Best Apple Watch Apps
A comprehensive sleep-tracking app that helps you set multi-day goals, play white noise and even record your sleep noises throughout the night.
Sleep Tracking
Reviews are very positive, with users noting its ability to help them get better sleep, but some concerns over how long it takes to process each night's information.
Free, with premium features starting at $4.99/month
Apple's exercise app offers a variety of classes and activity tracking for users of every fitness level.
Fitness
Reviews are generally positive, noting that Apple Fitness+ offers more affordable pricing compared to other apps.
Free for three months with a new Apple Watch purchase or one month if you already own an Apple Watch. $9.99/month or $79.99/year thereafter
Detailed maps and live transit information for buses, trains, metros and subways in 3,500 cities across 112 countries.
Transportation
Reviews are mostly positive, with users noting the accuracy of its real-time tracking but expressing concerns over the increase in ads.
Free, with subscription options starting at $0.99/month
A weather app with a snarky personality, a colorful interface for easy viewing and now a ChatGPT integrated feature.
Weather
Reviews are very positive, with users noting the organization of its app interface and continual updates, but complaints that it can be a bit pricey.
Free, with premium packages ranging from $4.99/month to $14.99/month
One of the world's most popular music streaming apps with over 500 million monthly users, more than 100 million songs and 5 million podcast titles.
Music
Ratings are nearly as high as they come, with users loving the variety of listening available, and the occasional complaint about glitches in playback.
Free, with a $9.99/month premium option for ad-free listening and other benefits
Thousands of apps claim to be the perfect assistants in helping you plan out your week, keep track of work, stay fit and find your way in the world. Sifting through them all can be daunting — there's an app for just about everything you can imagine!
We scoured the App Store to help you find the best Apple Watch apps for sleep, fitness, transportation, weather and music. Read on to learn more about each one and about the most popular Apple Watch categories.
Our Top Picks For Best Apple Watch Apps
- SleepWatch: Best For Automatic Sleep Tracking
- Apple Fitness+: Best For Physical Health And Activity
- Moovit: Best For Public Transport
- CARROT Weather: Best Weather App
- Spotify: Best For Music
Best Apple Watch Apps Reviews
Best For Automatic Sleep Tracking: SleepWatch
Why We Chose It: SleepWatch uses AI for customized coaching to improve sleep. Its sleep score lets you see if you're getting the best rest possible every morning and offers insights to help you improve the quality of your sleep.
With over 300,000 5-star ratings, SleepWatch is one of the top-rated Apple Watch sleep-tracking apps.
The app not only tracks your sleep cycle but also tracks the following information to create a roadmap that can help in getting the sleep you need:
- Sleep rhythm (how consistently you go to sleep at the same time)
- Restful sleep time
- Heart rate variations throughout the night
- Sleep disruption
- Blood oxygen levels
- Whether you're on track to reach your three-day sleep target
- Sleep sounds, such as snoring or talking
- When your sleep was light and when it was deep
Users can create routines on the app based on factors such as alcohol and food consumption, earplug use, time spent reading and evening exercise. SleepWatch takes it from there, determining which activities result in your best sleep. Every morning, you'll get a simple score that shows whether your sleep the night before was ideal or not and whether you're on track to reach your sleep goals. SleepWatch will even offer suggestions to get better sleep the next night.
As might be expected, the app's unique perks come with a price, as the free version doesn't offer its full range of features. The SleepWatch Premium plan costs $4.99 per month or $39.99 per year. It's tough to put a price on consistently getting a great night's sleep, but even when compared to other sleep apps, this isn't particularly expensive.
Best For Physical Health And Activity: Apple Fitness+
Why We Chose It: Apple Fitness+ is an excellent deal thanks to a variety of classes for all fitness levels, live metrics, a comprehensive activity feed and several bundle options
Apple Fitness+ can help keep you on a consistent routine and offers plenty of options for getting — and staying — in shape.
The Apple Fitness+ app provides guided workout classes for the following categories:
- High-intensity interval training (HIIT)
- Yoga
- Core training
- Strength training
- Treadmill
- Cycling
- Rowing
- Pilates
- Dance
- Kickboxing
Some of these workouts require expensive at-home equipment, such as a treadmill or rowing machine, but most can be done from anywhere and should be able to fit into your schedule. In addition to the categories above, the app has guided workouts specifically designed to help beginners, expectant mothers and older adults work out safely and effectively. Apple Fitness+ also offers guided meditations that can help users wind down and center themselves after a workout.
