We saw Android Wear get announced and got to play with it a bit (if you’re a developer or Brit, that is) and it’s pretty great. But without many or any apps, you have just a nice extension for Google Now. But now, the wait is over people! Here, we have 20 applications you can download right now for your Android Wear, and they have the new extension to work with Wear built in (or coming soon, for a few apps). Here we go with the list and rundown.
All these apps are listed in a new section of the Play Store designated for Wear-compatible apps, so look there too, as well as these apps’ native section listings. For health and fitness folk, there’s Allthecooks Recipes and Eat24 Food Delivery, both of which we saw at I/O, and are great for managing recipes while away from the cookbook, phone, or tablet, or just ordering something because you lack energy to cook or kitchen to do it in.
For media of various types, there’s Pinterest, for all your Pin-browsing needs, Player FM, to let you listen to your favorite radio stations on the go, The Guardian for your UK news (especially since Wear is seeing an early delivery in the UK as of late) and updates to go, and Thomson Reuters Eikon, a set of financial tools for your management needs, whether it be news and updates about stocks or linking you to your bank’s website, you can do it easier with Wear.
For the more fun side of Wear, we have Hangouts, obviously, so you can text and call your friends on the go wherever now, and Talkray, an app similar to Viber, in that it lets you call and message free over Wi-Fi or data networks to others with Talkray, now it’s on your wrist.
If you want to be productive with your new Wear (which, I mean, shouldn’t cross most people’s minds until around day three with it, since it’s new and fun) you now have a few apps to use. Contacts+, a contacts, messaging, social network-connecting kind of address book that should add some interesting twists to connecting with others. There’s Evernote for Wear, from the ever-loved Evernote team, so you can jot your notes whenever and wherever you need to, now on your wrist too. IFTTT (If This Then That) is an automation tool for your Android, do it’s kind of like Tasker (for you folk that know about Tasker), and it lets you set up conditions to meet, and when they’re met, an acton is triggered, and it’s all customized and chosen by you. Now whenever you go to your favorite shop, you can check in with Foursquare on your phone without even lifting a finger or arm. Level money, a nifty little money manager app, now is on your wrist and on the go, so you can see how much you can treat yourself and your friends to ice cream until you have just enough money to spend on mom or dad’s birthday present for this weekend. Personal capital finance, whose name is self-explanatory, is also available for your Wear and money managing needs when on the go. Trello, a useful app for ultimate organization, is also pairing with Wear to allow even more organization for your enjoyment, leadership, or OCD. Lastly for those productive folk, we have Zumper, an apartment and home searching app, for you folks that might be looking for a change in scenery, so you might want to rent a place for a bit, and Zumper is exactly the app for that, and it’s now on your wrist too.
For those interested in making travel even more mobile-friendly than it is now, here are some for you. American Airlines. Nuff said. Boarding pass on the wrist, and you’re cleared for take-off friend. Fly Delta. Same deal. Same convenience. Maybe even same wrist. Glympse, a useful app for sharing your location with people, especially if you’re lost in the city and need friends to come get you, is now on your wrist for extra convenience. And for extra showing off, because I know you guys are out there. And lastly for travel junkies, we have Google Maps. No better companion for a traveler than one of the best map applications available, and it’s now got navigation on your wrist, conveniently readable while biking around the park or the country roads.
For the outlier apps, the ones that don’t quite fit the other categories, we have a few to show. 1Weather, a weather and forecasting app for your phone, now for your wristwatch, and if you have a G Watch, then you’ll be able to see how much worse the drizzle will get and whether you’d better take the watch off if drenching are in your future. Bandsintown Concerts which, judging by the name and a little luck, is a way to find local shows to go rock, jam, and jive out and about at, and it’s also great for listing a performance too, for you groups looking for exposure. Playing near you. Like, on your wrist near. Banjo makes a great companion to the avid live event-going folks, so you can quickly see who’s playing down the block next week in the park, or notice something popular that’s going on in an hour four blocks away. Duolingo, for those who can’t speak a second language, you can learn from a teacher, tutor, computer, tablet, phone, and now a watch, so there’s no excuse now, especially because it’s free. Get on that people. It’ll help give you a reason to download and use one of the travel apps from earlier. Promise. And lastly of the set of outliers, we have Highlight, a social network that works locally to find your local folk, and see where they are on your radar. Should be fun to meet people locally, and I mean casually, not like for dates or the like. Miss your friend from high school, and know she’s still in town? Go see if you can find her on Highlight, and your wrist!
And that about wraps up the list of available-now, download-ready apps for enhancing your Android Wear experience. Give a few a try, and if a few don’t immediately feature Wear-specific functionality, it will be coming in near-future updates, so don’t worry and uninstall in a huff. More apps will be added without a doubt, so keep checking to see ‘Android Wear support added’ on your favorite app’s/apps’ next update listing.