Apple’s wearable platform is on a mission to weave itself around our lives, one app (and wrist) at a time. What follows are a ten recently introduced Apple Watch apps you really should explore:
Betterworks Wear
(Illustrated above)
One of the rapidly growing family of Salesforce apps, BetterWorks Wear lets companies use wearable tech to connect employees around common goals. A retailer might use this to make sure all the sales team are kept updated as to their team and individual sales goals. You’ll see these kinds of functions appear in all kinds of wearable apps for enterprise users.
Square
Apple Pay doesn’t yet enable direct person-to-person cash transfers. Square Cash brings you this, enabling you to transfer funds to friends, family, or anyone with just a few taps on the Apple Watch. For me, the big potential here is in emerging markets where peer-to-peer cash exchanges are already incredibly popular.
Microsoft
Speak into your Watch and this app will translate what you say into 50 different languages, speaking phrases for you if you have difficulty doing so. If you need to understand what someone is saying just hold your Watch in front of them, let them speak and it will translate their words, too.
Fantastical
Fantastical 2 syncs your iCloud, Exchange, Fruux and Google calendars into a quick Glance, letting you see everything you need to know about upcoming events. Speak to add new events and scroll through your day using the Digital Crown. The reminders function is beautifully executed – you feel a gentle tap on the wrist and you can choose to act upon it or snooze it until you’re ready.
Dashlane
You set the service up online, providing accounts and password details you then secure with a master password, so Dashlane can’t see your data. The app lets you change passwords for over 200 sites in a single tap, and informs you of any security breaches. The service seems relatively secure.
Bookings.com
Booking.com’s app lets you book and manage hotel accommodation directly from your wrist. Once you’ve used the app to find a place you can also receive turn-by-turn travel directions to your hotel from within the app, thanks to Maps. The app can even remind you of your hotel room number. I guess it will become your room key.
Lark
The Lark personal weight loss coach works out your activity levels from the data inside Health app on your iPhone. It also lets you tell it what you’re eating using Siri. Lark then combines both sets of information to give you good eating and exercise advice. (Bonus app: FitStar Yoga).
Epicurious Smart Timer
What I really like about Epicurious on Apple Watch is the ability to set cooking reminders so you don’t burn the ingredients while preparing the recipe. You choose a recipe on the smartphone then, when it’s time to cook, Smart Timer will guide you through the timing for each step, useful when you’ve got your hands full.
Geronimo
Available next week, Geronimo may turn out to be the best email app for iOS and Apple Watch. Geronimo is the first email app that lets users search and find emails on an Apple Watch. It also enables you to ensure you only get push notifications for emails that come from real people, rather than mailing lists and spam. What’s the best thing about Geronimo? It lets you compose a full email on your wrist.
Mac ID
MacID lets you use your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac remotely rather than using the login. Useful.
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