Wristly Survey Indicates Dark Sky Ahead For Apple Watch

Wristly is constantly running various Apple Watch surveys in a (perhaps premature) effort to nail down exactly what the number-one use case for the wearable actually is, at least when it comes to third-party apps. Their latest poll indicates that preferences haven’t yet changed, albeit that’s no surprise given the dearth of developer access to the current WatchKit SDK. Here’s the state of users’ favorite Watch Apps for August 2015:

We have polled our panel 3 times on their favorite third party Apps over the last few months and the trio of winners hasn’t changed. Dark Sky remains the crowd favorite with almost twice as many votes as the second placed App. Overcast and Fantastical have been jockeying for the #2 spot, and this time around Overcast takes that honor! Worth noting is that “Weather App” is by far the most frequently cited category with others including AccuWeather, CarrotWeather and WeatherChannel being frequently cited too. You can check the Top 10 on our site here.

More than anything, this speaks to the ongoing problem of Apple Watch’s tethered app approach and Cupertino’s initial reticence to let developers access the full sensor array of the device. When that changes with watchOS 2, Dark Sky’s dominance is bound to fade from downpour to drizzle, although it will still be useful for the simple reason that its core function lends itself to basic notifications — something for which Apple Watch is inherently useful.

Right now, apps that follow that strategy are the most successful and compelling on the platform. Marginally useful redundancy will never be Apple Watch’s “killer app,” but Dark Sky (and similar offerings) transcend that by being so simple that they can be boiled down to a single alert. Apps that require more interactivity or more user input dont lend themselves to this model, and even when the new OS launches, getting around heavy input requirements is going to be a challenge for developers.

But that’s just one aspect of Wristly’s latest research. To check out their newest statistical roundup of all things Apple Watch — and to view lots of glorious, data-rich charts — make sure to visit the source.