To configure your Apple Watch and the apps installed on it to suite you, use the Apple Watch app on iPhone and the Settings app on Apple Watch itself. The Apple Watch App can be managed from the My Watch screen. You can use the Explore screen and learn about different features. You can use the Featured screen to view featured apps on the App Store as well. You can also use the Search screen to search for apps by name, or by keyword or the “About” screen, which contains information about the watch.
- Press Home on your iPhone.
- Tap Apple Watch on the Home screen.
- Tap My Watch on the Apple Watch app screen.
- Tap General.
You can tap a button to display another screen. You can set a switch to On (the icon changes to On) or Off (the icon changes to Off).
- Tap My Watch, and the My Watch screen will appear again.
- Drag up to scroll down and see the list of built-in apps.
- Tap on an app to configure it.
- Drag up to scroll down further and to see the list of apps you have installed.
- Tap an app to configure it.
- Tap Explore to see the Explore screen.
- Tap Play to play a video.
- Tap Featured to view featured apps on the App Store.
- You can tap See All to see more apps in the same category (such as the Get Started category).
- Tap Search and search for an app by name or by keyword or keywords.
- Tap Get to install an app on Apple Watch.
A Few Apps for Apple Watch
There are thousands of apps available for your Apple Watch, but in our opinion, most of them aren’t much good. There are a few; however, that we like and use frequently.
Runkeeper: A long-time favorite of healthy folks, this app happens to have a snazzy Apple Watch app. On the first series of Apple Watch, Runkeeper will communicate with your iPhone, providing updates on your current progress as you wheeze your way around. If you have an Apple Watch Series 2, just turn off Run With Phone, and the Runkeeper app will use your wearable’s GPS to build a map of your journey. It’s a great app for checking out routes of successful runs.
Sleep++: This app grabs information while you’re snoozing. Generally speaking, it’s designed to track motion, thereby figuring out how restless you are. If it turns out you’re always rolling about at 3am, it might be worth seeing if your neighbor’s performing impromptu guitar solos around that time. With watchOS 3’s Background Refresh, Sleep++ is more responsive when you wake, enabling you to immediately analyze your last night’s sleep. And although you might wonder when you can charge your Apple Watch if you wear it overnight, the developer notes that shouldn’t be a concern.
Productive: On the iPhone, this app is designed to help you build good habits. You create individual habits and say how often you want to do them. The app then builds daily schedules, split into morning, afternoon and evening. The Apple Watch app is a basic companion – but a smart one. On launch, it’ll switch to the relevant list, enabling you to quickly check through your schedule.
Clicker: This app gives you a big number on the screen that increments every time you tap, allowing you to count whatever you need to in your busy life-whether it be a number of laps, to the number of times your child whines throughout the day. Beyond that, you can clear the number or subtract one from it. You can also keep track of your counting by way of a complication. If that feels a bit too limited, Tally 2 is a useful alternative, with multiple counters and the means to define custom steps. But its lack of a complication feels like a missed opportunity on Apple Watch.
1Password: proves to be handy on an Apple Watch as well. Sensibly, it doesn’t attempt to send your vault’s entire contents to your wrist; instead, you activate individual items, such as a credit card, website login, or a note. These then will show up as bright, trappable button inside the Apple Watch app. 1Password for Apple Watch can be secured by a PIN. You can also force-quit the app after use, to make doubly sure your information isn’t accessible should someone pilfer your Apple Watch, your iPhone, and presumably also your finger to crack the Touch ID security feature.
Cheatsheet: If you don’t need the security of 1Password, but still fancy quick access to bite-sized notes (such as Wi-Fi passwords and door combinations), Cheatsheet’s an excellent download. Each tiny information nugget comprises a piece of text and custom icon, and cheats can be synced from the iPhone app. You can edit and create new cheats directly on Apple Watch by way of dictation.
Overcast: Given the convenience factor of the Apple Watch being at the end of your arm, it follows that plenty of ‘app remotes’ now lurk on the App Store. Overcast is an interesting case, because the developer made an Apple Watch remote to control his excellent iPhone podcast app; decided it was rubbish, and rethought it from scratch. The result is a massive improvement, based around a static ‘now playing’ screen which uses Force Touch to access the app’s effects and your full list of podcasts.
Links
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