3 Reasons To Wear The Apple Watch On Your Left Hand
Considering that various researches offer left handers a share between 8 – 20% from the world’s population, we can easily conclude why wearing a watch on the left wrist is the popular choice. What about the Apple Watch though? Can the same explanation be used for a smartwatch? The answer is Yes. On top of that, here are are a couple of extra reasons for why you should wear the Watch OS device on your left wrist, no matter if you’re right, left handed or ambidextrous!
How To Change Apple Watch Orientation
First of all you might wanna ask yourself if the wearable can be configured to be used on both wrists?! Apple has obviously considered this aspect and you’re asked to confirm, which wrist you use for wearing the device, as soon as you set it up and pair it with the matching iPhone. Watch OS uses your selection to determine the display’s orientation. It also helps your wrist gadget to determine when to wake the display. If you start wearing the Watch on your right hand and wish to switch for the other arm later on, you can edit the Orientation selection from the Apple Watch menu or its app on your iPhone.
Tap the Settings icon on your Watch’s app bundle. Choose General and go for Orientation. Here you can tweak Wrist as well as Crown placement.
To edit the same options from your iOS device, open the Apple Watch app and browse for My Watch -> General -> Watch Orientation.
Should I Use Digital Crown on Left or Right?
As you might have already noticed the Watch Orientation settings allow you to strap the timepiece in two ways on each hand. You can either have The Digital Crown on the upper Right side, the default recommended position, or turn the smartwatch upside down and bring the Crown on the lower left area. However, having the side buttons on the left side, while wearing the Watch on the left hand and vice-versa, is quite uncomfortable because your index finger hovers over the display, limiting your view. More, from my point of view turning the Digital Crown feels more natural when the button is located towards the higher end of the Watch case and not lower towards the bottom.
Change Wristband Configuration To Suit Apple Watch Positioning
When you unbox Apple’s wearable, you find the smartwatch and its bands configured for using it with the Digital Crown on the Right side. If you do decide to switch for the left Crown orientation you can switch the two straps between each other. This way the wristband fastening system works in the same direction, as it does when using the Watch with the side buttons on the left side. Detaching a belt is performed easy, by pressing the small band release button available on the back of the Apple Watch. In the same time slide the strap out of position. Repeat the process for the other half too. Switch them between each other and slide them back in, until they snap in to place. You don’t have to without press the removal button anymore.
Why To Wear the Apple Watch on Left Wrist
Below you have a series of reasons that, in my opinion, inclines the balance for wearing the Apple Watch on your Left hand:
1. Watch Position Stereotype
Many of us are used to following stereotypes and if you’re right handed or ambidextrous the balance for wearing the Watch on your left wrist is easily inclined, by the fact that this is how the majority of people uses the device and so should you.
I’ve seen even true left handers using the timepiece on the same wrist, only because this is how most of their friends do it. However, I encourage you to read on and discover more reasons for wearing the Apple Watch on the Left Wrist.
2. Digital Crown and Side Button Placement
You can notice from all Apple commercials and promotion materials that the Watch was designed for left hand wearing. As mentioned above, the Digital Crown feels best tweakable when it’s placed in the upper side of the Watch case. It can only be available in that location, if it’s oriented towards the right side of the case. Further on, this configuration is ideally used on a Left Hand! If you have the Crown on the right and wear the watch on the right wrist, you’ll partially cover the display and limit your visibility when turning the Crown with your left index finger!
3. Accurate Heart Rate Readings
If this is not enough, try to remember what hand your family doctor uses, when he’s monitoring your pulse or measuring your blood pressure.
Yep, it’s the left hand and that’s because the heart is placed on the left side of your body, making readings from the same side more accurate.
The same applies for the Apple Watch, when it comes to its health tracking features.
If you want to help your wearable detect heart beats easier and thus provide highly accurate heart rate readings, you have to wear it on your Left Hand!
I know someone who likes using his thumb to control his crown on the bottom left of his apple watch on his left hand. He says it is much easier to control – and he doesn’t block his view either. We’re used to using two fingers to wind old-fashioned watches, but we don’t need two fingers on Apple Watches.
I agreed with this until it was time to wear my coat, my jacket, and my suit (which is every day) the crown is covered by the sleeve. A complete deal breaker.
The only time it worked for me was at the gym -which is the most important time of course, but for the rest of the day -no go.
I have big wrists and if I have the crown on the RIGHT, flexing my hand depresses the crown and activates Siri. Having the crown bottom left prevents this.
So true! But for better heart rate monitoring you have to wear it tight and higher on your arm any way. It should not be near the hand. Then again depending on your build this’ll not be possible. Everyone has a position that works best for them, and it looks like you found yours.
I have a heart defibrillator on my left chest. The instructions say not to use any electronic or battery run devices on the same side. Therefore I put the watch on my right wrist. What must I do to ensure all my readings are accruate?
Nancy, just make sure that you configure the Watch for being worn on your right wrist. Click the Digital Crown and open Settings -> General -> Orientation. Select the ‘Right’ wrist and also mention the side of the Digital Crown. You can wear the watch with the Digital Crown on the right or on the left (if you place it upside-down). Hope this helps.
The Apple Watch is great for everything except for playing basketball. My left wrist is a little bit smaller than my right one. I’m left handed dominan but I play sports with my right hand. The watch seems to restrict my shot with it being on the right wrist. But it slides everywhere on my left hand no matter which watch band type I wear. Apple was so close to making another great thing but this just ain’t it for basketball.
Alex, you mean that you can’t make the watch stick on your left hand no matter what band you’re using? Are you perhaps owning the 44mm version which could prove to be too big for your wrist size? Try and see if you’re having the same problems with the 42mm model.
What a bunch of grasping strawman bullshit