Apple watch development - on building apps for smartwatch users
Vica Cotoarba
Head of Mobile Development
Reading time: 4 min
Published: Jun 23, 2020
Key takeaways
- Smartwatches are now mainstream: Apple led the global market in 2025 with about 23% of shipments.
- User habits (messages, calls, workouts, complications) are a great guide for defining app features.
- Build an Apple Watch app when notifications, micro-interactions, or offline use matter to your product.
- watchOS apps can be fully standalone or companion apps paired with an iPhone app.
- SwiftUI is a natural fit for watchOS, whose light, minimalistic design suits declarative UI.
Technologies come and go, but innovation is evergreen. Smartwatches have moved from a novelty to an everyday device, bringing your software solutions right to the user's wrist.
If you are a business owner exploring wearable technology, this guide gathers the stats and facts you need to decide if and how to build an Apple Watch app. An Apple Watch app can stand on its own or complement your existing iOS app.
The smartwatch market opportunity
Global smartwatch unit shipments by vendor, Q2 2014 to Q1 2020, in millions. Source: Statista.
The data tells a clear story. Demand for smartwatches climbed steadily through the 2010s, with Apple taking a large share early on. That momentum has held. Apple led the global smartwatch market in 2025 with roughly 23% of unit shipments, and it posted its first year-over-year growth since 2022, according to Counterpoint Research. In short, the wrist is a bigger platform than ever.
Beyond shipment numbers, it is worth seeing how smartwatch owners actually behave. Those habits translate directly into app features.
Things users do on a weekly basis with their Apple Watch. Source: Creative Strategies.
Apple Watch users perform everything from quick taps to more complex tasks. The most common actions fall into a few buckets:
Communication: checking messages, declining or answering calls, reading email notifications, using Siri to send texts or start calls, and using scribble to reply.
Fitness and health: tracking a workout and checking heart rate.
A companion to other apps:
- 65% look at a complication from a third-party app.
- 61% use a non-fitness third-party app, and 28% use a fitness one.
- 40% check social media notifications on the watch.
- 30% control a smart home device, like a thermostat or lights.
A few fun facts: 25% shower with the watch on, 45% use it to find their phone, and 35% use it for directions.
These numbers are a solid starting point for defining the core features of your next Apple Watch app. Keep in mind, too, that Apple has aimed much of its wearable marketing at the fashion and luxury markets, since that audience overlaps with traditional watch buyers.
Do I need an Apple Watch app for my business?
Does your audience include tech-savvy users or fashion and luxury buyers? If so, they likely expect a quick way to use your product from their wrist.
A smartwatch app is a smart move when notifications and micro-interactions play a big role in your mobile app's experience. The same is true when your app supports an offline activity where using an iPhone is impractical, such as sport or medical use.
Developing an Apple Watch application
Apple Watch has its own App Store, so iOS developers like the team at Wolfpack Digital can build fully independent watch apps. There are two broad types.
Independent apps
Watch-only, or standalone, apps run smoothly without an iPhone nearby. Users can find them instantly with Siri dictation or scribble. A native watch app gives a better experience and does not depend on an iOS companion.
Dependent apps
Companion watchOS apps are paired and bundled with an iPhone app. They rely on the parent iPhone to reach user data stored on the device.
The main difference is independence: a standalone app can still use WatchConnectivity to transfer information, but it can also work entirely on its own.
Building watchOS apps with SwiftUI
A single tap on the wrist can open a whole private digital world, and watchOS capabilities keep expanding with each release.
When building a watchOS app, developers use standard SwiftUI components alongside watch-specific features to create a seamless experience built around brief interactions.
Our team has already covered whether you should choose SwiftUI for your next iOS app. So let's focus on what it is like to build watchOS interfaces with it.
In short, SwiftUI lets you write declarative code that describes clearly what each UI element does. Because watchOS design is light and minimalistic, it pairs especially well with SwiftUI's intuitive approach to building interfaces.
At Wolfpack Digital, we aim to build watchOS apps that are meaningful and make people's lives better. Code written for a smartwatch is closer to the user than ever. Want to build an app for Apple's most personal device? Our mobile development team would love to help.
Share your idea, and let one of the top web and mobile app development companies in Europe bring it to life.
