a lot of them”
• Both hope to get 4G model so they can leave their phones home sometimes. “I can do everything I want most days without it, so that would be nice”
• On that point, one said “my girlfriend’s Watch has the red dot so you know it’s the nicer one”
• Neither of them seemed worried about the extra fee required to use 4G on their watch. One said “oh it will be totally worth it”

I don’t have a grand thesis. But maybe this can help inform some of our thinking around the Watch’s surprising popularity and the appeal of the 4G version, especially when it comes to semi-untethering the Watch from the iPhone.