April is coming sooner than you think, and developers know this all too well.
Hundreds of iOS developers are hard at work prepping all sorts of WatchKit apps for the Apple Watch: Health monitors, RSS feed readers, social communications apps, business programs, and more.
Wareable and Wired spoke with several developers in the last week about their impending Apple Watch software, and they're offering a bit of a sneak peek at what's in store for users when the device launches.
Wareable spoke with ten developers working on a variety of apps for the watch, including list-making, a ski tracker, and a smart home remote:
Curtis Herbert's Slopes app is designed for skiers and snowboarders who use an iPhone's GPS to record stats and form: "Think Nike+ or RunKeeper, but for winter sports, and with unique takes on visualising data, such as 3D replays right on your phone." The goal of the companion app is to make it easier to check in on stats while on the mountain: "Gloves get in the way of TouchID, and iPhones are usually buried deep in warm pockets. So an Apple Watch app is perfect for getting details at a glance, and you can start recording without ever taking out your iPhone."
Wired has a more focused look on companies specifically looking to innovate in the health space:
Take Propeller Health, another tool for those with respiratory conditions. In addition to monitoring inhaler usage with the company's Bluetooth sensor, its location-sensing mobile app tracks weather, pollen count, and air quality (along with other personal trigger factors) to notify a patient when conditions arise that might initiate an asthma attack. The notifications are personalized and contextually relevant, and since they're on the wrist, they could be even less obtrusive than they are on a smartphone.
Both of these roundups excite me for different reasons: Wareable's roundup gives a good overview of what we might see appearing on our watch faces come April, while Wired's interviews paint a fascinating picture of the Apple Watch's potential to change the health landscape. As someone who's consistently been frustrated with fitness trackers because I do a sport that's not particularly conducive to step-tracking, I have high hopes for the Watch's varied sensor data; it's also really exciting to think about the potentials for long-term lifestyle changes and further Health app integration.
What apps do you folks most want to see come to the Apple Watch on launch day? Let us know in the comments.
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