Only 17 of more than 9,000 apps in the German App Store charts are Watch-only apps

[Thilo Specht]

Since I developed one myself, I've been heavily involved with the Apple Watch app ecosystem. It's quite frustrating how invisible these apps appear in the App Store. Now I can only speak for the German store, but I can imagine that it looks similar in other stores.

However, I didn't want to rely on my gut feeling, so I took a snapshot of the app charts (Free + Paid) yesterday morning, June 28, 2023. Because the charts are highly volatile, it can only be a snapshot, but it is still meaningful:

Seventeen. Only 17 of over 9,000 Apps in the category charts of the German Apple App Store are autonomous Watch Apps. 180 days before the launch of watchOS 10, apps developed specifically for the Watch are absolute niche products. This is also due to Apple:

Watch apps are principally not considered in the editorial content of the App Store. In the semi-prominent #list "Apps for the Apple Watch", only one of the seventeen chart breakers is listed - all other apps are (also) for the iPhone. Especially critical:

In the #category "Apps for the Apple Watch" there is only editorial content, but no charts. Of the 17 most successful Watch apps in the App Store, only 2 are listed! In sum, it can be stated:

Apple has sold over 50 million units of the Watch in 2022. It is the most successful wearable globally with 51% market share. But watchOS apps are consistently ignored by App Store editors. "There's an app for that," said Steve Jobs. Just:

The most successful apps cannot be found on the Apple Watch. "Wie steht‘s, Brudi? (What‘s the Score, Bro?)", "nomi | a pet for your watch", "WattUhr - Der Gezeitenkalender" or "Weather mini" rely on word of mouth. It remains to be seen whether it will harm the platform in the long term, because:

I think watch apps will become more important as voice models like ChatGPT and Siri become primary interfaces for human-machine interaction. A hands-free assistant that also works in the pool or during a quick soccer game (e.g. "What's the Score, Bro?") is superior to any smartphone.

You will still need a larger screen for visual media consumption, that is clear. But when it comes to information that needs to be gathered regularly, quickly, and at a glance, the Watch is unbeatable. If Siri is actually useful one day, that will add value to the Watch apps: "Siri, I want to go to Brandenburger Tor, which subway do I need to take?" The correct answer needs no more than two lines of text and a symbol.

But despite watchOS 10 and the hype around the Apple Watch Ultra (2), I can't see Apple having a master plan for the ecosystem of this market segment - namely the apps. For us developers, this is somewhat frustrating to always have to offer a companion app to gain visibility.

Because often these add-ons for the iPhone just don't make sense - which actually contradicts Apple's philosophy of an unconditionally good UX, which I'm convinced of.

 

[cubodado]

As “autonomous Apple Watch app” do you mean an app that can run on the Apple Watch even if the phone is not paired, or a Watch-only app without phone companion? These last ones are really niche, it would surprise me if there is any on the top 9000.
Or do you also include apps that can be recalled and displayed on Apple Watch but can’t run properly if the phone is not paired?
Anyway it’s an interesting study, many popular apps abandoned Watch developing recently and rely on watch notifications only.

 

[Thilo Specht]

As “autonomous Apple Watch app” do you mean [...] a Watch-only app without phone companion? These last ones are really niche, it would surprise me if there is any on the top 9000.

That's exactly what I mean. However, we can't know how many there actually are - simply because they are invisible in the App Store.

 

[madeirabhoy]

That's exactly what I mean. However, we can't know how many there actually are - simply because they are invisible in the App Store.

i find both things annoying, 1. that you have often to have an app on your phone to have it on your watch when the phone watch is never used. the very few games for watch have all been like this.
2. that the app store makes it so difficult to see which apps have a watch version. going into the app store via the watch app should only show watch apps imho.

 

[Shirasaki]

I’d say Apple doesn‘t really have a plan on if they want to expand watchOS app ecosystem. The clear evidence is no third-party watch faces. After the Apple Watch series 0 hype and initial wave of “apps”, nowadays devs just do their own thing and ignore Apple Watch entirely. Reason is pretty simple to me: everyone needs a phone, but not everyone needs a watch. If dev develop iPhone app, it can run on iPad, but will never run on Apple Watch without interface redesign. However successful Apple Watch is, unless Apple pushes the initiative, no one will care. Eventually, Apple’s first party app Collection is good enough that most folks don’t need or care about third-party equivalent unless a special need Rises, and watchOS app ecosystem will just quietly die down.

