Best Apple Watch applications of 2022

The top Apple Watch apps are always changing as new ones are published and old ones are improved or upgraded. This demonstrates the thriving Apple Watch app business.

It wasn’t always like that. Recently, it seemed as if the Watch had lost its appeal since several well-known apps were either withdrawn completely or lagged behind. The Watch app market seems to be much more active right now, however.

You see, the problem was one of function: app developers spent too much time wondering, “Could we construct an Apple Watch app?” instead of asking, “Should we…?”

However, Apple has made efforts to improve things, and the addition of an App Store in watchOS 6 to the Apple Watch is a huge step in that regard. The quality of Apple Watch apps has improved over time, despite the fact that the selection isn’t as wide as for the iPhone. As a result, it is the wearable with the healthiest app ecosystem.

Consequently, whether you just wore an Apple Watch 7 or are wearing an older model, apps may help you get more out of your Apple Watch.

The top Apple Watch choices were highlighted to make that decision easier. Our list of all-time favourites is always growing, and each one is on it because it makes your life easier, more fun, or some other manner.

Applications for exercising and getting things done, playing around and organising things, and podcasting and procrastinating are all included in this collection.

So get in and start maximising your Apple Watch, whether you’re fresh to watchOS or just want to update your stock. A new app will be released every few weeks, as seen below, so keep checking back to get the most of your Apple Watch.

Medicines is the best new Apple Watch app.

A group of software developers bemoan the inclusion of functionality that were previously only available via third-party programmes in recent watchOS releases from Apple. Although there are still numerous third-party options, this is now occurring with medication tracking apps after initially happening with sleep monitoring apps.

If you need to keep up with a medicine schedule, you can now use the Prescriptions app on your Apple Watch to set reminders and monitor when you take your medications

Setting up drugs on your iPhone requires using the Health app. Then you may build a list of the medications you need to take, together with information about how often and when to take them. You may also choose a picture of a certain drug to make identification easier.

You may then choose to report that you’ve taken all of your prescriptions, some of them, or none at all when your phone and Apple Watch remind you to do so at the appropriate times. This information may then be shared with family members or healthcare providers after being shared with the Health app (if you give them permission to access it).

The top Apple Watch fitness and wellness applications

It is obvious that the Apple Watch has placed a strong emphasis on fitness since the launch of the second generation: it features GPS, heart rate tracking, water resistance, and better sensors to take full use of the fact that consumers like working out while wearing the gadget. Even the gym equipment is connected.

Utilize your new Watch to improve both your physical and mental well-being if you just use one feature of it. The Apple Watch apps on our list for fitness, jogging, wellness, and health are all essentially must.

Cronometer

Calorie counting is no longer necessary. You can now construct a far more accurate picture of your nutritional needs and how well you’re satisfying them by focusing on up to 82 micronutrients. The Cronometer iPhone app, which already syncs with Fitbit, Withings, Strava, Garmin, Polar, and other gadgets and programmes, now has a companion Apple Watch app.

Through complexities for watch faces, which mainly serve as a display for the iPhone app, you may see your progress and nutritional breakdown in the Watch app as well as in the iPhone app.

Precision is the key selling point in this instance, along with micronutrient monitoring. All of the nutritional data on Cronometer is based on scientific research, and user-submitted information for new items is verified before it is included to the database.

All the features you’d expect from a nutrition tracking app are included in the programme, including barcode scanning, carb and cholesterol tracking, restaurant meal reporting, and alcohol and water intake monitoring. The core functions are still accessible for free despite the inclusion of scheduling and customising options, as well as the elimination of the advertising, in the subscription tier.

WatchTo5K

Although version 3 of this excellent workout programme has already been mentioned, it will be released in June 2022. The primary modification is the addition of an iPhone companion app for the Watch app, which you can use to track your progress, collect achievements, and share your runs with others. The usual procedure has been reversed in this case.

The primary Watch app has undergone some minor changes, but it still has its key features. It is designed for total beginners who want to train for a 5K over the course of nine weeks, and it provides a training regimen that calls for three runs each week. After you begin, you ought to be able to complete your 5K in under 30 minutes.

