All
I wanted was watch with an alarm. That's all. I take oodles of pills
for my heart and at four different times during the day. I often take
some meds late or even totally forget to take some. Clearly, I needed
a watch with an alarm.
I found a simple watch and
it was on sale. A plus. The fellow at the store assured me this watch
had an alarm. He was sure of it; It was a smart watch. I took it
home, opened the box and discovered I needed a smart phone to set-up
my smart watch. There was a QR code, there was Bluetooth, everything
that I would need but for one small thing -- a smart phone. I don't
have one and don't want one. I have a flip phone.
Undaunted, I thought maybe
I could use my computer. Nope. A little daunted, I thought maybe I
could download an emulator, a bit of software to allow my computer to
emulate a smart phone. Nope. My computer was not smart enough to talk
to my smart watch.
Totally daunted, I sat
beaten. Then Ashley, my daughter, stopped by. She has a smart phone.
The cavalry had arrived. In moments my watch was up and running. And,
did it have an alarm? It sure did. Eight to be exact. Ashley
programmed the watch to ring four times daily to remind me to take my
meds. Yes!
Then Ashley showed me how
my smart watch could take my blood pressure, heart rate, blood oxygen
level, count my steps, record my sleep patterns and more. It is too
bad none of its tricks were medically unacceptable. My smart watch,
it seems, was not as smart as it claimed.
Then Ashley watched a video
on her phone. The audio could be heard throughout the room. Her
phone, thanks to Bluetooth, was connected to my watch and my watch,
in a sharing mood, was sharing with everyone in the room. We all
wondered if my smart watch would do the same with a private
conversation and make it a public conversation. Hmmm. Smart phone.
Smart watch. Maybe not so smart.
Oh well, it keeps good
time. The alarm is the bee's knees. I can ignore everything else --
including the watch. I think it is ugly. No matter what face it shows
the world, and it has a few different faces, to me, it is ugly. It
screams, "Cheap!" On the plus side, it is small and
tucks into the watch pocket of my jeans.
I hate change! (If you have
one of these and don't think it is ugly, you are probably young and
use an iPhone. You're forgiven. I understand. You're an inhabitant of
the digital world.)
_____________________________________________________
My Best Crack at Instructions - no promises
After weeks of trying, I
had to admit my watch needed to be paired with a smart phone. My
family pooled their money and bought me a used iPhone 11 for my
birthday.
But, even with the new
smartphone, my problems did not all immediately disappear. Learning
how to get more and more out of my little smart device is proving
tough for an old geezer who finds it hard to even call it a watch.
Telling time is just one of its many functions. I confess, I find it
confusing.
I thought I could write
something to help others with their Sech smartwatch. At the moment, I
can't. Everyday I learn something new about my watch. It is hard to
share stuff that you do not understand completely. My
suggestion? Use Perplexity to assist you.
That said, I will leave my
first attempt at assisting Sech smartwatch owners online. No
promises.
Before you can do anything
with your Sech smartwatch, you must download the "da Fit"
app and link your smartphone to your smartwatch. The Sech
smartwatch will not work with the Apple Watch app—only with the DaFit app.
1.
Scan the QR code in the instruction booklet that came with your
watch.
Open the Camera
app on your
iPhone.
Point your phone
steadily at the QR code printed in the Sech smartwatch booklet.
A banner or link
should appear at the top of the screen—tap it.
This will take you to
the App Store page for Da
Fit.
(If nothing happens, you
may be able to search manually in the App Store for “Da Fit” and
download it from there.)
2.
Download the Da Fit app
3. Set up
Da Fit on your iPhone
Open Da
Fit after it
installs.
Allow all the
permissions it requests (Bluetooth, Notifications, Health data,
etc.)—these are needed for proper syncing.
4. Pair
your smartwatch
Before its first use, the watch must be charged and activated. Use the supplied magnetic charger plugged into a 5V IA computer USB port. Attach the other end of the charging cord to the two metal contacts on the watch back. The first charge takes about two hours.
To turn on the watch, press and hold the button on the side of the smartwatch.
Ensure Bluetooth is
enabled on your iPhone (Settings > Bluetooth > On).
In the Da Fit app, go
to “Add Device” or “Bind Device”.
The app should search
for nearby watches. Select your Sech smartwatch from the list, if necessary.
Confirm any pairing
requests both on the watch and on the phone. Allow all for full functionality.
5. Finish
setup
Once paired, the app
should show your smartwatch’s connection status immediately below
the Sech name and model number.
You can now adjust
watch settings, sync data, and customize notifications through the
app.
If the above does not work
for you, please comment and I will try and find a solution.
