Got your new Apple Watch up and running? It’s time to start exploring all the amazing watchOS apps available to you. We’ve rounded up five of our favorites that we think every Apple Watch owner should be using.
Remember when Apple Watch apps sucked? They were painfully slow and extremely limited, and sometimes they didn’t work at all. Thankfully, that’s no longer the case. As Apple Watch has gotten faster, the apps have gotten a lot better.
There are a few third-party apps that no Apple Watch wearer should be without. They’ll help you keep fit (even during a global pandemic), keep up with your tasks, and keep you from forgetting important things. Here’s our roundup of essential watchOS downloads.
Photo: Cult of Mac
Pedometer++
Pedometer++ has always been about motivating you to walk more. The basic schtick is that the app takes your step data from the iPhone’s motion-co-processor, the low-energy chip that — amongst other things — counts your steps. It then presents the data on a chart.
You can also track streaks, or the number of days in a row you hit your step goal (the default is 10,000 steps, and can be changed). The app also has a great Today widget which shows your step count with a single swipe from the home screen, and displays everything on your wrist via its integrated Apple Watch app.
Price: Free (with in-app purchases)
Photo: Cult of Mac
Overcast
Overcast is a brilliant podcast app on iPhone, and arguably even better on Apple Watch. It’s best feature is its ability to automatically download new episodes of your favorite shows overnight, so that they’re ready to go as soon as you wake up. And because those shows are stored locally, you don’t need your iPhone to enjoy them.
All the other features you would expect from a good podcast app are also baked-in, including a queue, optional notifications for new episode releases, and more.
Price: Free (with in-app purchases)
Photo: Cult of Mac
HomeRun
HomeRun has nothing to do with baseball. It’s even better than that. It’s an Apple Watch app that lets you control all your HomeKit-connected devices from your wrist. You can use it to dim the lights, turn up the heat, and even activate HomeKit scenes.
What’s more, HomeRun ships with great complications that let you trigger all kinds of actions directly from your watch face.
Price: $2.99
Photo: Cult of Mac
Just Press Record
Just Press Record is a fantastic alternative to Apple’s Voice Memos app. It’s ready to go as soon as you launch in on the iPhone or the iPad, and has a killer Apple Watch app.
You can start recording with a single tap on its complication, or use Siri if you prefer. Volume is adjustable with the Digital Crown, recording length is limited only by available storage, and recordings are automatically transferred to your iPhone and then stored in iCloud. It’s the best voice recorder on your wrist.
Price: $4.99
Photo: Coloring Watch
Coloring Watch
Need to kick back and relax? Coloring Watch puts a coloring book on your wrist. It’s surprisingly awesome, even on a tiny screen, and features more than 70 images that you can color in. You can use Apple Watch’s Digital Crown to tune colors to your liking, and save your progress so that you can pick up where you left off later.
What’s more, Coloring Watch offers five-minute relaxation sessions that track your heart rate while you color.
Price: $2.99
