The best design is no design at all: AppleWatch Edition

No, not THAT AppleWatch Edition. From Supertop, makers of Unread

One Less Thing…
We spent a lot of time not making a Watch app. We love our new wrist computers but they are not the place for reading articles.

This. 100 times this. So many of the watch apps I've seen - and Today Extensions - should never have been written. Just because you CAN write a Watch extension, doesn't mean you should, especially if all it does is launch your phone app (ahem Evernote).

Out of my three remaining apps:

  • Nearest Bus is a prime candidate for a watch app. That's next on my list.
  • Trip Wallet should never have one. Ever. No reason at all.
  • MobileAgent could - starting a timer or mileage maybe, but otherwise, no. If there was a way to get realtime, pushed bank account info that might be somewhat useful, but really, it's just a notification.

And of the ones I work in at the day job (not that I have much say in which ones would get it):

  • goMoney - balances and transfers maybe, but as there is no push of information to the phone (and hence watch), it's not overly useful (IMO - the company might think otherwise). It's just a notification in the end (and how often do you do a transfer?)

So think carefullly about if a Watch app - or a Today Extension for that matter - even makes sense[1] before you commit to making one.



  1. It might be that it doesn't make UX/technical sense, but it has marketing value. Thats fine, I guess.... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ↩︎

Nic Wise

Nic Wise

Auckland, NZ