Watch Apps

Day One journaling app updated for iOS 9 with 3D Touch support and native watchOS 2 app

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 27, 2018

Day One by Bloom Built, my go-to journaling app for iOS and the Mac, has had an app for the Apple Watch since April 2015, but it used to be hampered by the limitations of watchOS.

With watchOS 2, apps can now run directly on the wearable device and more independently of its connected iPhone, resulting in better responsiveness and faster execution. A brand new release of Day One now includes a native watchOS 2 app, support for 3D Touch Home screen shortcuts on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus and more.

Fantastical gains iOS 9’s productivity-enhancing features, Apple Watch complication and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 7, 2015

Hot off the heels of its big Mac update, developer Flexibits today issued an update to Fantastical for iPad, iPhone and Apple Watch. The new software takes advantage of the new productivity-enhancing features provided by iOS 9 and watchOS 2.

These include 3D Touch support for iPhone 6s owners, a dedicated Fantastical complication for Apple Watch wearers, Slide Over and Split View multitasking modes on the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 4 and much more.

Review: wrist dialing is easy with Watch Keypad, an app Apple should have made

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 5, 2015

WatchOS 2 appeals to sausage-fingered types with its bigger, square keypad, and that's quite cool by me, but isn't its lack of a dialing functionality in apps like Messages and Phone quite a shame? This poses a major problem when needing to place a phone call from the wrist to a number you don't have assigned to a contact.

Watch Keypad by Dutch developer Rob De Ruiter, as the name suggests, solves this problem in one fell swoop.

This app makes it real simple and easy to type a phone number to call from your Apple Watch, without any restrictions on contacts. I spent some quality time testing Watch Keypad and will be using a lot going forward, here's why.

Review: iTranslate 9.0 is the closest thing yet to the killer Apple Watch app

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 22, 2015

Now that the watchOS 2 software update has released to the general public, a healthy debate is developing amongst my techie friends about the benefits that native apps are supposed to enable.

The long story short, native apps run directly on the device and talk to its underlying hardware and sensors so most tasks should feel faster and smoother than before.

For instance, apps can now play sounds through the Apple Watch's speakerphone and take voice input from its built-in mic. To test how this works in the real world, I've spent a few hours with iTranslate by Sonico Mobile GmbH, arguably the best translator app you can put on your wrist to overcome language barriers, Star Trek-style.

Hands on with Night Sky’s ISS Complication for Apple Watch

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 1, 2018

Complications in the watch making industry are added features to the movement of a watch beyond simply telling the hour and minutes. The Apple Watch, of course, features a selection of software-based Complications allowing you to put stuff like Activity rings, the weather, stocks, the latest sports scores and more right on your watch face.

With watchOS 2, Apple began permitting third-party complications on watch faces. To tell learn more about how third-party Complications work in watchOS 2, I took iCandi Apps' awesome stargazing app called Night Sky for a spin.

Review: WatchWeb for Apple Watch kinda brings web browsing to your wrist

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 2, 2015

Like the Apple TV, your Apple Watch lacks the built-in Safari browser. Even though the case can be made quite easily for surfing the web on a big screen TV from the comfort of your couch, who in their right mind—and why— would want to squint at the tiny screen to read webpages?

No one, that's right. But still, what if you could browse the web from your wrist? If you argue that an Apple Watch web browser is a terrible, terrible idea, I'm with you.

But what if there was a way to quickly look up information, sports scores or anything else on the Apple Watch that Siri can't do for you? Enter WatchWeb, a web browser of sorts for the Apple Watch by Conifer Apps.

It's a novel idea that certainly has legs, but boy is it iffy. I had mixed results during my hands-on time with WatchWeb so read on my review for the full reveal.

Review: Astropad Mini turns your iPhone or Apple Watch into a pro graphics tablet for your Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 27, 2015

We wrote about Astropad Graphics Tablet, an app that turns your iPad into a graphics tablet for your Mac, shortly following its February 2015 debut.

Designed and built by smart ex-Apple engineers Matt Ronge and Giovanni Donelli, the app has since been updated with support for FiftyThree’s Pencil stylus and gained other new features.

The team just released Astropad Mini, an iPhone edition of Astropad's iPad app with Apple Watch support for remote drawing into Mac apps and more.

1Password for iOS gains quick vault switcher, Touch ID and Apple Watch updates and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 13, 2018

1Password, the popular password manager for iOS, OS X and Windows by developer AgileBits, today received a nice little update in the App Store which bumped the app to version 5.5 and brought out a couple notable improvements.

In addition to a brand new quick vault switcher, 1Password 5.5 contains improvements to TouchID authentication, shared lock settings, browsing Credit Card items on your Apple Watch and other tidibts.

Microsoft Translator hits iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch with support for 50 languages

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 4, 2018

If you’re traveling frequently or have a need to translate anything in your daily life, Microsoft is here to help. The software giant's new release, an app called Microsoft Translator, helps you translate words, phrases and sentences directly on your wrist.

Powered by the same technology used by Office, Bing, Skype, Internet Explorer as well as partners such as Twitter, Yelp, eBay, WeChat and many more, the app lets you speak to your Apple Watch and get an instant translation in a total of fifty languages.

Microsoft Translator is also supported on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad and is available at no charge in the App Store.

Outlook’s Apple Watch app updated with replying from your wrist, all-new glance and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 4, 2018

Outlook's Apple Watch has been updated Thursday with the ability to reply to emails directly from your wrist using Siri dictation, emoji or canned responses, among other new features and enhancements.

The new features make the wearable app much more functional than before. Before today, Outlook for Apple Watch only allowed you to see your emails but not reply to or interact with them.

Other changes in Outlook 1.3.5 for iOS include a glance with upcoming appointments and incoming emails, rich notifications that can be interacted with and other tidbits.

August Smart Lock is ready for your wrist with brand new Apple Watch app

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 3, 2015

The popular Smart Lock accessory by August now makes it easy to lock and unlock your door right from your wrist with a brand new Apple Watch app, announced Monday.

Available as a free update to the existing iPhone application, the WatchKit component provides an Apple Watch app and a glance which can be used to operate your August Smart Lock and view its logs, view your most recent activity, receive instant notifications and more.

Fantastical for iPhone gains drafts feature [bonus: promo codes giveaway]

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 29, 2015

Developer Flexibits has issued an update to Fantastical's iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch apps this morning. This premium calendar and reminder replacement software for iOS, watchOS and OS X now includes complete support for Japanese users across its iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch editions.

More importantly, Fantastical 2.4 for iPhone now includes drafts, a handy new feature addition that makes it possible to multitask while adding new items quickly and easily. The update is rolling out as we speak and should be available in the App Store shortly.

As a nice bonus, the fine folk at Flexibits have kindly provided more than a dozen promo codes for you, our readers, to redeem so read on to potentially grab your free copy of Fantastical.