By April 27, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that the Apple Watch app store contained more than 3,500 apps — with roughly 3,000 available at the launch on April 24, far exceeding their goal to surpass 1,000. To put things in perspective: Only 500 apps were available for the iPhone when it launched. From the moment that Apple (AAPL) announced its first wearable, developers have been eagerly working to get their apps onto the wrists of consumers. And some of the best of them were built in Boston.
From RunKeeper to Fidelity and the Patriots, here are a handful of Apple Watch apps that were developed in The Hub.
New England Patriots
Just in time for the launch of Apple's wearable, the New England Patriots launched an Apple Watch app that lets fans track the NFL draft from their wrist.
Users can view the draft order, selected players and their bios, but the app has other perks for fans beyond the draft. Throughout the 2015 season, users will be notified of breaking news and player transactions directly to their Watches. They will also be able to see the latest Patriots headlines at a glance, and then pass them to the iPhone for immediate reading or bookmark them. More features will apparently be added over time.
Qup
Described by the company as a “jukebox in your pocket” this iOS and Apple Watch app from Intrepid Pursuits lets groups queue up their favorite tracks to a single stereo. Qup does this by transforming a single phone into a streaming, collaborative playlist, eliminating the need to swap cables or dig through someone's library to hear the song you want. Here’s how it works: A single “Qupholder” connects to a speaker, and other Qup users in range can join and add songs — but the Qupholder needs Spotify premium to play music. Setup is automatic via Bluetooth and iBeacons.
Jack'd
Online Buddies, a Cambridge company, just released Jack'd: the first Apple Watch gay dating app. Nearly 5 million men around the world have joined Jack’d since its launch in 2010, and the app boasts 10,000 downloads each day. It also consistently ranks among the top four gay social apps in both the App Store and Google Play. Jack’d offers hyper-local matchmaking, bookmarked Favorites and chat features, and the new Apple Watch app features both default responses and emojis for quick, easy messaging, as well as full profile options with multiple public and private photos.
Medisafe
This Israeli startup just established its HQ in Boston in the winter, and it launched its medication management app for the Apple Watch April 24, enabling users to keep track of their meds right from their wrists. The app acts as an extension of the Medisafe iPhone experience, with key features including Force Touch for quick access to updates and prompts, Glance for a quick look at the medication dosage and scheduled reminders, the ability to mark medications as "taken," and engage in related healthcare content and resources.
RunKeeper
In the running community, this Boston-based app is a go-to for tracking distance, pace, weight loss and training goals. Now, the RunKeeper Apple Watch app allows athletes to leave their phones in their pockets and see all the key stats as well as get notifications right from their wrists. Best of all, the Watch app also offers cues for training plans and interval workouts — meaning you don’t have to think too hard about when it’s time to let yourself recover or pick up the pace.
DELAID
This past winter, the digital marketing startup altr — with offices in Cambridge and Salem — took on the ambitious mission to “unfuck your morning commute." To achieve this, they began building DELAID, an Apple Watch app that can forecast MBTA transit delays in real-time, thus helping you to manage them addition to helping you to plan your commute better. To predict the likelihood of train delays and system failures, the app will leverage a range of data sets, including social media updates, historical MBTA performance data and weather trends. Altr is almost done with the beta test, so keep an eye on the website for updates. The Delaid Apple Watch app is expected to publicly launch this June.
BodBot
This Harvard startup’s app acts as a personal trainer, nutritionist, and coach in one — and it boasts about 6 million exercise plans. The newly released BodBot Apple Watch app frees you of your phone while you exercise, walking you through tailored workouts. It also generates a model of your body based on your characteristics, and then makes detailed nutrition and exercise advice for improving your health and fitness performance. Not only does this Watch app free you of your phone while you exercise, but it also adjusts its recommendations depending on various factors — like if you do an extra rep, or miss a workout, or go for a spontaneous hike. And BodBot has a 4-star or higher rating across all platforms: iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Chrome.
Fidelity Investments
This Boston-based company launched a first-of-its kind financial app for the Apple Watch when it debuted in April — one that gave customers an overview of global markets and alerts on stocks and investments in real-time right on their wrists. The app can also allow users access to information on U.S. and global markets, stock quotes and trading alerts while being able to connect to their iPhone for more in-depth research. It also provides the ability to instantly go from trade alert to trade action.
Hello Alfred
This Harvard startup offers an on-demand butlery service for a range of chores, and leverages a number of outside services — like Handy and Instacart — to accomplish this. Your “Alfred,” one the startup’s own employees, can do anything from shining your shoes or picking up medication prescriptions to delivering groceries and unloading them into the fridge while you’re at work or out of the house. The service, which costs $99 a month, initially launched in Boston, went live in New York a little while later and will be kicking off in San Francisco this June. Users can sign up for weekly automated service or text in random requests as needed. The Apple Watch app for this service, which will allow users to keep track of what their butlers are accomplishing and even set certain tasks on automated repeat, is currently awaiting approval by the Apple App Store, according to the Boston Business Journal.
Lose It!
This Boston-based weight loss app lets users keep track of their nutrient/calorie intake and also provides exercise reminders. And with the Lose It! Apple Watch app, it’s easy to see your daily and weekly progress at a glance. Using the Apple Watch’s notification feature, Lose It! provides a reminder when you’ve forgotten to log a meal — and if you don’t have time to type in the details of every individual item you eat, you can quickly and easily just input the calories directly from the watch.
AthenaText
Watertown-based athenahealth developed an Apple Watch app for doctors and other healthcare providers to easily and securely send clinical messages to other team members on the go and stay up to date on their patients. AthenaText is integrated with Epocrates’ trusted drug reference and Provider Directory, and meets all federal privacy regulations, including HIPAA compliance for sharing texts and images via any mobile device or on the Web. Doctors can get notifications when they’ve messages right from their wrists, and even read them on their watches.
Image of Apple Watch Shutterstock. All screenshots via App Store.