The Apple Fitness+ app allows you to stream your workouts from your watch to your TV if you need cues during your workout. It also provides live feedback on your metrics such as heart rate and calories burned — though it doesn't track your respiratory rate like Apple's sleep app. The app can pair your device with other Apple Watches to share progress and challenge one another.
Another highlight of the Apple Fitness+ app is its price. At $9.99 a month or $79.99 for the year, the app is more affordable than a regular gym membership and a fraction of a personal trainer's cost, yet it offers many of the same benefits — if you already have at-home equipment. Plus, you can save if you sign up for Apple One to bundle it with Apple TV+, Apple News+ and iCloud storage.
Best For Public Transport: Moovit
Why We Chose It: Moovit stands out for its worldwide availability, on-the-road route notifications and customizable trip preferences that you don't have to input every time you take a trip.
It's so easy to turn to Google Maps when searching for directions around the world. But, as Moovit continues to expand and offer unique features, it's worth giving this transportation app a look.
Moovit is also available in four languages and has served 1.7 billion riders across the 3,500 worldwide cities that it is currently available.
Some major cities it serves include:
- New York City
- Chicago
- Buenos Aires
- São Paulo
- Milan
- Rome
- Sydney
- Paris
- London
One simple yet convenient feature of the app is Smart Trips, which lets you save your transportation preferences. For instance, when visiting a new city, Moovit allows you to decide if you only want to take the MRT somewhere instead of navigating the bus system. Every time you search for directions, the app will automatically route you to your destination using the MRT.
Moovit's Smart Returns feature is handy if you forget to mark your hotel's location before a day in the city. You can use Smart Returns to get you back to your last location — convenient for anyone who's directionally challenged.
With Moovit you can book, pay for and use transportation tickets through the app. If you've ever tried to use another country's online ticketing service, you know this can save you time and translation efforts. Best of all, Moovit is free, making it a perfect deal considering its all-in-one, convenient features that set it apart from other apps that only offer directions.
Best Weather App: CARROT Weather
Why We Chose It: With all the droll weather apps out there, CARROT Weather distinguishes itself by providing the same great information that other weather apps have but with additional features that make it entertaining and easy to organize.
The pinnacle of mundane conversation revolves around the weather. So, how does an app distinguish itself from the other weather apps on the market with as much personality as a recycled paper cup? Enter, the CARROT weather app — Apple Watch's 2021 app of the year.
It's a little silly to think that a weather app could rate so highly, of all things, but what makes CARROT stand out is its unique personality. When CARROT reports the weather to you, it uses a ChatGPT-based chatbot to lace it with some attitude based on one of five personality options: Professional, Friendly, Snarky, Homicidal and Overkill. Unsurprisingly, about half of users choose the homicidal option ("Make the most of this nice weather that I generated for you. Or else.").
With the latest ChatGPT updates, you can actually have a full conversation with CARROT Weather. This app isn't just for entertainment, though. You can customize your weather report metrics beyond just temperature and precipitation to include UV index and pollen count.
Other recent expansions include:
- Expanding its high-quality radar to most countries in Europe, Australia, Taiwan, South Kora and Japan
- Expanding government-issued weather alerts to Canada, Israel and most of Europe
- Offering lightning strike notifications in Central America, the Caribbean and Europe
You can use CARROT's free plan or grab a premium package that ranges from $4.99 to $14.99 per month. Weather data is very expensive (who knew?), so you'll have to pay to access custom widgets, severe weather notifications, individual radar stations and different map layers.
Best For Music: Spotify
Why We Chose It: With continual integration improvements and one of the best libraries of music and podcasts, Spotify stands out as the best music app for your Apple Watch.
There's a reason Spotify ranks No. 1 in Music on the App Store and boasts over 500 million users. For $9.99 a month, you can explore and share over 100 million tracks and 5 million podcast episodes ad-free. And, if you're okay with advertorial interruptions, you can access this for free.
Spotify redesigned its app in 2022 to improve offline downloads and its user experience on Apple Watches. You can control your music playback on your Apple Watch with either a free or premium Spotify account. If you're a paying user, you can download music straight to your Apple Watch to play offline or without your iPhone present — a bonus when you don't want to take your phone on a run.
Though Spotify doesn't hold the first-place spot for most songs available on a music app, you'd be hard-pressed to find any mainstream artists missing on the platform. It offers a huge selection of well-known podcasts and began its audiobook service in 2022. Overall, Spotify gives you everything you need from a music app on Apple Watch at a better price than its competitors.
