After a period of not many new apps hitting the market for Apple Watch, there has been an increase in the last few months in 2021.
This month we have gathered apps for podcasting and procrastinating, for getting fit, listening to podcasts and music and more. As we always say, there is an app for everything!
For those who recently purchased an Apple Watch, or for those who would like to refresh their app selection, check out the best apps of 2021 so far.
$7.99
Like the Find My app that can locate lost or misplaced devices, Phone Buddy prevents them from being lost or misplaced in the first place. It issues a warning when your watch loses its Bluetooth connection to your iPhone, or when the signal strength drops below the level you specify. You can set it to notify your Apple Watch when you leave your phone behind or to notify your phone if you leave your Apple Watch behind.
It is possible to set different alert sounds and levels. You can specify the signal strength that triggers the alarm, how many seconds should elapse before alerting you, and set up other kinds of alerts such as low battery warnings. You can even set custom text for voice alarms if you’d prefer your app to talk rather than chime or set off a siren.
$4.49
If lockdown has got you thinking about fitness, the Couch to 5K app is a great way to get into shape. The companion app to Couch to 5K, is Watch to 5K, the best way of tracking it. One of the greatest components of this app is it can also work on its own. There is no need to lug your iPhone on a run. The app is designed for beginners who want to work towards running a 5K over a period of 9 weeks, and it creates a training plan of three runs per week for nine weeks.
The schedule will be different for every week, and if you complete all nine weeks you should be able to achieve 5K in under 30 minutes. It provides key metrics such as your distance travelled, your average pace, your calories burnt, and your heart rate, and all the details of your workouts are stored in Apple’s Health app. It records runs and counts towards your goals in the Fitness app, and you can record your route to review it later.
Free with in-app purchases
NapBot automatically tracks and records your sleep, and it also monitors (but doesn’t record) the ambient noise while you’re asleep. If you think a noisy environment is disturbing your sleep, NapBot will help you identify when it’s happening.
To experience the full app NapBot you’ll need to subscribe for $1.49 a month or $15.99 a year. That unlocks two key features: Sleep History, an overview of how much sleep you’ve been getting, and Sleep Trends, which tracks patterns that might be affecting sleep quality.
The app integrates well with Apple Health. The data is presented in easy-to-read graphs and is very easy to use.
Free / in-app purchases
This podcast app syncs episodes directly with the podcasts’ servers rather than going via your phone. You can skip podcast chapters and adjust the playback speed, and there’s improved Siri support too. This app only works on watch iOS 7, so it won’t work on the Apple Watch Series 1 or 2.
Its Smart Speed function enables you to increase the speed of the podcasts without listening to high pitched voices. And the Voice Boost function does a great job of normalising the volume so that some speakers aren’t louder than others. If you don’t want to pay $12.99 a year there’s an ad-supported version that is free. The app works with CarPlay, and can control the playback when streamed over Bluetooth to a car stereo.
Free
Ever have a song stuck in your head, but you can’t remember the name or who sang it? SoundHound helps to identify any song. All you must do is hum or sing a reasonably accurate version of it and SoundHound will do the rest. Of course, this relies on you being able to sing a reasonable version of the song that the app can recognise.
It also brings up the lyrics of the song it has matched, which is helpful if you want to sing along. On the iPhone app it can bookmark songs and add them to Spotify playlists. There are also useful voice-controlled features such as “okay Hound, show me lyrics for…” or “okay Hound, play today’s top songs.” It’s that voice control that really elevates SoundHound over rival apps, as it turns the app into a voice-controlled hub for any musical task.
Enjoy trying out these new apps for your AppleWatch. Be sure to get in touch with any questions or to tell us about your favourite AppWatch apps.
