The Apple Watch may not quite make sense to everyone yet, especially starting at $349. But just like the iPhone, once developers start pumping out interesting and time-saving apps, it might start clicking with more people.
There’s still a little more than a month to go before the watch and its apps are out, but here are some of the ones that spark intrigue early on.
1. Mailbox
One of the newcomers to the email space, Mailbox has tried to put a different spin on receiving electronic mail. Instead of conversations piling up, the idea Mailbox has is for messages to be a sort of to-do list.
Within its mobile and desktop app you can swipe right to discard and swipe left to snooze the message for a later time to pop back into you inbox. You can also reorder messages just by dragging them up and down. 9To5Mac recently reported that the Dropbox-owned application would be debuting a watch app ready for the release of Apple’s new hardware, but the one above is a mockup from a designer on Dribble.
2. Things
Things has been available on the iPhone pretty much as long as third-party iOS apps have existed. The full featured, premium, to-do app has moved to the Mac and iPad in subsequent years and now it’s coming to Apple Watch.
The company hasn’t indicated any specific functionality or shown any actual screenshots yet, but it announced on Twitter with a hand drawn image that there would be a companion watch app coming.
3. Evernote
Evernote is literally everywhere—similar to how there’s a Netflix application for every new device. Listed on Apple’s own site, it only makes sense to have the ability to record voice notes right from your wrist.
If you have your life synced through Evernote, being able to quickly access notes, images, and other data has to get you at least a little excited.
4. Shazam
Opening Shazam on your mobile phone and identifying a song playing at a bar still remains an impressive trick after all these years. The problem it still has, however, isn’t with the listening technology, it’s how long it takes to get the phone from your pocket, unlock the phone, and find the app.
Having Shazam on your wrist, always within tapping distance might get a lot more people using it regularly. Plus, how often do you forget about the app until it’s too late?
5. ESPN
Sports scores are a perfect, glance-able, use-case for using a smart watch. You don’t typically need to be buried in an app, just a quick and subtle look every once in a while to keep up to date on an on-going game.
MLB has a nice looking at coming as well, but ESPN’s scoreboard which has multiple sports might be slightly more appealing to those football and basketball fans.
6. Citymapper
Arguably the best transit app, City Mapper will get even better with its watch specific functionality. Besides having directions always visible while keeping your hands free, City Mapper will also discreetly buzz your wrist when you arrive at your stop.
For regular riders that means no more sleeping through stops and for tourists that means no more getting off at the wrong place. It’s hard to tell how it will work in practice, but the hype for City Mapper’s Apple Watch app is definitely real.
7. Overcast
The podcast app from former Instapaper creator, Marco Arment, is getting a watch companion which should make listening to controlling your podcast listening much easier on the go.
Overcast has a neat smart-speed function which speeds up the pauses during talking without distorting the actual talking. Without a companion app it you would need to move to another podcast app if you wanted to control the shows from your wrist.
8. Instagram
Highly unpractical on many levels, there’s a lot of cases that Instagram doesn’t need a watch app and yet, here it is. The craziest thing is that it actually seems like glancing at Instagram on your wrist might not be so bad.
The pictures have never been about quality so the small screen shouldn’t affect that. The only concern is extra functionality like liking a photo starts to get a bit clunky.
9. Highnote
Falling under the category of ‘unique,’ Highnote will allow users to adjust the tempo and key of songs, right from their wrist. The functionality is typically used for musicians learning to play songs. If you need to slow a section of a song down, it’s a few taps on your wrist versus trying to hold a phone and instrument.
10. Apple Pay
While Apple Pay isn’t a third-party app, it should definitely be one of the killer features right off the bat. Tap the side button on the watch twice to bring up a picture of your credit card and then move the watch near the NFC-enabled payment terminal. It will beep when the payment goes through.
Along with Apple Pay is the host of other third-party payment or ticket apps like Fandango for movies, or American Airlines for flights. Having a wireless payment or scannable barcode pop-up when need be and not have to hold your out should be very convenient to say the least.