Apple Watch

Stay up-to-date on the latest Apple Watch news, and learn how to get the most out of your device with our comprehensive tutorials. From updates to features to troubleshooting tips, we’ve got you covered.

Activity Sharing brings social challenges to Apple Watch

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

After demonstrating several new Apple Watch features, Apple VP Kevin Lynch invited Director of Fitness and Health technologies Jay Blahnik to come up on stage and talk about some new fitness features. Perhaps most notable is a new feature in the Activity app called Activity Sharing.

As the name suggests, Activity Sharing brings social challenges to the Apple Watch, allowing users to easily send fitness achievements and stats to friends and family, fostering competition. This is something that has helped Fitbit grow and popularity and is a welcome addition to the Watch.

Notifications not forwarding to Apple Watch? Check these likely causes

Anthony Bouchard ∙ May 27, 2016

It's a nice feeling when software works as it should, but that's not always the case. In the case of the Apple Watch, notifications that are supposed to be tapping on your wrist may not work when you expect them to.

If you're having problems with your Apple Watch not receiving the notifications your iPhone is putting out, then you'll want to follow the steps in this piece to troubleshoot what's going on and fix the problem.

Facer brings Instagram feeds, flash style cards and more to your Apple Watch face

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 9, 2016

About a month ago, Facer, a smartwatch customization platform, landed on the Apple Watch via a free of charge App Store app. Unlike most other apps for customizing watch faces, Facer puts your style and individuality on full display with thousands of custom watch faces and the ability to design your own with an online creator tool.

The app can pull watch face images from a variety of sources, including your Instagram feed, and it even has neat flash card style faces for learning things like languages, constellations, Solar System's planet names, the elements of the periodic table and so forth.

Camera Plus goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Cody Lee ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

Apple on Thursday updated its App of the Week promotion with the app Camera Plus (not to be confused with the popular Camera+). This means that from now through next Thursday, you’ll be able to pick up the photo editing app for free—a solid savings of a buck.

Camera Plus describes itself as the app for "the best macro photos and remote photography." It features the usual photo app options like filters and effects, but it also has special tools for taking close-up photos, and a feature called AirSnap for taking photos remotely.

This free Apple Watch complication displays the time in words

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 9, 2018

When someone asks you what the time is and you glance at your Apple Watch, are you one of those people who struggle interpreting clock hands on a standard analog watch face? How cool would it be if your Apple Watch displayed the approximate time in words, such as “ten to six”, “quarter past three” or “about five o'clock”?

That's the problem that Roughly tries to solve. Created by Iain Anderson, Roughly is a complication that gives you approximate time, in words.

Available free of charge, it's just fun for most people but I think some users may actually find Roughly genuinely useful.

Making more sense of the fitness data your Apple Watch collects with Activity++

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 8, 2016

Developer David Smith has expanded his lineup of ++ apps for the iPhone and iPad (Pedometer++ and Sleep++) with the addition of Activity++, an iPhone app designed to help you make the most from your Apple Watch fitness data.

But wait, why on Earth would you need another app when the built-in Activity app's rings provide an at-a-glance overview of your Move, Exercise and Stand goals?

PCalc gains new Apple Watch complication, eight-line mode on iPad Pro and lots more

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 24, 2016

PCalc, arguably the most powerful App Store calculator for scientists, engineers, students, programmers or anybody looking for a feature rich calculator, has received a fresh new icon and more features as part of today's update in the App Store.

For starters, the app's now fully compatible with iOS 9 and watchOS 2. If you own an Apple Watch, you can now quickly access PCalc via a complication.

On the iPad Pro, a new eight-line mode is now available and you now specify certain settings like RPN mode and number of decimal places separately for the app, watch and widget.

Deezer Music launches Apple Watch app

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 16, 2016

Deezer, a cross-platform music streaming service, is now available on your Apple Watch as a native app.

The new watchOS 2 app lets you access your favorite music, use Deezer's Flow feature, see the latest hits and access Deezer's personalized mixes, all with the flick of your wrist.

On iOS devices, Deezer now provides lots of new recommendations to your Flow feed and lets users unlink devices connected to their Deezer account using the mobile app.

This Apple Watch app buzzes your wrist if you’re about to leave your iPhone behind

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 8, 2016

The Apple Watch has a nifty built-in feature that lets you ping your misplaced iPhone over Bluetooth, but wouldn't it be nice if the watch could automatically notify you when you're about to leave without an iPhone in your pocket?

A new free of charge app, Lookout, solves that problem in one fell swoop. It keeps not only your iPhone, but your iPad, iPod touch and Apple Watch safe and secure and protects your devices from data loss, theft and more.

How about the tiniest game of pong for your Apple Watch?

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 17, 2016

Meet the tiniest game of pong for your Apple Watch, created by developer Matt Wiechec and aptly named A Tiny Game of Pong. Available free in the App Store for a limited time, this minimalist game lets you push your paddle back-and-forth across the display by turning the responsive Digital Crown.

You can play in the Classic or endless Arcade mode, track your high score and rank on Game Center, personalize the game to your liking with ten theme colors and, of course, you can also play A Tiny Game of Pong on your iPhone.

Review: boost your sleep analysis with much improved Sleep++ 2.0

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 4, 2018

David Smith’s excellent Sleep++ app is my killer app when it comes to sleep analysis, a glaring omission from the Apple Watch. It's become second nature for me to open Sleep++ as I tuck myself in bed for the evening.

This native watchOS 2 app collects data from watch sensors to measure sleep quality and duration, which can then be reviewed in greater detail in a companion iPhone app and synced with your Health database.

The updated Sleep++ 2.0, now available as a free download in the App Store, takes sleep analysis to the next level with major improvements to its sleep analysis engine and new features such as better Health integration, an improved Night Detail view, night trimming and timezone support.

This app lets you type notes with a keypad on your Apple Watch

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

Yesterday, I reviewed a cool little Apple Watch app for creating notes on the fly with dictation which can then be shown as a complication on your watch.

In continuing with the same theme, today I take a look at Note Tapper by Mark Cotterill, which adds an interesting twist to taking notes on the Apple Watch—rather than rely on (at times unreliable) dictation feature, you can type out your thoughts using a rather effective built-in keyboard.