10 great free Apple Watch apps

The Apple Watch works incredibly well as a watch, with lots of different watch faces and customizable options. But the Apple Watch can also do far more than just tell time. It offers a wide range of useful apps that let you shop, manage your weight, find local restaurants and much, much more.

In our last roundup, we looked at 15 fun games for the Apple Watch. Now it’s time to take a look at 10 great, free Apple Watch apps that make it far more than just a watch. Each of these apps offers real value to Apple Watch users, and are well worth adding to your Apple Watch home screen.

When it comes to your weight you have two choices: Manage it or be managed by it (particularly as you get older). Lose It! is a terrific calorie counter that makes it easy and fast to track your calories, and you can use it right from the comfort of your Apple Watch as you go about your day.

Lose It! also tracks your steps, hydration, exercise, body fat and measurements. And the app makes it very easy to scan in new foods via the bar code scanner. There’s also a huge database of foods that you can search through to add them to your meals.

Amazon is one of the most popular retailers in the world, and now you can shop at Amazon right from your wrist via your Apple Watch. You can search for any kind of product, and then order it with a single click, or you can add it to your Wish List.

The Amazon app for Apple Watch makes it incredibly easy to shop without ever needing to use your phone or a desktop browser. So when you’re on the go and you need something from Amazon, just open the app on your Apple Watch and shop till you drop!

Sports fans love ESPN and with very good reason. It’s one of the best sources for sports news, scores and other information anywhere. And now you can use your Apple Watch to stay abreast of the latest happenings in your favorite sports.

The ESPN app for Apple Watch offers access to game scores, sports news and more right from the convenience of your watch. No need to pull out your iPhone to find out what’s happening with your favorite teams and athletes.

If you own an Apple Watch then chances are you probably use other Apple products. The official Apple Store app for the Apple Watch Lets you get real-time order status updates, check in if you have Genius Bar reservations, and even find in-store events and workshops.

The Apple Store app also lets you quickly find the closest Apple Store in your area and lets you use Maps to find your way right to the store! If you’re an Apple fan then it’s well worth checking out the official Apple Store app for your Apple Watch.

Staying up to date with breaking news is a basic function for most devices, and the Apple Watch is no exception if you have the official CNN app. CNN keeps you abreast of happenings from around the world right from the convenience of the watch on your wrist.

The CNN app lets you see news at a glance on your Apple Watch from up to twelve different, personalized categories. You’ll get a heads up from CNN about technology, international, politics, entertainment and much more via your Apple Watch.

Flipboard is an incredibly popular social news magazine app on the iPhone and iPad, and now you can use it on your Apple Watch. The Flipboard app for the Apple Watch lets you see the top 10 stories right on your watch. You can scan a summary of the story, share it with friends or even save it to a Flipboard magazine.

To flip a story to a Flipboard magazine or to share it with friends, just press down to use Force Touch on your Apple Watch’s screen. The Flipboard Apple Watch app will then show you the options to flip the story to a magazine or send it to your friends.

The Weather Channel app for Apple Watch offers an invaluable source for weather information. The app lets you quickly see weather at a glance on your watch, so you’re always prepared regardless of weather conditions. You can also set up real-time notifications to get a heads up about severe weather that might be coming to your area.

And the official Weather Channel app for Apple Watch also offers a Live Radar feature that shows the radar based on your current GPS position. You even have the option of reporting your local weather conditions via your Apple Watch.

WebMD’s app for the Apple Watch is a very helpful tool designed to get you to take your medication at the right times (after you set up your medications in the iPhone app). You can see your dosing schedule, and also know if you need to take food with your medication.

You can also get notifications about your medications, and the WebMD app for Apple Watch also offers a Glance view that shows your medication schedule for the day and tells you if you’ve taken or skipped doses of your medication.

Epicurious is one of the best cooking resources anywhere, and now you can use a helpful cooking timer right on your Apple Watch. This will help ensure that you always know when the food that you are cooking is done so you don’t end up overcooking your culinary masterpiece.

The Epicurious app for Apple Watch will let you set reminders for cooking various kinds of food. When you need to flip a steak, for example, the timer will notify you on your Apple Watch so you can make sure your steak turns out just right.

Yelp has long been a useful tool to find local places of interest. But now you can use Yelp on your Apple Watch to locate restaurants, bars, coffee and tea, and even hot new places that you might never have heard of in your area.

Once you tap on an establishment you’ll see a star rating, the number of reviews by Yelp users, the hours that the place is open, and you can open the location in Maps to find your way there. The Yelp app also lets you read reviews posted by users right on your Apple Watch.