Other Apple Watch Apps We Considered
Hole19
Hole19 helps eliminate the guesswork on over 42,000 golf courses. For $7.99 a month, it lets you track every shot you take, preview courses, calculate distances and score each hole from your Apple Watch. While this is an excellent app if you're a golfer looking to improve your score, you'll have to use another app to see how you're scoring fitness-wise (for example, to see your step count or how many calories you've burned).
WaterMinder
The WaterMinder app uses complications to track your hydration goals through a timer that reminds you to drink regularly. That may sound like something you don't need an app for, but the next time you're parched remember that by the time you feel thirsty, you're already dehydrated!
Apple Watch Apps Guide
The Most Popular Apple Watch App Categories
Whether you have an Apple Watch Series 6 or the Apple Watch Ultra, the most popular apps stay the same. Let's go over some of the most popular Apple Watch app categories.
Health And Wellness
Health and wellness apps are designed to track and improve your physical, mental and emotional health.
There are a wide variety of apps available that can assist with:
- Exercise tracking
- Guided meditation
- Nutrition
- Talk therapy
- Medical chart tracking
- Pregnancy tracking
Sleep
Sleep apps for the Apple Watch can help with a wide range of sleep-related problems. Some offer white noise, guided breathing exercises and stories to help lull you to sleep. Others use sensors to track your sleep patterns and supply feedback on how you can improve your nightly routine.
Navigation And Transportation
Sure, Uber and Google Maps get you where you need to go. But when it comes to navigation and transportation apps, there are plenty of other options.
Some even offer unique features, such as:
- Ticket booking
- Real-time public transportation tracking
- User-generated traffic insights
- Parking information
- More accurate GPS tracking
Music And Podcasts
Music and podcast apps offer streaming and downloadable content for on-the-go entertainment. Music apps can create playlists based on specific tastes and allow you to sort playlists by genre. Podcast apps also make suggestions for further listening based on your preferences. Plus, these apps usually offer sharing options to trade the content you like with your friends and family.
Messaging
Messaging apps make it easier to communicate with others via text, voice messages, pictures and videos. Messaging apps on your Apple Watch let you check notifications without getting your phone out, so you can decide whether a message is a "Hold my drink." situation or a "Yeah... Catch ya later." one.
Some messaging apps are popular in only a handful of countries, like LINE in Japan, Taiwan and Thailand, while others are popular worldwide, such as WhatsApp and Telegram. Each messaging app has a different privacy policy, so be sure to check how much of your information an app can collect and what it can do with that data before you start using the app.
Food
Food apps aren't limited to delivery services. You can probably find an app for just about anything you need help with when it comes to food including, restaurant ratings and recommendations, recipes, calorie tracking and meal planning.
Games
Gaming apps continue to grow in popularity as users seek entertainment during downtime.
Some of the most popular types of games are:
- Strategy games
- Role-playing games (RPGs)
- Puzzles
- Action games
How To Add Apps To Apple Watch
You can add apps to your Apple Watch in a couple of ways. To download apps straight from your Apple Watch:
- Go to your home screen by pressing the digital crown
- Tap the App Store
- Tap "Search," and type in the app you're looking for or scroll through your options
- Tap an app to explore its reviews, description, rating and screenshots
- Tap "Get" for free apps or select the price button to download the app onto your Apple Watch
You can also download apps to your Apple Watch from your iPhone:
- Open the Watch app on your iPhone
- Tap on the "Discover" tab
- Scroll down and tap on "Explore Watch Apps"
- Explore the Apple Watch Apps section of the Apple Store
- Tap an app to explore its reviews, description, rating and screenshots
- Tap "Get" for free apps or select the price button to download the app onto your Apple Watch
How To Delete Apps On Apple Watch
To delete an app from your Apple Watch:
- Bring up all your apps by pressing the Digital Crown
- Touch and hold the display until the View Options screen appears
- Select "Edit Apps" and select the app you'd like to delete
- Tap the "Delete" button and then "Delete App" to confirm your choice
- Tap the Digital Crown to complete your action
How We Chose The Best Apple Watch Apps
The best apps for your Apple Watch will offer the functionality you want, fit within your budget and not bog you down with unnecessary features and notifications — unless you're into that sort of thing.
To arrive at our choices for the best Apple Watch apps, we scoured the endless caverns of the internet to:
- Read reviews
- Compare features and functionality
- Find apps that are popular
- Find apps that offer a lot for what they charge
- Find apps that make it easier to reach goals within each of the given categories