The app provides useful statistics like distance travelled, average speed, calories burnt, and heart rate, while Apple’s Health app keeps track of all the details of your workouts. It also integrates with the Apple Fitness app, allowing you to log your runs and have them count toward your overall fitness goals. You may also make a recording of your trip for later use. This program’s version 3 is a major improvement over version 2, yet it doesn’t have a high price tag. Unlike many other programmes, WatchTo5K just requires a one-time payment of $3.99/£3.49/AU$5.99.

a kinder streak

Gentler Streak’s streaks are built on Heart Zones, defying the trend of fitness applications that urge you to do more, push yourself harder, and track numerous metrics, as opposed to closing activity rings or counting your steps.

Unlike other applications, Gentler Streak is designed to help you exercise at the right intensity for your fitness level. As a result, it will alert you if you’re pushing yourself too hard and advise you to take it easy. It has a more human feel and appreciates the worth of both active and inactive days in comparison to many other fitness trackers.

The Apple-approved Apple Watch software tracks over 85 different activities, including sports like basketball and football, and there are subtleties to incorporating your status into several watch faces. Both the Apple Watch firmware and the bulk of fitness apps keep things simple. Your iPhone receives data to enable progress graphs, activity summaries, and monthly and yearly reviews.

If you’re the sort of person who gets motivated by objectives, this app may not be for you. However, if you want to enhance your health without putting yourself in risk, this is a terrific option.

Love Hive

Even while watchOS now has sleep monitoring capabilities, there is always room for development, and many third-party programmes provide more advanced sleep tracking features than what Apple offers.

One of the most exciting new capabilities in the most current version of the well-known NapBot sleep monitoring software is the ability to diagnose sleep apnea. Your breathing may stop or become very shallow more often than it occurs for other people due to a sleep disorder called sleep apnea, which may severely disturb your sleep and make you feel more weary the next day.

Your watch’s respiratory rate measurement is accessible while the sleep focus mode is enabled and may be utilised by NapBot to detect apnea. It not only provides the anticipated analysis of your sleep stages, but it also keeps an eye on the noises around you so you can figure out whether anything external is making it difficult for you to fall asleep.

While the Pro membership may be unlocked for $0.99/£0.99 per month or $9.99/£9.99 per year, the primary programme is free. Now that you have two additional characteristics, you can see your general sleep patterns as well as the effects of any dietary or lifestyle changes with the help of Sleep History and Sleep Trends.

Waterful’s water tracker

One of the things the Apple Watch excels at is tracking little behaviours that you probably wouldn’t reach for your phone to record. For example, its automated exercise detection enables us to gather fitness-related data that we would not have previously thought about. The same is true for things like hydration: we like quickly touching our Apple Watch as we drink but can’t be bothered to pull out our phones to track each and every bottle of water or cup of coffee.

One of the finest hydration monitors available on the App Store has a main display like Waterful. You can see exactly what you’ve been eating and how well you’re doing in relation to your daily hydration target thanks to its attractive design.

It integrates with Siri Shortcuts, the Health app, and compatible Watch faces as complexities. For example, you may have a circular clock in the centre or a percentage and total in a larger complexity.

The primary app is available for free to check out, but in order to continue using it, you must subscribe; monthly payments are only $0.99/£0.99/AU$1.49, and a lifetime membership only costs $9.99/£8.99/AU$14.99.

Tempo: Walk and Run Fitness Log

Tempo is a favourite among runners and walkers because to its detailed analysis and easy Apple Watch connectivity. Any fitness monitoring programme that uploads information to Apple’s Health app may provide data for it to gather and analyse your performance. We appreciate learning that wheelchair users may make use of the software.

Earlier this year, the app included Personal Bests to show off your greatest times, and in the most recent update, Goals were added by Tempo. You may choose how far you wish to run, either for a single session or for many.

So even if you use other programmes to monitor your walk or run in real time, Tempo will track your progress if you set a goal to walk 500 miles, followed by another 500, as The Proclaimers did.

The software lets you categorise your exercises in a number of ways, and you can even see whether a certain set of running shoes affected how well you did. Now that several Apple Watch faces include Tempo calculations, you can keep tabs on your progress.