 

[Beligerent]

Apple Watch development is dead

 

[the future]

No, it‘s not. After the initial “gold rush“ it has just become clear what makes sense on a Watch with a (relatively) tiny screen - and what doesn‘t. Turns out Apple‘s own apps already cover most of those use cases and for more niche use cases there are apps.

Wrt to „discoverability“, I tend to agree with the OP.

 

[jz0309]

Apple Watch development is dead

No it’s not

 

[jz0309]

No, it‘s not. After the initial “gold rush“ it has just become clear what makes sense on a Watch with a (relatively) tiny screen - and what doesn‘t. Turns out Apple‘s own apps already cover most of those use cases and for more niche use cases there are apps.

Wrt to „discoverability“, I tend to agree with the OP.

You are correct. Had an AW for almost 8 years now, interactive apps just don’t work on that small screen, not even on Ultra, at least for most people…
Back in my travel days (pre-covid) I was really looking forward to get all info, boarding passes etc on the AW - never materialized, screen too small…

 

[4087258]

I think that when a huge business like google, facebook (“meta”) or uber don’t want to spend resources on the development of apple watch and ipad apps, that’s unacceptable.

 

[AppleTO]

I think that when a huge business like google, facebook (“meta”) or uber don’t want to spend resources on the development of apple watch and ipad apps, that’s unacceptable.

I mean it's up them to figure out if it fits their business model or not. It seems like most major developers have dropped support for the watch. Likely not worth it based on their analytics of who uses it and why/how. Same thing happened with the Apple TV when it first supported an App Store. There was a large rush of apps, a lot of which were never updated and were quickly discontinued.

 

[cubodado]

For what concerns Meta and Google, maybe it’s more a question of rivalry then of ROI. Even with Spotify the relationship is not idyllic, but in this case the watch is more strategic and after a period of absence they developed a decent app.

 

[JamesMay82]

I can’t stand the App Store as I feel it’s just mainly filled with rubbish.. there are sooooo many ads it drives me mad on all the kids games.

 

[4087258]

I don’t think there’s any justification for google not developing a decent youtube app for ipad in more than a decade; neither for facebook and uber completely leaving the apple watch; and so on. Even if the user base is small, we are talking about billionaire companies. No excuse.

 

[jz0309]

I don’t think there’s any justification for google not developing a decent youtube app for ipad in more than a decade; neither for facebook and uber completely leaving the apple watch; and so on. Even if the user base is small, we are talking about billionaire companies. No excuse.

what are you talking about? Google and any other "billionaire" company for that matter don't have to justify why they don't have an app. You do realize that creating/maintining an app does require resources, right? and regardless of however much revenue/profit a company makes, there needs to be a business justification, and not what some users want (or think they want)

 

[jz0309]

Since I developed one myself, I've been heavily involved with the Apple Watch app ecosystem. It's quite frustrating how invisible these apps appear in the App Store. Now I can only speak for the German store, but I can imagine that it looks similar in other stores.

However, I didn't want to rely on my gut feeling, so I took a snapshot of the app charts (Free + Paid) yesterday morning, June 28, 2023. Because the charts are highly volatile, it can only be a snapshot, but it is still meaningful:

Seventeen. Only 17 of over 9,000 Apps in the category charts of the German Apple App Store are autonomous Watch Apps. 180 days before the launch of watchOS 10, apps developed specifically for the Watch are absolute niche products. This is also due to Apple:

Watch apps are principally not considered in the editorial content of the App Store. In the semi-prominent #list "Apps for the Apple Watch", only one of the seventeen chart breakers is listed - all other apps are (also) for the iPhone. Especially critical:

In the #category "Apps for the Apple Watch" there is only editorial content, but no charts. Of the 17 most successful Watch apps in the App Store, only 2 are listed! In sum, it can be stated:

Apple has sold over 50 million units of the Watch in 2022. It is the most successful wearable globally with 51% market share. But watchOS apps are consistently ignored by App Store editors. "There's an app for that," said Steve Jobs. Just:

The most successful apps cannot be found on the Apple Watch. "Wie steht‘s, Brudi? (What‘s the Score, Bro?)", "nomi | a pet for your watch", "WattUhr - Der Gezeitenkalender" or "Weather mini" rely on word of mouth. It remains to be seen whether it will harm the platform in the long term, because:

I think watch apps will become more important as voice models like ChatGPT and Siri become primary interfaces for human-machine interaction. A hands-free assistant that also works in the pool or during a quick soccer game (e.g. "What's the Score, Bro?") is superior to any smartphone.

