The 10 Coolest Smartwatch Apps of 2015 (So Far)

Smartwatch App Showdown

Though they were a foreign concept just a few years ago, Bluetooth-enabled smartwatches have started to gain steady traction.

Vendors such as Apple, Pebble and Samsung are sticking new software nuggets into their latest smartwatches to enable more productivity, entertainment and social media options, as opposed to just the fitness features typical of wearable bands.

Apple Watch, for example, comes with thousands of third-party apps on its custom-built operating system, watchOS, so users can play games, write notes and communicate with others with just a flick across their wrists.

Following are some of the coolest smartwatch apps of 2015 so far for watchOS and Android.

For more on the "coolest" of 2015, check out "CRN's Tech Midyear In Review."

Toggles Wear

Toggles Wear, an app for Android Wear smartwatches, allows users to control mobile toggles from smartwatches without removing their phones from their pocket.

This app allows users to control volume, vibration, mobile data, device lock or unlock features, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on their smartphones, and also contains security features such as Find My Phone.

Toggles Wear also displays real-time battery levels, connected Wi-Fi name and strength, and network signal strength for the phone, and notifies the users when the battery is low or fully charged. The app costs $1.31 on Google Play.

Citymapper

Citymapper is a navigation app with support for the Apple Watch and for Android Wear watches, providing users with a real-time co-pilot right on their wrists.

Citymapper shows smartwatch wearers transit information, including different routes, the estimated wait time and estimated time of arrival, and the number of stops on the tracks.

This free app includes transit information about a variety of cities, such as San Francisco, New York City and London. It is available on Google Play or the App Store.

Wear Aware

For Android Wear users who constantly lose their phones, Wear Aware is perfect.

Wear Aware essentially acts as a short-range Find My Phone app to help users locate their devices. The app causes watches to buzz when users' phones are out of reach or when they are walking away from their device. If a phone is already lost, users can also utilize this app to activate an alarm on the phone alerting them of its location.

The app itself is free from Google Play, though Wear Aware offers in-app products ranging in price from $1.49 to $4.99.

Drafts 4

Drafts 4 by Agile Tortoise is a good app, albeit expensive, for Apple Watch users who bring their watches to work.

The app allows users to capture their thoughts, updates and ideas on a note, and share those messages automatically via email, Google+ or Evernote, as well as archive and delete them.

Using Drafts 4, consumers can list groceries, keep tabs on meetings, and share those notes to their iPhones. Drafts 4, which is available from the App Store, costs $9.99.

Deliveries

Deliveries is a package tracker app that allows Apple Watch wearers to keep tabs on the location of their online delivery orders.

Deliveries lists a summary of the user's shipments, counts down days until the shipments arrive, and adds estimated delivery dates to the watch's calendar so watch wearers will receive a notification when packages arrive.

This app supports services such as UPS, FedEx, U.S. Postal Service and Royal Mail. It is available on the App Store for $4.99.

Cruncher

Whether you need to calculate a tip or do some quick math at work, Cruncher is the perfect tool to subtly double-check your numbers.

Cruncher, a re-imagined calculator app for the Apple Watch and Android Wear watches, offers an innovative and easy design to crunch out numbers on the small surfaces of smartwatches.

This app is available for free on the App Store or Google Play.

TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor this year unveiled apps for both the Apple Watch and later for Android Wear smartwatches.

The app provides a travel companion right on users' wrists, helping them find hundreds of nearby restaurants, sights and tourist destinations while on trips. Along with reviews, TripAdvisor offers images, maps and addresses of various locations, making it the perfect addition to an impromptu trip.

TripAdvisor is available for free on the App Store and Google Play.

Wear Audio Recorder

Wear Audio Recorder is a functional voice recorder that is a handy little tool for recording lectures, board meetings and other events.

Wear Audio Recorder can be synced to Dropbox and Google Drive, and contains specialized features such as echo suppression, noise filtering and silence skipping.

The app is free for Android Wear watch users, although in-app products range from 99 cents to $2.99 per item. Wear Audio Recorder is available on Google Play.

Aeris Wear Weather

Aeris Wear Weather is a good app for keeping tabs on the weather and radar. This app allows users to instantly check current weather conditions, as well as short-term and extended forecasts so that they can plan for the day or the coming weekend.

Immediate severe weather advisories and alerts for the user's location are also sent straight to the watch with this app.

This app is free for Android Wear watch users and can be downloaded from Google Play.

InVoice2Go

Invoice2Go is for Apple Watch and Android Wear smartwatch users who want to submit an invoice while on the go.

Instead of having to copy their invoices, users can submit an invoice right to their wrists, and everything is backed up to the cloud and synced across devices. The app uses the device's GPS to track the user's location for work, and then tracks the time for how long users are working. Users can then save and send the invoice.

This app is free and available on the App Store or Google Play.