My smartwatch pushes notifications all day, but I wish it reminded me to put it back on

As much as I lean on my smartwatch to track my general fitness, I rely heavily on its notification features to keep me abreast of pertinent info. It’s an essential extension of my smartphone, especially when the latter is stowed away in my pocket. It’s not permanently glued to my person, though. I occasionally remove my watch to allow my skin to breathe, as I’m sure most of our readers do. Problematically, I often forget to put it back on.

Considering the flood of notifications my smartwatch sends me daily, it’s ironic that it cannot notify me to refit it. I’ve bounced between Garmin, Fitbit, and Samsung wearables in recent years, but none offers this particular feature. The Apple Watch doesn’t either, and Wear OS doesn’t have this as a default option. It’s an industry problem that needs solving.

I’m pretty neglectful with my tech. I’ll often forget to charge my smartphone until it’s pleading with me to do so. I’ve been known to remove my smartwatch from my arm only to realize it’s still off the following day. It’s easy to do, and I’m sure many readers struggle with the same issue. Whether it’s removing your device before washing dishes, performing other chores, gardening, or just giving your arm a break, it can be challenging to remember to put it back on before other daily demands get in the way.

Regardless of the reasons, forgetting to replace a smartwatch is a practical problem that makers should assume users could and would experience. Not wearing it breeds other issues, too. When I walk out the door without my wearable, I miss its practical and unique features. I can’t flick my wrist to tell the time. I also miss navigation, message reception, replies, and quick access to my Keep lists. I can’t quickly set an alarm or a reminder, nor can I spy the weather conditions three hours in advance.

More importantly, it also affects the accuracy of my fitness data. There have been nights when I thought my Fitbit was strapped to my arm, only for it to be lying on my bedside table aimlessly flashing away. No sleep data has a knock-on effect on various fitness metrics, and as a result, I have a warped view of my overall health until my watch corrects it days later.

It’s not like leaving a smartwatch behind is a mountain too tall to climb. It has an easy fix. More often than not, my phone is with me when my smartwatch is idly standing by. A simple reminder to “Remember to put your smartwatch back on” would go a long way to solving this problem.

Most smartwatches know when you’re wearing them, whether through pulse monitoring or accelerometer readings. My Galaxy Watch will let me know once my device is fully charged through its Wearable app. It can also alert me when my watch and smartphone have strayed too far apart and disconnected, but this isn’t useful in my tiny apartment. My smartwatch already knows when I’m not wearing it; it should be able to tell me when applicable.

Of course, I’d appreciate some degree of customization for the notification issued, too. I would love it if my watch beeped and vibrated alongside my phone, drawing my attention to its location. I’d also prefer if the watch reminded me after a predetermined time after I removed it. 15 minutes may be too brief, but an hour would be perfect.

Sure, there are workarounds. Setting a reminder on another device like my phone or Google Nest Mini is one option, but I shouldn’t have to resort to this. More importantly, I’d also have to remember to set a reminder in the first place!

Sure, this might come across as a “me” problem. Why can’t I just remember to put my device back on? But I’ve discovered that this issue annoys plenty of other users. My colleagues have echoed my thoughts. Some would even appreciate it if the watch reminded them to use the PIN code to unlock their devices immediately. These are minor UX flaws that could be fixed without reinventing the wheel.

I’m looking forward to a few hardware-related advancements with the new generation of smartwatches. Silicon carbon batteries promise to offer plenty of additional power for little to no size penalties. At the same time, new health tracking sensors will add so much more value to many users. Personally, I’d be more than thrilled if manufacturers finally addressed these minor software problems. After all, smartwatches were made for our wrists, not our bedside tables.