Apple Watch Basics

Every Apple Watch must be paired with an iPhone 5 or newer in order for you to install apps. While a cynic might see this as a sneaky way for Apple to double up on device sales, there’s a very good reason: every watchOS app needs to be bundled inside an iOS app that’s installed on the iPhone. With the limited screen real estate of the watch, Apple can’t exactly have an independent App Store on the device; instead, you’ll use the iPhone’s Apple Watch app to install new apps.

To know what kinds of apps you can make, it’s important to understand the design language of Apple Watch apps. The building blocks you’ll use to make the apps are extremely different from the components available to you on iOS. You’ll find an entire chapter devoted to the interface components you can use, but a brief overview of what watch apps look like is a good place to start brainstorming ideas. Let’s begin there.