Like other fitness tracking programmes, Tempo is a subscription-based service, but unlike many of them, it only offers one membership level, which costs $9.99, £9.49, or AU$15.99 per month.

The heart analyzer

We gave Version 7 of Heart Analyzer a positive evaluation when we first tested it in 2019. The brand-new version 8 from 2020 is a big advancement, especially for iPhone users who will love its gorgeous new user interface.

In contrast to the phone, the Apple Watch’s display is regrettably somewhat tiny, but even while it isn’t quite as gorgeous as the new iPhone app, the Watch component is still very functional and makes fantastic use of the limited space.

You can view your heart rate chart right away thanks to the Heart Analyzer v8 on your wrist, which includes improved, configurable complications for the Infograph faces. The Watch app offers real heart rate monitoring, trend charts, weekly metrics, and workout views in addition to tracking distance travelled and calories burned. As you would think, it integrates well with Apple Health.

On an iPhone, where you can see personalised statistics like average heart rates, day/night resting heart rates, and years’ worth of historical data, the situation is even more apparent. The new interface has far more clarity and manages to provide you with a tonne of information without being intrusive.

Run and bike training on Strava

It is unnecessary to introduce Strava to serious fitness fanatics. It’s one of the top fitness apps in the world for kayakers, yoga practitioners, gym users, cyclists, runners, and swimmers. With the latest version’s proper support for the Apple Watch, you may obtain a better overall view of your fitness activities by synchronising workouts and activities you’ve recorded using Apple’s Workout app with the Strava app and its online monitoring.

Only a few days after the Apple Watch sync announcement, there was an update with better cadence analysis for runners and improved stroke analysis for swimmers. Two weeks before, there had been a tonne of interactive 3D maps, additional features for skiers, and activity sharing.

The main difference between Strava and other GPS-enabled fitness applications is its social aspect. You may assess your performance not only against yourself but also against other users, compete for the top spot on regional leaderboards, and share with friends and followers to get encouraging feedback and frank criticism.

The Premium membership, which costs $5.99/£5.99/AU$9.99 per month or $59.99/£44.99/AU$89.99 per year, comes with the most features. In comparison to other fitness apps, this is rather affordable.

Golf GPS & Scoring for Hole 19

The Hole19 golf GPS range finder claims to be the most widely used in the UK, with more than 10 million rounds having been logged. Additionally, it claims to be as accurate as a real caddy, albeit it doesn’t specify which one.

As is common for sports apps, the iPhone app does the most of the work, while the Apple Watch companion just provides the minimal functionality and information you need while on the course.

The main app offers two crucial tools: GPS range finding and a digital scorecard for tracking your stats over time and distance from your goal and potential hazards.

Your watch displays the distance to the front, centre, and rear of the green; slide to expose an input screen so you may keep track of your progress. Everything is extremely simple and straightforward, which lets you keep track of your playing without becoming sidetracked.

The usefulness of the app mostly depends on how well-versed it is in the course(s) you want to play. Your course should be in the database of over 42,000 courses maintained by Hole19, which spans 201 countries. However, you may download the app without charge to see whether it’s a suitable match for you before purchasing a subscription.

Workout of Seven – Seven Minutes

What is possible in seven minutes? You may listen to one and a half pop songs. It’s possible to witness a tenth of an episode of Game of Thrones. Or you could decide to change your life’s path. Seven offers that assurance. The idea behind the software is that if users had only seven more minutes each day, they can all become noticeably more fit.

You and your Apple Watch are all that is required—no equipment, no subscriptions.However, because the Apple Watch’s screen is too tiny to clearly illustrate how to do each action, we suggest starting using your phone.

It serves no use to knock yourself out for your seven-minute stretch if you’re doing it improperly and causing more harm than good. You can rely on your Watch to record your activity and time your breaks and exercises once you know what to do, however.

The software is easy to use, has a tonne of helpful tasks, and provides good visual feedback and incentives. You may access more than 200 routines with the $9.99/£9.99/AU$14.99 monthly subscription to keep your training regimen interesting.

