With the growing popularity of smartwatches, it seems most app developers are trying to release their apps for these small wearable devices. Because of how powerful these tiny computers are, this process is (usually) quite effective. In fact, in line with the old meme, users have proven that the Apple Watch can run Doom!
Of course, some apps wouldn’t make sense on a smartwatch. I can’t imagine someone doing high-end 3D modeling or video production on their wrist. It might seem cool at first, but your fingers and eyes will soon be longing for a mouse and a TV-sized screen. Thankfully, nobody has tried to do that yet (I hope).
Unfortunately, there are some apps that make sense to have on your smartwatch to some extent, but they just don’t achieve their purpose very well. It’s not always because the app itself is terrible—it could simply be a case of excessive requirements for such a small device. Here’s a list of some smartwatch apps that make sense but that you might want to reconsider installing.
Navigation Apps
This is a bad one to put at the top of the list since navigation is one of the most popular reasons to want to use a smartwatch. In fact, many watches come with some navigation software pre-installed. However, there are a few complications.
First on the list is battery drain. Smartwatches’ batteries are generally smaller than those in smartphones, and when you use a navigation app for extended periods, they will run out much faster.
A more significant problem is that smartwatches’ GPS tracking systems aren’t always powerful enough. When you’re indoors, for example, your smartwatch may struggle to pinpoint your exact location. Network signal strength can also affect map loading times, creating an all-around bad experience on both the Apple Watch and Wear OS.
I prefer to use Google Maps or Apple Maps on my smartphone rather than on my smartwatch, especially when I’m taking the subway. Its location tracking is more effective, not to mention its more straightforward user interface and the fact that it saves my watch’s battery.
Apple News
This one is specific to the Apple Watch, but the problem goes beyond just one app or smartwatch brand.
Apple News is an excellent way to stay on top of current events, and it makes sense to use it on a smartwatch, doesn’t it? You can quickly check the news without taking your phone out of your pocket.
Unfortunately, it fails in its implementation. The Apple News app for the Apple Watch is limited to only showing you the 5 latest stories from the app on your smartphone. When you’re done reading those 5, you must refresh the app on your iPhone to see anything new. By then, you might as well read the news on your phone. Besides, your eyes will thank you.
Other news apps may do things differently, but the small screen still limits the amount of information you can access. That’s why even Google recently decided to remove the Google News tile from Wear OS devices.
Spotify
Another app that I really don’t want to add to this list is Spotify. As a music service, it is top-notch, and its apps for smartphones and computers are all excellent. Unfortunately, that’s not the case with smartwatches.
Spotify struggles on the Apple Watch and Wear OS. The apps have difficulty downloading songs or podcasts, sometimes not downloading at all or very slowly when they do. While you’re listening, the audio can stop at random times. The apps have also been known to crash from time to time.
According to developers of other podcast apps, it’s challenging to develop audio apps for smartwatches because the devices’ operating systems are designed to prioritize battery life. Listening to audio is a well-known power drain, so the watches can occasionally stop the music to conserve power.
As much as that makes sense, it is still a significant inconvenience. Sometimes, it’s just easier to listen to my music and podcasts on my phone.
WhatsApp has a native app for Wear OS devices that links to WhatsApp on any Android phone (iPhone isn’t currently supported). It generally works quite well, even though the screen size makes it less than ideal. However, there are more pressing concerns than being unable to read or type a reply correctly.
Some users have a few privacy concerns about the WhatsApp Wear OS app. It seems that even if they selected the option not to show when they’ve read a message, opening a message on their smartwatch will occasionally override that option and display those dreaded blue ticks for the world to see. This isn’t a big deal for some, but it could potentially indicate even worse privacy flaws.
This seems to happen mainly on the beta version of the smartwatch app, so it might be best to avoid that. However, even the full app suffers a considerable delay, frequently shows notifications for messages you’ve already read, and drains your watch’s battery much faster.
Honestly, it’s probably best to just keep using WhatsApp on your phone and simply sync the notifications to your smartwatch.
Any Social Media App
This category is slightly vague, but there’s a good reason for that. Social media apps seem to be failing miserably on smartwatches. Most of the popular platforms have tried (including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X/Twitter, and even the Tinder dating app), but most of them have already removed their smartwatch apps from Wear OS and the Apple Watch.
Social media doesn’t really make sense on a smartwatch. The apps are pretty resource-intensive, which leads to increased battery drain. Much of the content requires sound, which means you will have to connect your Bluetooth headphones, draining even more battery power. Sharing your own content requires a camera and plenty of storage space, which smartwatches don’t have.
In other words, even if you can get a social media app to work on your smartwatch (by using old installation libraries, for example), you will probably have a bad experience. Apart from the problems I already mentioned, the limited screen size alone will eventually drive you back to your smartphone, which is definitely a better way to look at pictures of your cousin’s new cat.
Before you go…
The apps we just looked at aren’t necessarily bad. We must remember that smartwatch technology is still evolving, and they aren’t ready to replace our smartphones yet. Apps aren’t the only potential limitations, either—you might also find your web browsing experience on a smartwatch severely lacking. Find out more in this post!