Apple Watch’s killer app is already here

Tim Bajarin, writing for PCMag.com:

Among those early adopters who love Cupertino’s smartwatch, their pick for its killer app varies greatly. For instance, my wife’s killer app is “Find my iPhone” since she is always misplacing it. She also loves using it to communicate with our granddaughter, who is in junior high and also has an Apple Watch$699.99 at Apple Store. For others, it is the activity tracker and step counter.

But for a specific group of users known as knowledge workers, myself included, the killer app seems to be notifications. I got hooked on notifications when I started using the original Samsung Gear and Moto 360 smartwatches. So when the Apple Watch came out, I knew it would become an important device for me.

Indeed, since I’ve had my Apple Watch, notifications are the No. 1 reason I would feel lost if I ever forgot to wear it. I tailored the notifications for my particular needs, from news alerts from CNN, AP, and ESPN to tweets that are tied to key people I follow. There are now thousands of apps with Apple Watch notification capabilities, but I find these to be the most important to me.

Couldn’t agree more. My Apple Watch is a satellite of my wedged-in-my-pocket iPhone. If I could pick one place for Apple to invest in Apple Watch improvement, it’d be adding more complex capabilities, more sophistication, to the notifications mechanism.

Just as I’d love a smarter, more customizable news feed on my Mac, I’d love the ability to tune up the details in my Apple Watch notification feed. As is, I have to pick a single app to rule the large complication on my watch face. I’d love an even bigger complication, and the ability to feed notifications from a variety of apps through that space.

I’d also love the ability to tweak the digital crown so it steps through a list in a complication, rather than using time travel to get to the next event.

Of course, all of these things are possible if you step into an app or a notification, but I’d love more complexity at a glance, with perhaps a slight twist of the crown.

All that said, I appreciate what I’ve got. My Apple Watch is a fixture on my wrist, here to stay.