Android Wear is a brand new platform which means it can be difficult to find the essential applications. Believe it or not, there are some decent Android Wear apps out there and you can get quite a bit of functionality. Here is an early list of the best Android Wear apps.
1Weather:Widget Forecast Radar
[Price: Free with in app purchases]
First on our list is 1Weather. It’s already an intensely popular and highly rated weather application with a lot of functionality. It does have Android Wear support. On Android Wear you’ll be able to see the current weather and weather forecast. It’s not a lot yet but those who just need to quickly glance at the weather and don’t have that functionality on their watch face could find a use for this.
Aeris Wear Weather
[Price: Free with in app purchases]
Those looking for a more serious weather app for Android Wear may want to try out Aeris. It’s a little more polished because it’s made specifically for Android Wear devices. You can see the current weather and forecasts. If you fork out a couple of bucks, you can get radar and customization options. It’s about as complete of a weather experience as you can get on a watch face for right now.
Duolingo
[Price: Free]
Duolingo is a language learning application that you can use on your phone, tablet, and web to learn another language. It was among the first apps with Android Wear support. You won’t get the full experience but some peripheral things like flash cards are available. It’s a nice little language game you can play with yourself if you have a few minutes and really everyone should learn a second language. It’s good for your brain.
Evernote for Android Wear
[Price: Free]
Well, Evernote has made every other best Android apps list and you better believe they figured out a way to make it on Android Wear as well. Evernote for Android Wear allows you to view notes on your watch. This can be helpful for things like grocery lists or work memos that you may need to glance at quickly. You can also use voice commands and dictate notes which are then saved in Evernote which is arguably the more useful function. Talking a quick into your watch is wildly faster than pulling out your phone, opening the app, opening a note, and typing it out.
Find My Phone (Android Wear)
[Price: Free with in app purchases]
Wear Aware Phone Finder is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Using this app, you can use your watch to make your phone flip out with an alarm so you can find it easier. The ability to do this is among the most useful and unique things you can do with a smartwatch and everyone should have this app or an app just like it. The free version lets you find your phone and your watch will alert you when you’ve walked away without your phone. If you buy it, you can also make the flashlight turn on and off and change your ringtone. It’s an essential Android Wear app.
Google Keep
[Price: Free]
Google Keep is another note taking option for Android Wear that’s pretty decent. Much like Evernote you can view and create notes on your Wear device. Google Keep can also do some nifty hacks with Wear to make your life easier. It’s free and it’s a simple note taking app for those who don’t need a lot of bells and whistles.
IFTTT
[Price: Free]
The famous command app has been recently updated to include Android Wear support. Just like on your Android devices, you can create recipes to make your watch do things when certain triggers happen. One fun example is tapping to send a picture of your GPS coordinates via email which can be useful in emergency situations or if you want to give someone directions to where you’re at. Of all the apps of this list, IFTTT may be the most useful for Android Wear.
Wear Music Controller
[Price: Free with in app purchases]
There are a lot of music apps with built in Android Wear controls. There are still many others who either don’t have that functionality yet or the functionality is slightly messed up. For those people, Wear Music Controller is an option. It lets you control the music app on your device. It works for some apps, not for others and it works for some people and not for others. Thankfully it’s free to try so you can see if it works for you.
Runtastic Running and Fitness
[Price: Free]
Undeniably one of the most common and useful purposes for owning a smartwatch is for fitness. Android Wear already has a built in step counter but apps like Runtastic add a lot more. You can see how many calories you’ve burned, your steps, your total distance, issue voice commands, and plenty of other stuff. If you’re an avid exerciser then you should probably at least try this.
Talon for Twitter
[Price: $1.99]
Talon for Twitter has been on fire this last year. It was among the first Twitter apps to get a substantial Material Design update and among the first to have Android Wear support. Wear support is pretty simple but you can view unread tweets directly from your watch. Thanks to Twitter’s minimal system and its 160 character limit, they’re easy to read on a watch face. Of all the social networks, Twitter is the most Wear-ready and this app helps make it happen.
Tockle
[Price: Free with in app purchases]
Tockle is kind of a control center for your Android device that you access from Android Wear. You can do things like turn WiFi on and off, send SMS messagse, and even import Tasker commands if you use Tasker. There is even voice command integration and it’s free to use.
Toggles Wear
[Price: $1.31]
Toggles Wear is a more simple approach to controlling your Android phone. You can control things like volume and various toggles like Bluetooth and WiFi. It’s a very simple app but you can control quite a few settings straight from your watch which can save you a little bit of time and hassle. We wish there had been a free version or a demo to recommend but you should be able to figure out if you like it or not well within the refund time.
Wear Calc
[Price: Free]
There are quite a few calculator apps but Wear Calc is the best combination of basic, advanced calculators, and developer support. It doesn’t support Moto 360 yet but the developer has promised support by the end of support of October. You can calculate quite a few things with this app including the basic stuff, matrices, conversions, and others. It is also totally free with no in app purchases.
Wear HQ for Android Wear
[Price: Free with in app purchases]
Okay, Wear HQ isn’t an Android Wear app on the face of it. It is, however, a hub that you can use to find plenty of other Android Wear apps, watch faces, and accessories. It’ll notify you when there are new Android Wear apps and watch faces in the Play Store and it’s just a good tool for Android Wear owners to have.
Wear Mini Launcher
[Price: Free]
Wear Mini Launcher is the last and certainly not the least Android Wear app on this list. To access your app drawer, you have to access voice command, click the arrow, scroll down and hit Start. Who wants to do that? With Wear Mini launcher, you can set your app drawer to launch by swiping from a corner or edge of your Android Wear device. Where it slides out is configurable and there is also a quick settings drawer you can pull out to change yoru volume and do other things. It’s totally free and the in app purchases are just donations. All Android Wear owners should have this (or at least something like this).
Wrap up
If there are any great Android Wear apps that we happened to miss, let us know in the comments! Also keep in mind that this app list will be frequently updated as Android Wear becomes a more supported platform.
from Android Authority http://ift.tt/1qFXA3k
