Android ar hasn’t even had its first birthday, but already developers have stepped up to embrace ’s wearable platform. There are apps for just about everything, even tasks you shouldn’t be doing on a watch. There are, however, plenty of things a smartwatch is great for. Here are the apps that made ar’s first few months awesome.
It’s strange that has yet to address how horrifically unpleasant launching apps on Android ar can be. You can either go by voice, hope the app has a name you can pronounce, or find your way to the actions list after dismissing a voice comm.
ar Mini uncher is so much easier. It’s a scrollable panel of your apps that can be pulled up with a swipe gesture from the edge of your choice. There are appearance options, layout tweaks, more. There’s even a quick settings panel built-in. The developer is committed to making Mini uncher better, it’s free with optional in-app donations.
ar Mini uncher (Free)
Browsing the web on ar is an exercise in futility, but if you just need to find a specific piece of information, Attopedia could save you some time. Simply open this app search by voice for a topic.
Choose from the presented kipedia listings swipe to get through the various sections, which is better than scrolling through the whole article. That would get into just-use-a-phone l.
Attopedia (Free)
hasn’t built support for cameras into Android ar, possibly because of the perception problems it had with Glass. You can still use your watch as a remote shutter for your phone camera, but that’s not especially useful on its own.
xtoCam is more than a remote shutter, which is already included in the official Camera app. The app streams the viewfinder to your watch so you can frame a shot capture it on your wrist. It’s also hy for shooting video just looking behind things. It’s $2 well spent.
xtoCam ($2)
An Android ar watch is many things, but at the most basic level, it’s just a Bluetooth device connected to your phone. If it disconnects unexpectedly, that could mean you’ve left your phone sitting somewhere—or perhaps your phone is walking away without you.
Find My one will instantly vibrate the watch to let you know communication with the phone has been lost. You can also launch the app to make your phone ring if it’s within Bluetooth range (perfect for the next time it goes on an adventure in the couch cushions). The developer has been keeping up with bug fixes new additions too. The free version has the general features, but a $1 in-app purchase unlocks all the settings.
Find My one (Android ar) (Free, in-app purchase)
Android developers can package ar apps with stard Android applications, Android ar doesn’t alert you when a new app is installed. ar Apps Tracker does exactly that.
Each time an app is installed, updated, or removed, you’ll get a card notification on the watch. No one has yet figured out a better way to do this, so ar Apps Tracker is definitely a top app in 2014.
ar Apps Tracker (Free)
Okay, the bill was $64.50, there are three of you. Assuming a 20% tip, how much does everyone owe? You can do the math the old fashioned way or go for your phone, but ar Tip Calculator offers a third option.
st a few taps on your watch you can split a check complete with tip. You can use it on round or square watches, but it looks best on round ones. You drag the marker around the edge of the screen to adjust the bill, add the tip, then split it up. It’s slick, you can try it for free. The splitting functionality is unlocked with a $2 in-app purchase.
ar Tip Calculator (Free, in-app purchase)
ile has finally rolled out official support for Android ar watch faces, Facer was offering similar functionality months ago. This app lets you download, design, modify a huge number of watch faces. Facer can display both analog digital faces with data like battery level, date, weather. There’s a bit of a learning curve, but it’s a very powerful app for just $1. It also already has support for the new official watch face A.
Facer ($1)
Android ar has a short screen timeout in order to save battery, which is usually fine. However, it can be quite maddening if you want to look at something for more than a few seconds without touching the screen. Stayt ar allows you to manually extend the screen timeout by as much as 30 seconds. That will eat into your battery, so it’s not the sort of thing you’d want to leave on all the time, but it can be indispensable when the need does arise.
Many Android weather apps have very basic Android ar integration, usually in the form of a card that really just duplicates the functionality of Now. Aeris ar ather is unique in that you actually get a weather app on the watch that can be launched when you need more information. It contains current conditions, hourly/daily forecasts, weather radar. It’s free with a $1 in-app purchase to get the radar severe weather alerts.
Aeris ar ather (Free, in-app purchase)
jie Black is another custom watch face that has managed quite well even without the final watch face As. This watch face comes with a companion phone app that can be used to tweak just about every aspect of the UI. You can choose between analog digital time, or even a mix of them. Colors, weather, ambient mode layout are also configurable. It’s the best single watch face you can get on Android, it’s only $1.27.
jie Black ($1.27)
