Apple has now spent a fair amount of time showing us how Apple Watch apps will work on its wearable, which launches on April 24 (with pre-orders starting April 10), but few have had a chance to try out the software for themselves. Dedicated watch app site WatchAware has spent considerable time and effort providing interactive teaser trailers that provide a basic idea how apps for Apple Watch will work in practice, however, and you can find a collection of those embedded below that include all the third- and some of the first-party apps Apple has featured both at Monday’s show, and at the iPhone launch event last September where the Apple Watch was first introduced to the world.
The Facebook-owned photo sharing app was one of the pieces of software that Apple had running on demo units at Monday’s hands on showcase, and it provides a full image feed for casual browsing without a need to pull your phone out of your pocket. The app works pretty much like you’d expect, but there’s a second level view for seeing likes and interactivity options, making it mostly a browsing experience.
Starwood is one of the partners that helps Apple showcase some of the more futuristic powers made possible by the Watch. The app from the hotelier allows guests to check in, and to unlock their hotel room door remotely in select locations. Increasingly, I think we’ll see people use the Watch as a device that can interact widely with its surroundings, and this is a good initial example of that kind of thing.
A Twitter app is one of those things a platform needs to be taken seriously these days, and Apple’s demo reveals it’s among the more full-featured experiences, giving you access to much of the mobile app’s functionality on your wrist. A timeline is basically perfectly suited to a small screen with a scroll wheel, after all
The official Maps app offers directions and navigation on the wrist, with a mini-map view that provides just enough context to help you get around in unfamiliar settings without having to hold out your phone while you wander.
The native Photos app on the Apple Watch has a navigation system and general UX that’s in keeping with the experience both on your iPhone and iPad, and now on the desktop via the upcoming Photos app. Apple’s Watch screen is actually surprisingly well suited to pictures, despite its small size.
The Facebook app is another one that makes perfect sense on the wrist, given that a lot of FB interaction on smartphones probably comes via notifications these days. If we’re lucky, FB on the wrist will mean less time spent falling into Facebook ‘holes’ so to speak, where you open the app to address something specific and then end up aimlessly browsing, without any memory of why you dove in to begin with.
These are just a few of the apps announced or previewed so far, and WatchAware has over 60 in total to check out, so be sure to head over there and try out some others if you’re after a deeper look at what Apple Watch will be like from a software perspective.
It’s not just about what the Apple Watch looks like; it’s also about what the wearable can do and, more importantly, the UI users will have running on their wrists. The Apple Watch software isn’t exactly iOS, but instead a more bubbly and shrunk down version.
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