It is becoming increasingly clear to me that the value of an app on the Apple Watch is not defined by the app itself but by its complication on the watch faces. We generally use the Apple Watch to quickly see information on it and collect information in the background (steps, heart rate, etc.). It is therefore especially useful for an application to have a practical complication so that with just a glance by raising the wrist, it will be useful to us.
From time to time I like to take a look around the App Store for watchOS and test new apps that appear, especially focusing on their complications. What are the best? It depends on each person’s needs. For some it’s more than enough with those that Apple offers by default, for others who want more, there are lots of options on the app store.
Apple Watch apps to try
After testing a series of applications and their respective complications, I have compiled a total of 13 which are the most interesting. The interest of a complication is that it is not a simple button that serves as a direct access to the application, but that it displays relevant information for the user. Here are thirteen examples:
All rings: An application that we have analyzed at length in Applesfera. As we saw back then, the grace of this app on the Apple Watch is that it not only highlights progress in closing the three rings, but also notifies you if you’ve completed the minute of rest. or not at present. It works great on just about every complication and is very customizable, my favorite being XL.
Best day: An application designed only for the Apple Watch and its complications, the most customizable to display dates on the Apple Watch. There are so many options and possibilities that it is better to try for yourself than to list them.
Cardiogram: This app is great not only to analyze the heart rate on the Apple Watch but also to see in its complication what is our current or last heart rate that was taken. An option that the default Apple application does not offer. Personally, I like it on the modular dial circles because its progress bar also shows how high or low our heart rate is.
Carrot: Lots of options to customize app complications and lots of information available to display. Carrot, in addition to being the naughtiest app when it comes to providing weather information, is also the most complete. We have analyzed it in detail in Applesfera.
City map : Detailed information on routes and public transport in major cities. The various Citymapper complications are particularly interesting because they display real-time information about the route we are taking.
Fantastic: My favorite app for managing calendars on iOS, macOS and watchOS. Fantastical has very good complications for the Apple Watch since we can customize them and see, for example, by colors what is the current or upcoming event on the calendar.
To concentrate: If you want to focus and be more productive, one of the most effective techniques is the pomodoro. Focus is a tool focused precisely on this and we have already analyzed it previously in Applesfera. Its Apple Watch complication shows the time remaining in the current Focus session.
Just press Save:
Pillow: My favorite application to monitor sleep thanks to its simple and effective interface. Its complication for the Apple Watch shows us the quality of sleep since the last session/night of sleep.
Tracks: This app is the best for tracking habits thanks to its integration with Apple Health. The application for the Apple Watch is very complete and also allows you to customize the complications to display, for example, the next habit to be completed, a list of all or small dots indicating the status of each of the habits.
Things: What is there left to say about a task manager with which there is nothing to complain about. Its application for Apple Watch is one of the most refined and its complication shows us a circle that fills up as we complete the pending tasks of the current day.
Without water : WaterMinder is a very simple application: you define the goal of water to drink per day and then complete it. In the Apple Watch complication, we can see how we complete the daily goal.
Zero: If you practice intermittent fasting, this app is very useful on iOS, our colleagues from Vitónica recently analyzed it. Your complication shows a small circle that will completely close at the end of the current fasting session.
One last tip is use a few different spheres. For me the most versatile of all is Modular Infogram, I have several depending on the time of day or the activities I do. A work watch face with productivity complications like Things and Focus, a sports watch face with complications like All The Rings and Cardiogram, a nighttime app with Pillow and Streaks…
Imagen | Clement Lauwaert