You may compete against your friends or just earn in-app achievements. By enabling you to exercise whenever and wherever you choose, seven may help you form the fitness habit.

Tennis Swing Tracker

Swing Tennis Tracker was created for serious tennis players under the direction of Andy Roddick and James Blake and is intended to evaluate your swings as well as keep track of your statistics. It can sync scores with other Apple Watch users on the court, so it’s not simply a standalone app.

Fantastic visual feedback is provided to let you know how hard you’re hitting, and there is excellent Siri connection for initiating games and practise sessions as well as connectivity with the Activity and Health applications.

While the phone app handles scores, data, and video while the Watch component focuses on recording and feedback, it also offers action recommendations after each strike. It’s a fantastic software for individual players, but parents, coaches, and teams may also use it to keep tabs on the performance of other team members.

The $4.99/£4.49/AU$7.99 Premium and the $9.99/£9.49/AU$15.49 Pro are the two available subscription packages. The Pro subscription adds video lessons from tennis pros and intelligent analysis of your performance that identifies key areas for improvement after each session, while the former unlocks historical statistic graphics, head-to-head records against non-Swing users, and unlimited analysis graphs for each session.

club run by Nike

The continuing romance between Nike and Apple is still paying off, as the most recent version of the Nike Run Club app includes some much-needed upgrades.

There are new Apple Watch complications, including one for the Infograph face that shows how far you’ve run this month. It now integrates with Siri Suggestions, allowing the app to suggest good times for a run based on your prior runs (the feature is off by default so it won’t nag you if you don’t want it to).

There are many of running applications in the App Store, but since Nike’s budget is a little greater than others, this one seems much more upscale than most. Thanks to your Watch’s built-in GPS, it keeps track of and records all of your runs, lets you listen to audio guidance while you run, gives a variety of challenges to keep you engaged, and has strong social sharing options so you can convert your friends into supporters.

The Watch app is really well made and doesn’t compromise functionality for aesthetics: although it’s aesthetically stunning, it also displays all the information you truly need when pounding the pavement. It’s an excellent running app.

Nike Sports Club

Given that Nike and Apple have always been close, the announcement of a new Watch app by Nike is not particularly surprising. This one is also excellent. Nike Training Club, which bills itself as “your ultimate personal trainer,” offers more than 180 free exercises that encompass strength, endurance, mobility, and yoga.

You may get customizable training programmes to help you reach your fitness objectives, daily tailored recommendations based on your prior activity, and advice from professional trainers.The software divides tasks between the Watch and the phone.

The first is where you conduct your planning and tracking, while the second is what you put on when doing out. Due to both need and design, this entails concentrating solely on the information you really need at the moment, such as your heart rate and the number of repetitions left until you can ruin all your hard work with some cake and beer.

The app has Nike’s instantly identifiable and distinctive visual design, but it is by no means the only one combining Watch with fitness monitoring. What’s noteworthy about this programme, however, is that none of its many exercises need expensive in-app purchases or memberships. The software is entirely free.

Headspace

Headspace may be of use if you’ve ever felt that life is a little bit too hectic or stressful. It is built on mindfulness, which focuses on helping you feel calmer without exerting too much effort. In actuality, mindfulness is about taking a break from the rush—the very opposite of effort.

The Apple Watch software is a component of a larger collection for iPhone and iPad; it serves as a coach and a reminder, encouraging you to choose an activity and concentrate on it for the designated amount of time.

For times when things become too much and you need assistance right away, it also contains an SOS mode. With daily mindfulness exercises and sessions created to aid with anything from professional stress to sleep issues, the primary app is what really performs the most of the job.

Although the app is free to test, you’ll need to subscribe to access its most beneficial features, which costs $12.99/£9.99/AU$19.99 per month or $94.99/£74.99/AU$149.99 per year. It’s extremely nicely done, but the expense could make you more anxious. If you don’t want that subscription to automatically renew each time, you must turn it off in iTunes.

Streaks

Living well doesn’t include running yourself to death on a treadmill and then giving up after a few weeks. Your goal should be to transform your life in subtle, long-lasting ways that you can maintain. And Streaks provides that.