WATCH
FACES: I did not find any of the supplied six watch faces worked
for me. I downloaded the "Business black"
found in the "New Watch Faces" group. Why? This alternate watch displays the percent of remaining battery power.
 |
| Downloaded from da Fit: Business black |
On your smartphone, tap
"da Fit" app > find Watch Faces (Tap the watch icon, third
icon from the left at the bottom of the screen. It should be lit.) >
tap Face Gallery below the third watch face shown. You will see
numerous optional smartwatch faces. I picked "Business black"
found in the "New Watch Faces" group.To
switch between watch faces, turn the knob on side of
the smartwatch. It turns both clockwise or counter clockwise.
Wrist Raise Turns on Watch Face: Still on the subject of the watch face, the face may light up when you move your arm quickly. This can be a battery drainer. To disable the Wrist Raise feature, go to settings on the watch (stroke down) and tap the gear wheel. Scroll down to Wrist Raise, tap it and slide the onscreen sliding switch to off.
"Settings" can also be found by turning on the watch, swiping right twice, and then scrolling to the bottom of the function icons. The settings gear wheel icon is the last function icon in the long list. Tap it.
Using the da Fit app on your iPhone
On your iPhone: Using the da Fit app on your iPhone, you can access many of the
smartwatch Functions. Tap the da Fit icon and then tap the bottom far left icon. It is the first one in a row of four icons. All the functions can be found by scrolling up and scrolling down. Here is the function list (top to bottom):
“Activity”, “Sleep”, “Heart Rate”, “BP (Blood
Pressure)”, “Blood Oxygen”, “Stress”, “Weight” and
“Intake Reminder”.
All
functions work in a similar manner. Click on the function field and a new screen opens with related, in depth information appears. All are petty well self exclamatory. If an old geezer can muddle through, you can too. To close the in depth screen, tap the
“X” at the top left of the window.
Always keep in mind: to paraphrase Dirty Harry, a smartwatch has to know its limitations. Smartwatches are not medical devices and much of their data is suspect.
Activity: This records the number of steps taken each day, the distance covered, and the calories burned. The distance covered can be displayed in either Imperial or metric measure. Tap the third icon from the left at the bottom, the smartwatch icon, tap Others. To change formats, tap on the arrow to the right.
- Steps are recorded automatically. I found this function to be amazingly accurate at walking speed. I checked the Net and found many posts agreeing that the recorded steps feature is accurate.
-
- Distance covered can be fairly accurate as well. But, you must enter your stepLength first. Tap the fourth icon in the bottom row, it shows a person, tap Profile and enter your stepLength.
-
- The calorie counter is another matter. Most sources give the kCal function a thumbs down. It's best used as a trend indicator rather than a precise measure of calories burned.
Sleep: The more I use this, the more I realize this is just for fun. It cannot be trusted. It promises a lot but delivers very little. Touch the Sleep icon and guesstimates of your Sleep Ratio and Sleep Quality Score are displayed. If you want another, more generous opinion, please click the link to: Do Sleep Trackers Really Work posted on the Johns Hopkins Medical Health site.
Heart Rate:
Tap the heart rate field and a full screen heart rate page appears. Tap “Measure” at the bottom of the iPhone screen. The
smartwatch will measure your heart rate and display it on both your
watch and your phone. I have found this to be amazingly
accurate, especially at rest or possibly when the wearer is engaged in light to moderate activity. I have found the more active I am, the less accurate the HR reading.
BP (Blood Pressure):
This feature is not to be trusted. If you must know your blood
pressure, get a proper unit with an upper arm cuff. Omron makes
excellent blood pressure monitors. The smartwatch BP feature is close to
useless and be warned that the BP measurements taken with a wrist cuff also have a
reputation for being untrustworthy.
SpO2 or Blood Oxygen: I believe this works. It usually agrees with my single purpose pulse oximetre. Touch the Blood Oxygen field, touch Measure at the bottom of the screen and the smartwatch will start taking the measurement. If your watch and phone are connected, the percent of Oxygen number will be displayed on both the smartphone and on the smartwatch when the measurement taking is done. If this fails, I have found tapping Find Device restores the connection. If this fails, read the Problem entry below.
Weight: There's not much to see here. You enter your weight manually. When you expand the weight window, if you have entered both your height and weight in the da Fit app, your BMI is displayed and what your number means. It tells you whether you are thin, ideal weight, fat or obese. As I said, there's not much to see here
Intake Reminder: This will track your liquid consumption for the day but you must enter each drink manually.
Problem: Occasionally, the iPhone and the smartwatch are not in sync. The link is broken. Using
the da Fit app on the iPhone, touch the smartwatch icon, third from the
left at the bottom of the screen. At the top of the screen, it will
read SECH SCB568P Below the SECH name, you should see Connected. If you see Disconnected, you must connect the smartphone and smartwatch. This happens more often than I care to admit.