You will still need a larger screen for visual media consumption, that is clear. But when it comes to information that needs to be gathered regularly, quickly, and at a glance, the Watch is unbeatable. If Siri is actually useful one day, that will add value to the Watch apps: "Siri, I want to go to Brandenburger Tor, which subway do I need to take?" The correct answer needs no more than two lines of text and a symbol.

But despite watchOS 10 and the hype around the Apple Watch Ultra (2), I can't see Apple having a master plan for the ecosystem of this market segment - namely the apps. For us developers, this is somewhat frustrating to always have to offer a companion app to gain visibility.

Because often these add-ons for the iPhone just don't make sense - which actually contradicts Apple's philosophy of an unconditionally good UX, which I'm convinced of.

View attachment 2225096

2 disclaimers first:
1. I've had an AW since late 2015
2. MR forum owners are not representative for all AW users

I'm not quite sure from your post what your main concern is, the App Store or that there are very few apps for AW?

AW has been around pretty much 8 years now and it has evolved over time, there was a rather big push early on for apps (mostly companion apps) and users just didn't really use them. See the below link to a post (150+ responses), I've skimmed through and no-one seems to be missing apps.
As others have said, the small screen size and limited UI make apps just not a pleasure experience. Sure, one can now type on a keyboard a quick response but in reality it's not really good being an interactive device.
So, people haven't used apps and developers know that and discontinued their apps.

Really encourage you to read through the linked thread as it outlines what people are using their AWs for, a lot of health/fitness tracking and several other things that are all covered by Apple's standard apps. And the other more prominent apps (read through this forum) seem to be also health/fitness oriented.

You say that you don't see apple having a master plan - for apps - I disagree, I think they've hit the jackpot on what users want.

If you were to stop wearing an Apple Watch, what feature/s would you miss most?

I’ve just started wearing my Apple Watch again, after a few weeks. Can’t say I really missed any of its features.

forums.macrumors.com

 

[4087258]

what are you talking about? Google and any other "billionaire" company for that matter don't have to justify why they don't have an app. You do realize that creating/maintining an app does require resources, right? and regardless of however much revenue/profit a company makes, there needs to be a business justification, and not what some users want (or think they want)

So are you saying that such a huge company like google doesn’t have to put resources on app development for minorities? Facebook doesn’t need to develop a decent communication app for apple watch because it has a small user base and so it’s not a “justifiable business“?

For me, that’s unacceptable.
Even more, some things go beyond pure business.
Big companies, big responsibilities.

 

[Shirasaki]

I don’t think there’s any justification for google not developing a decent youtube app for ipad in more than a decade; neither for facebook and uber completely leaving the apple watch; and so on. Even if the user base is small, we are talking about billionaire companies. No excuse.

YouTube app is bad anyway. I just use safari and it’s good enough. It even supports “background playback” by leaving iPad screen on but on another tab while video still going. Support adblocker too.

So are you saying that such a huge company like google doesn’t have to put resources on app development for minorities? Facebook doesn’t need to develop a decent communication app for apple watch because it has a small user base and so it’s not a “justifiable business“?

For me, that’s unacceptable.
Even more, some things go beyond pure business.
Big companies, big responsibilities.

The bigger companies Are, the less responsibility they will take. Every big company does this. No exception. After all, as long as shareholders give them money to keep them afloat, what else do they care? It’s not like they don’t have the money to relocate their headquarters if Silicon Valley is submerged due to sea level rises. If without any regulation, they would be even more ruthless and we would be using products riddled with ads, bugs, issues and steep rental fee while company offers no support and just blame users to any issue they complain.
Remember, ethic doesn’t exist in corporate dictionary. Money is the only word.

 

[4087258]

I don’t think we should consider that there’s no ethic or responsibilities on big companies… They have a huge impact on the human life since the very small details of our existence.

But anyways. Maybe I should be more flexible in this subject. Apologies and gratitude for the opinions from @jz0309 and @Shirasaki

 

[Shirasaki]

I don’t think we should consider that there’s no ethic or responsibilities on big companies…

Companies action speaks for themselves. But yeah, let’s set This topic aside for the time being.

 

[philstubbington]

No, it‘s not. After the initial “gold rush“ it has just become clear what makes sense on a Watch with a (relatively) tiny screen - and what doesn‘t. Turns out Apple‘s own apps already cover most of those use cases and for more niche use cases there are apps.

Wrt to „discoverability“, I tend to agree with the OP.

Completely agree. I use Apple Watch for walking directions although I’ll have setup my route on the phone first and it’s useful for reminders, alarms, Shazam and seeing what’s playing in music apps. The routing thing also reduces the annoyance of GPS on the phone getting confused with the direction I’m facing if I take my phone out of a pocket to check the route.

