Technologies

Don’t Bother With Third-Party Apple Watch Apps

There are plenty of apps for the Apple Watch, but Apple’s native apps are still among the best.

Apple Watch Series 8 is an iterative upgrade over the Series 7. With each new iteration, the Apple Watch gets more advanced. It’s specifically noteworthy when it comes to tracking your health and fitness. If you want to take advantage of the best Apple Watch apps, we have some pretty straightforward advice: Skip the App Store and stick with the watch’s native apps.

Companies including Amazon, eBay, Target, Slack and TripAdvisor have dropped support for Apple Watch apps, but those services are better-suited for our phones, tablets and laptops anyway. What does matter is the built-in Activity tracker, Messages and Phone apps — the things we want on hand for a quick and convenient glance, regardless of which Apple Watch version we’re currently sporting.

«The watch is really about convenience,» said Ray Wang, principal analyst and founder of Constellation Research. «You’re not going to spend so much screen time on your watch. So I think the secret of building a good Apple Watch app is to think of it as an accessory in addition to something. Very few people use it as a standalone unless it’s for fitness or health or some kind of monitoring.»

When the Apple Watch launched in 2015, it had 3,000 apps available to download. Today, there are more than 20,000 apps — 44 of which are built into the wearable. While watches weren’t an in-demand accessory in general back in 2015, the Apple Watch proved to be a useful tool for checking messages, the weather and reminders, Wang added — all of which are already built into the device.

Here are several native Apple Watch apps that you may not already be using.

1. Sleep

The Apple Watch was late to the game when it came to sleep tracking — a crucial wellness feature that rivals like Fitbit have offered for years. While Apple’s Sleep app may not be as comprehensive as the sleep monitoring available on other devices, it’s still a great way to keep track of your slumber and get into a regular bedtime routine. When wearing your Apple Watch overnight, it’ll tell you how much time you’ve spent asleep while in bed as well as your sleeping respiratory rate. That latter feature is a new addition that Apple launched with WatchOS 8 in September.

2. Wallet

The Apple Watch is designed to make it so that you don’t have to reach for your phone as often, and the Wallet app is one of the best examples. It allows you to store things like credit cards, boarding passes and movie tickets on your wrist once you’ve added them to the Wallet app on your phone. That means you won’t have to dig into your purse or pocket to make a quick purchase or board your flight. Apple is also expanding what the Wallet app can do in WatchOS 8, which introduces the ability to add home keys and identification cards to your watch.

3. Messages

The Messages app is one of the most basic and fundamental Apple Watch apps, but it’s also among the most useful. As the name implies, Messages allows you to read and respond to text messages directly from your wrist. Your phone is still the best tool for sending long text messages, but the Apple Watch can come in handy for sending short, time-sensitive replies when you don’t have a moment to reach for your phone. If you have the Apple Watch Series 7, the latest model, you’ll be able to respond to texts using the device’s new QWERTY keyboard, which is much easier than using the Scribble function.

4. Noise

If you have an Apple Watch Series 4 or later, you can use the Noise app to measure the ambient sound in your environment. If the decibel level has risen to a point where your hearing could be affected, the app can notify you with a tap on your wrist.

5. Cycle Tracking

Women can use the Cycle Tracking app to log details about your menstrual cycle, including flow information and symptoms such as headaches or cramps. Using that data, the app can alert you to when it predicts your next period or fertile window is about to start.

6. ECG

If you have an Apple Watch Series 4 or later, you have an electrical heart rate sensor that works with the ECG app to take an electrocardiogram (sometimes called an EKG by cardiologists). You’ll also need an iPhone 6S or later, and both the phone and the watch will need to be on the latest version of iOS and WatchOS, respectively. It’s also not available in all regions.

7. News

The News app will help you keep up with current events on the fly, showing you stories that it selects based on your interests. However, it’s not available in all areas.

8. Mindfulness

The Apple Watch has long offered breathing exercises. But WatchOS 8’s Mindfulness app, which replaced the Breathe app, adds a new option to the Apple Watch’s relaxation repertoire: reflections that prompt you to pause and think about special moments in your life. You’re still able to access Breathe sessions from this app, but the new Reflect option just gives you another way to take a break from your day.

9. Remote

If you have an Apple TV, you can use your watch as another remote control — assuming both devices are connected to the same Wi-Fi network. Use the Remote app to swipe around on the watch face and move through the Apple TV menu options, and play or pause shows.

10. Camera

You can’t take a picture with your watch itself. But with the Camera app, your watch can act as a remote control for your iPhone’s camera. Use it to help take selfies or start recording on your phone across the room, so you can finally get everyone in that big group shot.

11. Walkie-Talkie

The Walkie-Talkie app lets you use your watch as a walkie-talkie to chat with another person wearing an Apple Watch. You press a button to talk, and release it to listen to the reply. The app isn’t available in all regions, and both participants need to have connectivity through a Bluetooth connection to the iPhone, Wi-Fi or cellular. You also have to accept an invitation to connect with someone through the app — they can’t just start talking to you.

12. Voice Memos

Like on the iPhone, you can use the Voice Memos app on your Apple Watch to record personal notes and things to remember while on the go. The voice memos you record on the watch will automatically sync to any other iOS devices where you’re signed in with the same Apple ID.

The future of native Apple Watch apps

The collection of native Apple Watch apps is likely far from complete. We saw the addition of the Sleep app and Blood Oxygen app with last year’s respective WatchOS 7 software update and Apple Watch Series 6. And if reports are to be believed, Apple has broader ambitions in the health and wellness space that we could see in the years to come. The company is reportedly working on blood pressure and thermometer tools for the Apple Watch, according to The Wall Street Journal. Apple is also working on a blood-sugar sensor that could help diabetics manage their glucose levels, Bloomberg reported last year, although it says this functionality likely won’t be commercially available for several years.

