Strap-on fiddle factor: We poke ten Apple Watch apps

Hours Time Tracking

Once upon a time there were things called ‘jobs’, where you signed up to do much the same kind of work every day in return for a fixed amount of money. Fortunately this crazy system was abolished before it could completely destroy the global economy, so now you probably need an app to keep track of how many minutes to bill to each of your seven current clients today.

Numerous billing apps let you do this from your Watch, but they either charge for their apps or require a monthly subscription. In the good old days, jobs paid you every month. That’s probably why they originally caught on.

Hours is free, albeit with an ominous ‘for a limited time’ rider, meaning it’ll probably get a price tag later. Set up as many ‘timers’ as you need in the iPhone app, one per project, and you can then log your time on the wrist screen.

Using the iPhone app, you can view your time data in reports or email it to yourself as CSV. The aim of Hours is to make time tracking so easy you’ll actually do it, and the Watch definitely takes another bit of friction out of the process.

National Rail Enquiries

The official app of the British railway network is pretty handy; not only can you quickly find out train times and check disruption, you can even buy tickets. When you opt to be reminded to catch a service or alerted if it’s delayed, the notifications can be mirrored to your Watch.

Beyond that, the Watch app is all about real time. Choose from the nearest stations, the ones you’ve set as favourites in the iPhone app or those you’ve most recently browsed, and you can see live information on departures and arrivals there.

What’s frustrating is that you can only see live data – you can’t check on trains in a few hours’ time, or further ahead, as you can in the Planner section of the iPhone app. Finding yourself unexpectedly in need of a national network train right now is surely not the most common use case.

When you’re struggling with luggage, though, it’s very handy to get warnings about delays, and be able to find alternative trains quickly, without having to reach for your iPhone. Just make sure you put your latte down before turning your wrist.