Apple Watch helps people monitor their health and fitness, but it can also be a great tool to help people stay productive and get work done. This is especially true for people who are easily distracted by their phones.
While Apple Watch has simple productivity apps built-in like Reminders and Calendar, it's worth exploring third-party apps that aim to boost productivity by offering additional features.
Todoist
Todoist is a great task management app for Apple Watch when you don't want to take out your iPhone. The app allows you to create and manage tasks, organize them into projects, mark them as completed, and set reminders. You can add tasks using voice commands or the keyboard.
The app is great for people who prefer a quick glance at their wrist rather than having to pull out their phone while doing things like browsing through their shopping list at the store or jotting down a quick note or reminder.
You can stay up-to-date with the progress of your tasks for the day right from your Apple Watch face. For example, you can choose to see your next task or the percentage of tasks completed for the day.
Todoist is free and offers a $4 monthly subscription if you need additional features like custom task reminders, AI assistant, calendar layout, and more.
Checkers
Since Apple Watch doesn't have a Notes app, Checkers is a good app for those who want to have a digital notebook without a phone. You can take notes using voice commands, Scribble in watchOS, or your keyboard.
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Your drafts inbox syncs with your iPhone and displays how many drafts you have while also showing how many drafts you have flagged, so you can quickly access the important ones.
The app displays a blank note by default, so you can quickly enter an idea without interrupting your thought process. You can keep notes in a folder to organize your thoughts or just have a free-flowing canvas.
The app is free and offers a monthly subscription for $1.99 if you want access to additional features such as themes and the ability to send emails to the app.
Center
Center is a good app for people who want a productivity timer to help them get work done and like to complete tasks one at a time. The application is designed to divide work time into smaller parts, which are called “focus sessions”. By working in sessions, you can focus on the task at hand before moving on to the next one.
By using your Apple Watch instead of your phone to stay focused, you can minimize distractions. You can quickly glance at your wrist to see how much time is left until your focus session, and then go straight back to work. Focus will also encourage you to take breaks between sessions.
The app is available for $7.99 per month.
Auto sleep
Auto sleep is one of the most popular Apple Watch apps for sleep tracking, and for good reason. The app provides detailed information on sleep quality, heart rate, sleep consistency and more. It can help you track the time it takes to fall asleep and measure sleep efficiency.
AutoSleep displays all this data in a clock view with sleep rings, allowing you to quickly view your stats in a way similar to your watch's activity rings. You can check whether you are getting enough sleep or whether you need to sleep more.
The app also displays a “readiness” score, which assesses how mentally and physically ready you are for the day ahead based on how you've slept, which is similar to how the Oura Ring app handles the same metric. It can also suggest the best time to go to bed to ensure you catch up on sleep.
The app can be accessed for a one-time fee of $5.99.
A streak
A streak is a good app for people who want to develop good habits and track their progress. With each day you complete the task, your winning streak increases. If you break the chain, your streak will be reset to zero. You can track as many as 24 habits, such as flossing, practicing a new language, and eating healthily.
The app also allows you to track tasks that shouldn't be done every day. For example, you might set a goal to go to work Monday through Friday, go to the gym three days a week, or avoid unhealthy food on the weekends.
With a quick glance at your Apple Watch, you can quickly see what tasks you still need to complete for the day, see your progress, and mark tasks as completed.
The app is available for a one-time fee of $5.99.
Fantastic
Fantastic is a great calendar app that will help you stay organized right on your Apple Watch. Using the app, you can create events and set reminders that you can quickly review.
There are three views to choose from in the Apple Watch app. The “Next” view gives you a quick overview of your next meeting along with the current weather. The “List” view shows all the events and tasks that await you in the next few days, along with the expected weather forecast. The “Tasks” view brings all your tasks together in one view and allows you to select them with one quick tap.
The application also allows you to receive notifications about upcoming events and tasks. If you want this information visible on your watch face, Fantastical's Smart Stack widget allows you to quickly view your calendar.
Fantastic costs $4.99 per month.
Things 3
Things 3 is a great productivity manager that can help you create to-do lists, manage projects, and track progress towards your goals. It can be used to organize personal, professional, financial and other aspects of your life into special “areas”.
The app includes reminders, calendar integration, widgets, tags to categorize your to-do lists, and much more. Things 3 also allows you to automatically repeat tasks on a set schedule and has a special place for evening plans in the “This evening” section.
As the day goes on, you can quickly remove things from your wrist and add new ones on the go.
You can purchase Things 3 for a one-time fee of $9.99.
Built
Built is a simple app that helps you plan your day by combining your calendar, to-do list, habit checker, reminders and routines into one timeline.
You can navigate through an organized timeline on your wrist to see upcoming tasks and stay up to date without having to pull out your phone. The app allows you to store your thoughts and quickly capture notes in your inbox to sort them later. Larger projects can also be broken down into “sub-tasks.”
Structural also allows you to personalize different tasks with different icons and colors to visually organize your to-do list. Structured syncs also with Mac, iPhone and iPad.
Structured's core features are available for free, but you can pay a monthly fee of $6.49 to unlock additional features, such as the ability to use artificial intelligence to create and schedule tasks.
