5 Apple Watch Apps worth trying out

Apple have released a host of apps designed to help you get the most out of your wearable technology.

The Apple Watch is experiencing an increase in the number of apps made available for it on the App Store. Photo: Sofiane Kennouche.

For those who prefer their shopping list on their wrist rather than taped to the trolley, Kitchen Stories is a free video and photo cookbook that provides a quantity calculator, integrated timer and auto-generated shopping lists. It also features a constantly-updated roster of recipes from around the world, with handy search functions contributing to its Editors’ Choice designation in the App Store.

Keen cardio enthusiasts may want to try out MyFitnessPal. The free calorie-counting app now has a portable watch equivalent, which allows users to choose activites including cycling, running and walking and chart their exercise progress on the go. It currently holds a rating of 4.5 stars in the App Store, with users being able to record their total number of calories remaining for the day, their run pace and their macro and micronutrient goals.

Amazon’s app for the Apple Watchstreamlines the buying process as much as possible. It includes a voice search function which allows users to browse by simply stating the product they’re looking for, with one-click purchasing also available. It’s free to download, familiar to many and also available on the iPad and iPhone running iOS 7 or later.

Kitchen Stories simplifies the logistics of making a new recipe. Photo: Sofiane Kennouche.

While it may be £7.99 from the App Store, Apalon’s Speak & Translate app offers over 40 languages for text-to-speech and 100 for text-to-text translation. Translations are displayed on screen so you can read them aloud, or if you prefer, the app can take the nerves of mispronounciation away by doing it for you. It even offers iCloud integration, with your translation history available over all your Apple devices.

Apple’s smallest smart device to date even has a variety of games made for it, with the 79p price of Lifeline offering a lifetime of entertainment. With no in-app purchases and no ads, Lifeline follows the story of Taylor, an astronaut who has crash-landed on an alien planet and needs your help to survive. Taylor’s narrative develops in real time, allowing the player to react instantly to his communications or to play when it suits them by guiding his actions in space and influencing the outcome of the story with their decisions. Such is the success of the game that Lifeline 2 has recently been released in the US, with plans for an Android version to follow.