> Why would you take your phone with you when you run?

Well, how would I get my phone back after I ran to the place I intended to run to otherwise?

> Why would you take your phone with you when you run?

Music, being able to tell what time it is, navigation¹, emergency calls², non-emergency calls/communication. Or, … the use case in TFA.

> If you really need to be reachable or to be able to pay for something in emergencies, that’s what smart watches are for.

… not everyone has the means to drop $400+/y³ on a watch & plan. Smart phone & plan prices are high enough already.

(¹perhaps more useful when I'm biking than running)

(²I've literally witnessed accidents while out on such a run. Having a phone is handy.)

(³we have to restrict ourselves to "the set of smart watches that are capable of making a call independent of a phone, here, too. If the watch requires the phone to make the call … well, that'd defeat the point. This is approximately the per-warranted-year price of a Samsung Galaxy Watch with LTE support.)

> ”… not everyone has the means to drop $400+/y³ on a watch & plan. Smart phone & plan prices are high enough already.”

Oh come on, it’s not $400/yr. I pay about $5/month for mine, added on to my phone plan and sharing the same number.

And for most functions (including navigation!) you don’t even need cellular service.

I think we’re all a bit too dependent on our phones so it’s nice to have an alternative that lets you go phone-free sometimes.

But for me it’s really just about convenience. I like to run light and lugging a big heavy phone is a bulky distraction.

I have a smart watch; I still take a phone when running. It's not particularly inconvenient to do so. Lots of people don't have smartwatches, of course, and yet might still want to run.

> Why would you take your phone with you when you run?

So you can listen to music? And most people don't have a smart watch.

It's fairly common to see people running with a phone strapped to their arm.

I almost always run with my phone. One of the few times I didn’t, I was on about a 12 mile out and back run. At mile 6 my IT band seized up in a way it never had and never has since. I could barely walk, much less run and I was six miles from home. Eventually, I managed to hobble about a mile over the course of an hour and find a business with a phone I could use to call for a ride.

Having a phone that day would have been really nice.

… between me & my partner, we own multiple pieces of exercise wear that has a dedicated pocket for a phone, because … you need somewhere to put your phone.

I, for one, endeavor to retain situational awareness even while on foot.

The author of this article apparently demands to run around with an unlocked phone. I have the same "Theft Protection" enabled and the only thing it purports to do is lock the screen. So I may never trigger it, because if I'm walking, or running, or bicycling, the screen is locked!!

If I cram earbuds into my ears and drown out the world, then I am functionally deaf; I cannot hear tires squealing, or honking horns, or victims screaming. I shan't go on about how my bone-conduction technology muddles up both music and the real world sounds.

If I'm checking my phone while I'm in motion on a sidewalk, I'm functionally wearing blinders, and not the good kinds like they put on carriage-horses. Especially at night when my glowing screen is brighter than the Full Moon! If my face is in my screen, then my mind is also not in meatspace, but my imagination is in Lothlórien, or Cair Paravel, or 40 Eridani in the 23rd century.

My mind and five senses need to be in the present and need to be in meatspace, or my feet don't belong in traffic.

found the product manager

Unlikely to be the product manager, but absolutely the product manager mentality. How can people live without our product? Reality check: people fucking manage in the real world. Especially those with limited means.

I'm not paying more money plus an extra monthly subscription for a cellular smart watch when my phone does the job perfectly well.