Android Wear has been on our wrists for seven years and has learned much. Android Wear is more capable now than it was at the launch. But some extra apps can make it even better. In just a few minutes, your Android smartwatch can become more intelligent, easier to use, and more capable. These are the apps you need to install to make that happen.

Shazam

Now can detect and identify songs on your phone, but that’s still not a native feature of Android Wear. And why not? Identifying pieces from your watch is much more convenient than pulling out a phone. That old standby Shazam has you covered, though. The Shazam Wear module does this one thing, it does it well. Launch the app on your watch by touch or voice, and it will start listening to music. It shows you the song on the watch and saves it to your Shazam list on the phone for later. Sometimes it will even show lyrics synced to the song you’re listening to. Shazam has free paid apps, but the Wear functionality is the same.

Shazam (Free)

Keep

The best note list app for Android Wear might already be on your phone; it’s Keep. Most phones don’t have Keep pre-installed, but it’s a must for Android Wear users. The Wear app provides access to all your notes with the option to add reminders or archive them. Lists are fully scrollable; you can add new items by voice and cross off old items. New note lists can also be created entirely on the watch by voice. Like all Googles apps, this one is free.

Keep (Free)

IFTTT

Online automation platform IFTTT, which stands for if this, then that, has support for Android Wear. It can be mighty once you dig in. IFTTT connects hundreds of service platforms, including Android Wear. You can create recipes that use your watch as a trigger, if, or action.
For example, IFTTT can create a button on the watch to toggle your phone’s Wi-Fi, send a text message. Even turn on your phone’s Hue lights, and more. IFTTT can also be set up to ping your watch. When it’s going to rain, or when a particular device connects to your On Hub router. And other devices supported by the multitude of IFTTT channels. The sky’s the limit with IFTTT Wear. Best of all, it’s free.

IFTTT (Free)

Weather Timeline

Checking the weather from your watch is a good use case for a smartwatch. As it’s a quick activity that saves you from taking your phone out. Weather Timeline doesn’t try to do too much on Android Wear; it fits in with the platform beautifully. Weather Timeline creates a weather card in the main stack with the current conditions. Swipe to the right, and you get an hourly forecast. Swipe again, and there’s a multi-day forecast. It also comes with a clean weather oriented watch face. Still not convinced? Weather Timeline is also one of the finest weather apps for your phone or tablet. It’s well worth the $0.99 asking price.

Weather Timeline ($0.99)

Wear Aware

Your watch is tethered to your phone, a disconnection probably means something is wrong. With Wear Aware, you’ll never forget your phone again. When installed on your phone and watch. Wear Aware will alert you on the watch if your phone disconnects. Like it would if you left it on the table in a restaurant. You can also open Wear Aware on the watch to make your phone ring if you lose track of it. This free app could save you from losing a costly phone.

Wear Aware (Free)

PixtoCam

Android Wear devices don’t have cameras. But you can control almost every aspect of your phone’s camera from the watch using PixtoCam. Launch the watch app, and your phone camera will start streaming a live viewfinder image to your watch.
The watch viewfinder has icons positioned around the edge of the screen. To swap between front and rear cameras, change the flash mode, take a photo, start/stop video capture, and more. It works even when the phone is asleep. The image is slightly pixelated. But latency is very low. PixtoCam is $1.99 in the Play Store, but it’s the best at what it does.

PixtoCam ($1.99)

Wear Audio Recorder

Your Android Wear smartwatch is a lot of things, including a microphone conveniently strapped to your wrist. Please take advantage of it with Wear Audio Recorder. Open the watch app, and press the record button. You can pause, resume, and end recording from the main interface. The watch will synchronize all your recordings with the phone app as you complete them. The phone side includes its own recording functionality and settings for quality processing for both phone and the watch recording. It’s very robust for a free app.

Wear Audio Recorder (Free)

Endomondo

Using your phone during a workout is a recipe for disaster. A smartwatch is securely strapped to your wrist. You need the proper app to track your activities; Endomondo is it. This is a full-featured app on the phone and watch. You can select workout types, start, stop, and see your times on Android Wear. There’s also a map on the watch that shows your progress in an ambient mode. And keep your timers up without wasting battery. The free app has a subscription version with deeper stats and training plans.

Endomondo (Free, optional monthly subscription)

Photo Gallery for Android Wear

You can already take photos from your watch with PixtoCam, so why not review them on your watch too? Photo Gallery for Android Wear is a named photo gallery app for your wearable. Launch it, and you’ll see a scrollable list of all the folders on your phone containing images. Opening individual photos lets you pinch to zoom and pan around to take a closer look at the details. Watch screens aren’t ideal for this, but you can get the gist of a snapshot in Photo Gallery. The app is free for recent photos, but a $3 in-app purchase unlocks the full version.

Photo Gallery for Android Wear (Free, $3 in-app)

Android has added some basic messaging features to its Android Wear apps. However, they’re still quite essential and will often drive you back to your phone for messaging. The free Coffee app might help you avoid that by making text messages faster on ar. You can have Coffee takeover SMS replies on your watch with its custom list of categorized quick responses. You can also start new conversations with your favorite contacts using a similarly expansive list of quick replies. It also has voice input, but with just a few taps. You can drill down to text that will get your point across.

Coffee (Free)