Technologies

Fitbit Launches Luffu, AI-Powered Health Tracking for the Whole Family

Soon, you may be able to access every family member’s health data in one place.

If you’ve ever wanted a way to keep all of your family’s health records in place, Fitbit may have come up with a solution. Fitbit, well-known for its fitness wearables, announced the launch of its own health care system on Wednesday.

Luffu, which translates to the Old English word for «love,» uses AI to create what it calls an «intelligent family care system.» The platform allows family members to share all their health information through an app.

It’s unclear when Luffu will be officially available, but you can sign up for the waitlist to get access to the limited public beta. Pricing or other details have not been announced.

Luffu will allow families to keep track of everyone’s doctor’s appointments, test results, vaccine records, medications, symptoms, diet and more. The platform uses AI to learn your family’s health history and patterns, and to alert you to any changes that should be addressed, such as missed medications or abnormal vitals. The AI function organizes the data submitted into the system. The app will also connect to third-party apps and wearables, such as the Fitbit.

Luffu is meant to lighten the mental load of family care by organizing all this health data in one place, its co-founder said.

«I was caring for my parents from across the country, trying to piece together my mom’s health care across various portals and providers, with a language barrier that made it hard to get a complete, timely context from her about doctor visits,» said Luffu co-founder James Park.

Luffu will include alerts and a space to log health and medication information via voice, text, photos, and other health portals and devices. The key medical information can be shared across the platform with spouses, caregivers and parents.

A representative for Fitbit did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Technologies

These New AI Transcription Models Are Built for Speed and Privacy

Mistral AI’s new Voxtral Mini Transcribe 2 and Voxtral Realtime are intended to run on your device, meaning your conversations never find their way to a data center.

Sometimes you want to transcribe something, but don’t want it to be hanging out on the internet for any hacker to see. Maybe it’s a conversation with your doctor or lawyer. Maybe you’re a journalist, and it’s a sensitive interview. Privacy and control are important.

That desire for privacy is one reason the French developer Mistral AI built its latest transcription models to be small enough to run on devices. They can run on your phone, on your laptop or in the cloud.

Voxtral Mini Transcribe 2, one of the new models announced Wednesday, is «super, super small,» Pierre Stock, Mistral’s vice president of science operations, told me. Another new model, Voxtral Realtime, can do the same thing but live, like closed captioning.

Privacy is not the only reason the company wanted to build small open-source models. By running right on the device you’re using, these models can work faster. No more waiting on files to find their way through the internet to a data center and back.

«What you want is the transcription to happen super, super close to you,» Stock said. «And the closest we can find to you is any edge device, so a laptop, a phone, a wearable like a smartwatch, for instance.»

The low latency (read: high speed) is especially important for real-time transcription. The Voxtral Realtime model can generate with a latency of less than 200 milliseconds, Stock said. It can transcribe a speaker’s words about as quickly as you can read them. No more waiting two or three seconds for the closed captioning to catch up.

The Voxtral Realtime model is available through Mistral’s API and on Hugging Face, along with a demo where you can try it out.

In some brief testing, I found it generated fairly quickly (although not as fast as you’d expect if it were on device) and managed to capture what I said accurately in English with a little bit of Spanish mixed in. It’s capable of handling 13 languages right now, according to Mistral.

Voxtral Mini Transcribe 2 is also available through the company’s API, or you can play around with it in Mistral’s AI Studio. I used the model to transcribe my interview with Stock.

I found it to be quick and pretty reliable, although it struggled with proper names like Mistral AI (which it called Mr. Lay Eye) and Voxtral (VoxTroll). Yes, the AI model got its own name wrong. But Stock said users can customize the model to understand certain words, names and jargon better if they’re using it for specific tasks.

The challenge of building small, fast AI models is that they also have to be accurate, Stock said. The company touted the models’ performance on benchmarks showing improved error rates compared to competitors.

«It’s not enough to say, OK, I’ll make a small model,» Stock said. «What you need is a small model that has the same quality as larger models, right?»

Technologies

Don’t Miss Out on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for $25 Per Month

With this StackSocial offer, you’re getting access to hundreds of games for either $25 for one month or $74 for three months.

Right now at StackSocial, you can get a three-month membership for just $74, which brings each month to $25. Normally $30 per month, you can also opt for a single-month plan for $25. I’ve been following Xbox Game Pass pricing for a while, so this is a great deal. Just keep in mind, once you get your download code via email, the purchase cannot be changed or returned.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate lets you access games not only on your console but also on a PC or mobile device. Basically, you can play what you want, when you want, where you want. Game Pass adds new games all the time, with not only older titles making their way to the service but also brand-new Xbox games, including releases from Microsoft’s own studios on the day of release.

Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is a brilliant way to save cash while playing fantastic games, including Black Ops 6, Halo: Infinite, Hellblade 2, Starfield and tons more. While the lineup changes each month, more than 500 games are available to play. It’s the closest thing to a Netflix for games.

Please note that Microsoft allows prepayment for up to 36 months of access, so 12 is the maximum number of subscriptions you should purchase. You can check out our full roundup of all the best Xbox deals for more savings on games and accessories.

Why this deal matters

The last time we saw the Game Pass subscription discounted was around the holiday season. Right now, you can get access to hundreds of games for essentially the price of one. Whether you choose the one- or three-month option, the price is the same at $25 per month. Since most games aren’t usually priced below $25, this is a steal.