Apple Watch Series 9: Apps You Need to Try video - CNET

Apple Watch Series 9: Apps You Need to Try

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Speaker 1: Did you know you can surf the web on your Apple watch or take care of a virtual pet? You can do a lot with the watches native apps, but I've compiled a list of hidden app store gems that allow you to do even more. I'm using the series nine, but these apps work on earlier models too. Chapters are on so you can jump around. I know I teased this one in the intro. So let's talk about the app that allows you to surf the web on your Apple Watch parody. Just tap the magnifying glass, enter the site you want to visit into the search bar. Select [00:00:30] your preferred search engine and tap the green button and voila you're online. You can also enter URL on the parody iPhone app to view on your Apple Watch. It can take longer to load a page than say, the Safari app on your iPhone would, and it often needs to interrupt your experience to resize the page, and your watch needs to be connected to your iPhone to make new searches. Speaker 1: So even if you have a cellular Apple watch, you can't Google things on the go unless you have your phone with you, but the pages you visit do [00:01:00] get cashed, so you can pull up a CNET article while you're near your iPhone to read later when you're not near your phone. This app is also helpful if your phone is in your bag and you want to look something up without having to pull it out. This next app is giving me Tamagotchi vibes in the best way. It's called Hobby and you take care of this little cat by taking care of yourself. Let me explain. When you hit your daily step count goal, you get a gift to feed your cat, and if you don't meet your goal, your cat leaves you something else. As you can see, [00:01:30] I didn't meet yesterday's goal. This app automatically gives you a goal of 10,000 steps per day, but you can change it on the iPhone app, and if you're taking a rest day, you can turn on rest mode. Speaker 1: So your pet takes a break too. You can add Hobby as an Apple watch face complication to see your cat and your step count every time you check your watch, which I love. This app is genius because while I had so much fun taking care of my Tamagotchi back in the day, now that I'm older and have less free time, it's nice that I can tend to this virtual pet as I tend [00:02:00] to myself. If you saw my last video on my first week with the Apple Watch series nine, you know, I've been using this device to help me focus on self-care and wellness and apps like this make it even more fun. Speaking of self-care, when life gets busy, it can be really nice to see some words of encouragement. The I Am app sends positive affirmations to your Apple Watch and iPhone throughout your day. Speaker 1: You can also add it as a watch face complication to see a positive message every time you look at your watch. I've had this app on my iPhone for [00:02:30] a while, and I will say it is very comforting to see these messages amidst emails, texts, and other notifications that may be stressing me out. So I'm excited to have it on my watch now that I'm using the series nine. The free version sends you general positive affirmations, which are very nice, but you know, I'm always going to keep it real with you. I tried the paid version and I love that it allows me to choose more specific affirmations, so you may find it worth it too, but use the free trial first to see what works best for you. It's 2024, so of [00:03:00] course you can also ask chat GBT questions from your Apple Watch. There are lots of apps for this, but I use Genie because I like the layout. It has suggested prompts and a box. To type in your own prompts, Speaker 2: Write me a song that would appear on Taylor Swift's new album, the Tortured Poets Department in the Shadows of the Night where the Broken Hearts reside. Whispers of Lost Love Echo in the Tortured poet's Stride words bleeding on the pages, tainted with sorrow and pain in the depths of their emotions [00:03:30] where love and loss remain. This is very emotional, I think in another world. This might've appeared on the album. I'm impressed. Speaker 1: My only gripe is that you can't use the Crown to scroll through your results. Being able to do that would take it from a nine to a perfect 10 out of 10 for me, but I still think it's pretty good and very fun to use. This next app is a cool way to display reminders on your Apple Watch face and also just personalize it a little more. It's called Two Doodle, and as soon as you draw [00:04:00] something in this app, it'll appear on your watch. Just set two doodle as one of your complications and you'll see your three most recent drawings each time you look at your watch. These final two apps are not about productivity or utility, they're just for fun, and they both make me feel very nostalgic. The first one is a game called Birdie. You move the bird with the Apple Watch crown to try to make it fly between the green tubes. Speaker 1: This holds a special place in my heart because it reminds me of the iconic iPhone app from 2013 Flay Bird. [00:04:30] This next app is called Snake io and it's very reminiscent of the snake game on Nokia phones. You use the Crown to move the snake and try to get those little circles while avoiding the other snakes. Those are my personal favorite hidden gems from the Apple Watch App Store. I know this only covers a fraction of what you can do on this thing, so let me know what your favorite watch apps are in the comments below, and if you'd like to see another installment of this video with more of my faves. That's all for today, and thank you so much for watching.