I recently switched to the gorgeous new iPhone 7 Plus (PRODUCT)RED, but one thing I didn’t do is setup my Apple Watch with the iPhone. It was a simple oversight, but I realized very quickly how much I’ve come to rely on the Apple Watch/iPhone combination in my daily life.

I’ve said before that using my Apple Watch has changed the way I use my iPhone. I receive notifications of emails, messages, phone calls, reminders, use Apple Pay, and a host of other things.

With my Apple Watch on my wrist, I only needed to make sure my iPhone was somewhere nearby to get all of these alerts. If it was something I needed to deal with, I could grab the iPhone and do it. Otherwise, the notification was enough to keep me up to date on what was happening.

Because I used the Apple Watch and relied on those notifications on my wrist, I turned off the sound and vibrate on my iPhone long ago. There was no need for it. Unless you don’t pair your watch to your phone.

I learned how much I relied on the combination of those two devices. I began missing calls and messages because my watch wasn’t getting the notifications from the phone. I would eventually see them when I grabbed my iPhone, but obviously that isn’t what you want.

Instead of immediately syncing my watch to fix the problem, I decided to turn on the vibrate feature of the phone just to see how that might change things. (Because pairing the watch would have fixed the problem immediately, but apparently I like to punish myself). The end result was that I began to use my phone like I did before the watch was released.

I would always have the iPhone with me and I checked it all the time—every vibrate meant checking my phone to see what was going on, and that often led to a trip down the rabbit hole. If I check one thing, I might as well check everything else. It was more disruptive to my work than what I ever realized.

I missed other things too. I sat down at my iMac and waited for it to unlock automatically, which it didn’t do because my watch was no longer authorized. I’m sure I must have looked like an idiot sitting there waiting for the Mac to unlock.

When I used Maps, my watch wouldn’t vibrate as I neared a turn. Not a big deal since Siri gives you turn-by-turn directions, but it’s surprising how much I relied on the watch to alert me to an upcoming turn.

Other simple things that I take for granted were gone too. I had a playlist synced to my watch for my walks so I didn’t have to bring my phone with me when I exercised. That doesn’t work without a connection to the iPhone.

I love my Apple Watch and my iPhone 7 Plus. I love the combination of the those two devices even more. Using the two devices is a very efficient way to keep up with everything in your life.

I paired my Apple Watch to my iPhone yesterday and I’m much happier.