Now on their second and third iterations, smartwatches have gone from being clunky wrist computers to sleek pieces of tech that won’t look out of place in lifestyle and fashion magazines. Their functionality has increased too from having just basic timekeeping and phone alerts to full-blown health apps, activity trackers, organizers, games, and productivity tools.

Currently, there are three major smartwatch platforms: Android Wear, watchOS, and Pebble. Multiple smartwatch brands such as Motorola, Samsung, Sony, LG, and Huawei that run on Android Wear. Apple Watch runs on watchOS. Pebble smartwatches run on it's proprietary Pebble platform but is compatible with both Android and iOS phones. Here we pick the best apps for each platform.

Android Wear

Runtastic

What’s it for: Fitness

The Runtastic Running and Fitness app is great for those who want to stay in shape. It tracks a wide range of activities beyond what the name suggets such as hiking, biking, and rowing. It’s one of the first fitness apps for Android Wear. Runtastic is also compatible with watchOS. 

SofaScore

What’s it for: Sports alerts

SofaScore Live Scores keeps track of match times as well as current scores of 17 major sports such as football, tennis, Formula 1, and basketball.

Google Keep

What’s it for: Reminders and lists

The smartwatch version of the mobile app lets you take notes and make to-do lists from your wrists. It syncs to your phone and desktop apps so your reminders will be seamless.

PixtoCam

What’s it for: Remote camera control

Take control of your phone’s camera from your wrist. PictoCam acts as an external viewfinder and shutter button as well as remote control for self-timer, flash, and zoom.

watchOS

Green Kitchen

What’s it for: Health and fitness

The app lets users access a database of healthy and vegetarian recipes. The recipes are pushed to your iPhone for easy viewing

iTranslate

What’s it for: Travel, language learning

Instantly translate English to any language by speaking into your Apple Watch. Perfect when you are travelling abroad and need to quickly translate a phrase.

1Password

What’s it for: Security

Unlock your other passwords just by remembering one password. The app is compatible with the iPhone’s Touch ID.

Pebble

Uber

What’s it for: Commuting

Know how many minutes left before your Uber vehicle arrives. The app also displays a map of the vehicle’s current location

Pixel Miner

What’s it for: Games

In Pixel Miner, you dig so you can have better equipment to help you dig faster. To what end, you ask? That’s how most RPGs work anyway.

Awear

What’s it for: Messaging

Respond to messages with pre-set templates and mark messages as “read” on your Pebble watch. The app can save you a lot of time if you can’t pick up your phone yet.