With Black Friday and Cyber Monday behind us, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more Android Wear owners out there than there were a few weeks ago. With that amazing deal Google was running on the LG G Watch, it’s been a great time to get into Android Wear. Now that you have your new smartwatch, you’ll want some new apps for that little Android on your wrist, right? Well, here are our best picks for December.
Minimal & Elegant Watch Face
We’ll kick things off with a watch face and Minimal & Elegant certainly lives up to its name. Designed to work with both square or round Android Wear devices, you can choose which text and colors to display and it’s really just a nice and simple face that looks smart without being too simple. And yes, putting together green text on black makes me feel like I’m in the Matrix, and with a quick download from the Play Store you can, too.
Weather Delta
Weather Delta is actually a pretty fresh app for both Android and Android Wear watches, but the Android Wear part is interesting. It’s a little clunky right now, but it does work fairly well. Weather Delta takes “real feel” to a new level, and basically gives you the weather in a description of what it’s like outside, as oppose to numbers we presumably don’t understand. It’s yet another weather app, granted, but it’s also a somewhat fresh departure from the precision we insist with weather apps.
Jarvis – My Personal Assistant
Jarvis is yes, a nod to the Iron Man AI that helps Robert Downey Jr do his thing, but it’s also an interesting take on the whole voice-controlled assistant side of things as well. It works quite well with Android Wear, too, allowing you to order around your own AI. You can ask Jarvis to play music, set reminders, show you reminders and a whole lot more. Take a look at the Play Store listing to give it a go.
Wear FaceLift
We took a look at Wear FaceLift when it first launched and it’s still a fairly fresh Android Wear app to take a look at. If you’re anything like me, you’ll have amassed a sizable collection of watch faces that are difficult to choose from. With Wear FaceLift, there’s no need to choose between them, as you can quite easily ask the app to cycle through them for you. An interesting app that can keep your watch feeling fresh throughout the day, Wear FaceLift is worth taking a look at.
Runbit
Runbit is yet another application that’s designed to encourage you to get into running, and generally getting out there to invest in your health. How Runbit does that is by placing stars on a virtual map near you and tasking you with collecting all the stars. It turns “going for a run” into a nice little game, with goals you have to reach to keep you motivated. The Android Wear side of things are pretty good and it’ll make finding those stars a little easier and it could be the one thing that keeps you using Runbit.
Dot Matrix Wear Face Moto 360
Despite its name, this is a face that works just fine with square Android Wear watches, but we’re assuming that it’ll look sharper on the Moto 360 and G Watch R. Essentially a digital clock that adds battery and weather information, this is a nice face that brings with it some throwbacks to the watches of the 80s and 90s. Somewhat annoyingly, Dot Matrix relies on Watch Maker for your device to create the look on your Android Wear watch.
Blue Colony Android Wear Store
We’ve seen apps for Android smartphones that show you just Android Wear apps, but Blue Colony shows you just Android Wear apps on your wrist, which is pretty nifty. Of course, scrolling through all sorts of apps on your wrist might make you look a little weird in public, it is nice to search for apps on your watch rather than your phone. After all, these devices were designed to keep us away from our phones a little bit, so this makes a lot of sense in that regard.
Circa for Wear
Circa works just fine on all styles of Android Wear watches, despite its name, and it aims to streamline Android Wear notifications. They appear in a more pleasing manner and you can even filter apps, stopping certain applications sending notifications to your watch, but keeping them active on your phone. It’s still a work in progress of course, but the Free version features everything completed. Supporting the developer with a donation will gain you access to some more features in the future.
Heartbeat Note
Here’s an interesting app that owners of heart monitor watches can enjoy, Heartbeat Note keeps a record of your heart rates over time and you can add a comment to help you check up on your heart during different activities. With this, you can easily creating a resting reference and then add one for when you’ve just finished working out and so on. It’s a nice tool and it’s up to you how you use it.
Wear for Instagram
While many of you will be thinking this is a stupid idea, about the same amount of you with think this is a great idea. The wonders of the Internet. Either way, Wear for Instagram is a neat little app for Android Wear watches that can quickly help you get your filter-fix when your phone is too far away to reach for.