 

[Thilo Specht]

You say that you don't see apple having a master plan - for apps - I disagree, I think they've hit the jackpot on what users want.

I also think Apple has a roadmap for the Apple Watch. This has already been corrected in the past:

Former YSL executives Paul Deneve and Catherine Monier were among those involved in the development and marketing of the first AW. The first generation of the Watch was available for purchase in 18-karat gold in fashion boutiques. Today, only the Hermès cooperation reminds us of the focus on fashion at the time.

Today, the AW is primarily in the fitness and health segment and competes with products from Garmin and others. If you compare the fitness tracking capabilities alone, the Apple Watch will have a hard time competing with a Garmin Fenix 7: Especially triathletes and other endurance athletes would rather use the Garmin.

So what is the added value of the AW? The connection to the Apple ecosystem - and thus everything that goes beyond the pure fitness connection: Reading mails, streaming Apple Music and podcasts, iCloud calendar with reminders, paying at the supermarket checkout and showing the customer card.

Yes, many of the functions that are relevant are provided by Apple out of the box. But that was and is also the case with the iPhone. Nevertheless, Airmail, Fantastical and Google Maps are among the most successful apps ever - because they obviously meet the requirements of many users even better than the Apple apps. And that is no different on the Watch.

Of course, there is a timer app on the Watch - yet there are very successful third-party timer apps. There are also already dozens of score tracking apps in the App Store - but none worked the way I wanted them to. So I developed "What's the Score, Bro?" and four weeks later the app is the #2 paid app in the sports category in Germany.

Software development is also always a reflection of social dynamics. Fitness and mindfulness apps go hand in hand with the LOHAS, the lifestyle of health and sustainability. In 2007, the year the iPhone was born, this did not yet play a major role, as everything revolved around social networks and e-commerce.

The future announces itself with LLM voice assistants, which are many times more intelligent than Siri today (she just drove me to despair again this morning). This can also be seen in the fact that there are suddenly a multitude of "AI" chatbot apps in the app stores - also for AW.

Voice is different from the previous interfaces. Voice only requires a speaker or headphones, but not a screen. That and the fact that a hands-free device like the Apple Watch is much more convenient to integrate into everyday life than an iPhone, which is always lying around somewhere or has to be taken out of a pocket, results in many interesting possibilities for newer watch apps.

But I don't need to look into the future to see potential for watch apps. A discussion about what a watch is, how it is used, and how it is integrated into everyday life can help develop relevant apps. The key takeaway here is that a watch is not disruptive. It's unobtrusive (ok, that doesn't apply to a Hublot or the like) and you can wear it during church services just as you can during a exam.

A watch is always used for trivialities, it is not a pastime. If you want to know the time, there's a reason for it: because you actually want to know if you'll still catch the train, if you still have time for lunch before the next meeting, or if you already have to pick up the kids.

Games for the AW are nice, but hardly useful. A web browser also makes little sense on the AW. But information that is queried incidentally, but regularly, in order to make sense in another context, has a right to exist on the Watch. One example is "What's the Score, Bro?". The app exists because I don't want to hold an iPhone in my hand while playing soccer.

Another example might be a recipe app that doesn't yet exist: Recipes are built according to a certain pattern: One step follows the next. The sequence is not particularly complex. When kneading dough or handling raw meat, it can be useful to have the recipe on your wrist - not as a whole, but just the one step at a time. Then hook on and move on to the next.

I think the full potential of Watch Apps is far from exhausted or even realized. LLM voice assistants will become a game changer in the next few years, a huge opportunity for watch apps. Which makes me frown: I don't see Apple preparing the ground for this.

 

[cubodado]

Do you use Apple Maps for routing? It seemes to me that sometimes it freezes while I keep my phone on the pocket, doesn’t update. Looking forward for offline maps on iOS17, should reduce phone battery drain that is another issue I find with the the app.
For trekking on a planned route I use Workoutdoors instead (it works also on watch-only mode, the only app with maps I found so far).

 

[klasma]

I don’t think there’s any justification for google not developing a decent youtube app for ipad in more than a decade;

What’s wrong with the YouTube iPad app (compared to the iPhone app)?

 

[Saturn007]

I think that when a huge business like google, facebook (“meta”) or uber don’t want to spend resources on the development of apple watch and ipad apps, that’s unacceptable.

I think that's great! The fewer chances Google and Facebook have to mine people's data the better! 😎