First fix, still on the smartphone SECH screen, tap Find Device.You may have to scroll to see this. Tap Find Device and the watch should emit a tone confirming the phone and watch are connected. Disconnected will change to Connected.
If
this fails, turn to the smartwatch. Swipe the watch screen to the right twice. The smartwatch will show all the function icons. Scroll down to "Settings". Tap Settings.
Scroll down to "System". Tap System. Tap "Restart". You may have to tap Find Device as well. The system icon can also be accessed by swiping down on the watch face. Look for the system gear wheel, tap it and you are in.
If this fails, touch "Reset". This is the nuclear option. Reset returns the smartwatch to its factory settings. You
will have to reload your alarm settings, any formats you have personalized and any other features you entered
or modified. If you are using an optional watch face, you will have to reload it, too.
Those were all the functions found on the iPhone using the daFit app.
Using the da Fit app on your SECH smartwatch
On your SECH smartwatch:
Let us examine the SECH SCB568P smartphone and discover what functions it offers. Many of these function work best when the smartphone is connected to the nearby iPhone.
Activity:
Sleep: The more I use this, the more I realize this is just for fun. It cannot be trusted. It promises a lot but delivers very little. Touch the Sleep icon and a guesstimate of your total amount of sleep last night is displayed plus the exact time at which you fell asleep and the exact time you awoke. I have found all to be wrong. Swipe up and Sleep Date are displayed as colour coded bars. The bars denote time spent awake, in REM sleep, in light sleep and just resting. I doubt any of the sleep measurements are accurate. If you want another, more generous opinion, please click the link to: Do Sleep Trackers Really Work posted on the Johns Hopkins Medical Health site.
Heart Rate:
Tap the heart rate icon and tap
“Measure” at the bottom of the iPhone screen. The
smartwatch will measure your heart rate and display it on both your
watch and your phone. I have found this to be amazingly
accurate, especially at rest or possibly when the wearer is engaged in
light to moderate activity. I have found the more active I am, the less accurate the HR reading.
Phone Call: Tap and a Phone Call screen appears. You have three choices: Recent Calls, Dial Pad, and Contacts. Placing a call was simple. The audio was amazingly good. Recent calls was pretty straight forward. I fave failed, so far, to link my watch to my iPhone contact list. And, it goes without saying, your smart phone must be nearby and connected.
Exercise:
Exercise Records:
Blood Pressure:
This feature is not to be trusted. If you must know your blood
pressure, get a proper unit with an upper arm cuff. Omron makes
excellent blood pressure monitors. The smartwatch BP feature is close to
useless and be warned that the BP measurements taken with a wrist cuff also have a
reputation for being untrustworthy.
SpO2:
I believe this function works. If your
watch and phone are connected, the percent of Oxygen number will be
displayed on both the smartphone and on the smartwatch when the
measuring is done. If the phone fail to display the correct result, I have found tapping Find
Device restores the connection. If this fails, read the
Problem entry below.
Weather: This shows the current weather info, for instance sunny and the present temperature. It also show the time for sunrise and for sunset. Swipe up to see very truncated weather forecasts for the next six days. Weather info is synced to your iPhone after connecting with the APP. If the link is broken, disconnected for too long, the watch will not update.
Messages:
Shutter: After
connecting to your phone, the watch can remotely control your phone’s
camera to take photos. After opening the camera on your phone, tap on
the watch camera control page to trigger the camera shutter to take a
picture.
Player:
Relaxation:
AI Voice:
Timer: Tap one of the preset times or tap the custom setting, when set, tap the start button. To stop, tap the X.
Alarm: Alarms
can be set using the da Fit app or on the watch, up to 8 alarms can be set. The alarm
rings or can both ring and vibrate. Setting the alarm times is both
quicker and easier using the da Fit app on the iPhone. Setting the ring or the ring-vibrate function must be done on the watch itself.
There is an automatic snooze function. I could find no way to turn the snooze function off or on. If you do not turn of the alarm when it sounds, it will sound again in a few minutes. Momentarily depress the button on the side of the watch to turn off the alarm.
Stopwatch: Tap
the start button on the stopwatch page to start timing, and tap the
stop button to stop timing.
World Clock: When I tap World Clock, I get the correct time in Toronto, Ontario. As I live in London, Ontario, the time shown is also the correct for London. My iPhone has its world clock set to Ottawa, so my watch is not taking it Toronto setting from my phone. Odd. I will continue playing with this.
Cycle Tracking:
Find Phone: Scroll down to find phone, tap and your linked smartphone will either ring or vibrate, possibly both, making it easy to find your misplaced cell phone.
Calculator: A simple calculator that is probably accurate but I cannot use it. My fingers are too thick. Find the calculator app on your smartphone. It is more powerful while offering more options.
Games:
Settings:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