Whether you’re attempting to eat more healthily, exercise more or stop a smoking habit, Streaks allows you to monitor good and bad behaviours. You may monitor up to 12 distinct activities at once and use a variety of reporting tools to understand precisely how you’re doing.

You may set reminders for yourself to study, take vitamins, walk the dog, or practise your instrument instead of just exercising or eating. It’s encouraging to see wheelchair users included in the list of standard duties.

Streaks excels in its interface with the Health app, which allows it to gather information for use in keeping track of the appropriate goals you’ve established. This significantly minimises the amount of form-filling required by comparable applications, and it’s especially useful if you’re attempting to develop healthy habits, break bad ones, or do both.

Additionally, there is a Complication to help you remember your objectives, and everything is adjustable so you can get it exactly right.

MyFitnessPal Calorie monitoring is a wonderful strategy to keep motivated if you’re attempting to lose weight. Information is power. Based on how much weight you want to lose, MyFitnessPal calculates a daily calorie limit. If you eat anything, your allotment is gone; if you exercise, you get credit.

The Watch displays a running tally of your remaining calories along with how many are made up of protein, carbs, and other nutrients. So that you don’t have to manually add them, it can combine with your overall number of steps. It is simple yet useful and handy.

CONTROL Fit

You may be familiar with CARROT from their weather app, which blends sarcasm and falsehoods with weather forecasting in the vein of Dark Sky. However, CARROT also has other reasons for wanting to bring you misery, and what could be more amusing for a cruel AI than to be in charge of a fitness app?

Enter CARROT Fit, a weight loss and fitness software that encourages you to live a better life.

“Get you fit – or else,” says CARROT. To accomplish so, it provides a dozen harsh workouts (more ones are accessible via in-app purchases), along with taunts, shaming, incentives, and the rare complement.

We’re very certain it’s the only fitness software that recognises accomplishments with cat facts; it’s harsh, vulgar, and a lot more amusing than attempting to complete the rings on Apple’s own activity tracker. However, there is also a legitimate fitness tracker included here that will keep track of your weight loss and steps taken, recall your exercises, and submit data to Apple’s health app.

The main iPhone app has the most personality, but the Watch notifications have humorous ideas like “seven minutes in hell.” If you need a little bit of a carrot to get you motivated to work out or lose weight, CARROT could be it.

Drop It!

This software is designed to help you reach your weight reduction objectives “without the unsustainable gimmicks, fad diets, restricted meals, on-site meetings, or high price tags of other weight-loss firms,” so if your Watch strap is feeling a bit tighter than it used to, it could be the solution.

It keeps track of the calories you’ve eaten and the targets you’ve set, emphasises nutrition in addition to total calorie consumption, integrates seamlessly with other fitness apps and trackers, and offers an online peer network where everyone supports one another in achieving their desired weight.

It not only helps you lose weight but also allows you to create fitness goals and concentrate on overall wellbeing.

The Apple Watch app doesn’t completely replace the phone app; for instance, you’ll need your phone nearby if you want to use the barcode scanner to automatically log your meals, and team-based features like group challenges are phone-based. Nevertheless, it’s a great way to stay motivated despite strong temptations.

Although the service costs $39.99/£29.99/AU$62.99 a year, you can test out the app without registering for free.

How we evaluate applications for Apple Watch

Every year, we go through hundreds of applications to find the finest ones to suggest you download for your Apple Watch. To determine the best options we should try, we consult the Apple App Store, developers, web sources, and more.

Then, we utilise those applications in our daily lives to determine how well they function and if they merit a spot on our list. New Apple Watch applications are virtually always tested out by the writer who is in charge of this list.

What applications are available for the Apple Watch?

Due to the Apple Watch’s smaller screen, there are less services available than there are for your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, which puts it at a disadvantage. There are still several options available, and maybe our rankings here will assist you in selecting the finest services for your needs.

How many applications are there for the Apple Watch?

There are now over 20,000 services available on the App Store, however that number is always fluctuating as more developers add new ones every day. Over 40 applications will start downloading to your Apple Watch right now as well.