SearchLight is a new Apple Watch software release by ReBoard Keyboard makers Jeet and Gagandeep Singh from India which not only allows you to search the web via Google just like that, but also actually read articles reliably in clutter-free text mode, right on your wrist.
Billed as the missing search app, SearchLight is a simple, efficient piece of software that gets the job done as advertised. Start by inputing your own query in the search box using dictation, Scribble or other input methods. You can also access your previous searches from here.
SearchLight will retrieve relevant results from Google in a second, then open the result page in text mode. Simply tap a desired entry to load the underlying article in clutter-free text mode without any distractions so you can get the information you need quickly.
Developer Jeet Singh told me via email:
Currently the Apple Watch lacks this important functionality and provides web search only via Siri. But the problem with that is it’s not an app, it displays full webpages which are difficult to read on the watch and it crashes often.
Jeet is right about crashes occurring when accessing search results and other web content via Siri — that’s why I don’t use watchOS web search at all.
TUTORIAL: How to view web content on Apple Watch
With SearchLight, however, crashes become a thing of the past — you get a reliable app that works without a paired iPhone. Web searching from your wrist is cumbersome, but it’s better than nothing if you’re out and about without an iPhone in your pocket.
SearchLight is a 100 percent native watchOS app — you can leave your iPhone at home and trust the app to look up any information you need using only the watch’s cellular connection.