Wearable App Development: Architectures, App Types, Business Opportunities

Author: Christine Kocharyan

The market of wearable devices is on the upswing.

Smartwatches, wristbands, health monitors, and other solutions are projected to soar in the future.

Before we talk about how to create a wearable app, let’s first answer an important question: What is wearable app development?

Wearables are devices that users wear on them like accessories or as a part of clothing. These gadgets usually connect to a smartphone to exchange data between the network and the device.

Wearable applications are those that receive data from such wearable devices. Apps of this type have access to the device’s hardware, such as sensors. These sensors collect the data and transfer it to the app, which is programmed for the desired outcome.

As was already mentioned, there are numerous examples of wearable technology. Let’s take a quick look at the most popular types of wearable devices today:

  • Smartwatches – one of the most popular wearable devices in the world. Smartwatches eliminate the need to always keep a smartphone on you. Such devices undertake numerous tasks, such as sending and reading messages, showing notifications, setting up alarms, track physical activity, and much more.
  • Fitness trackers – devices are used for monitoring physical activity, such as track the number of steps taken, calories burned, heart rate, sleep, and much more. Today, fitness trackers offer a part of features offered by smartphones, such as displaying notifications. Head-mounted displays – VR glasses are the most explicit example of such devices. They can provide as monitors or provide users with AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) information.
  • Smart jewelry – the most prominent example of smart jewelry up to date are smart rings. These tiny devices are used to track physical activity and collect information that is transferred to a smartphone for further user interaction.

There are also other types of wearables that are less popular, such as smart clothing and implantable.

Wearable app development has high importance for the healthcare industry. Glucose monitors help patients track their glucose levels. Different diagnostic ships are used to identify muscle activity, body temperature, chronic diseases, and much more.

HOW TO CREATE WEARABLE APP: EXHAUSTIVE GUIDE

Before you start wearable app development, you need to take care of a number of tasks. The process is not limited to coding. You need to understand what type of application you want to create, different types of architectures, and how to choose a reliable wearable app development company.

Here, you learn how to create a wearable app step by step.

COME UP WITH AN APP IDEA

So, you’ve decided to create a wearable application. Do you already know what type of app you are going to create? If the answer is no, you can easily make the right decision.

Identification of users’ needs will help you get started. Wearable applications are designed to make the life of users better and simpler. You need to understand how the availability of a wearable app version will help you do the job.

Pro Tip: If you are stuck at finding an app idea, don’t give up! There are a lot of applications in the app marketplaces that can become your inspiration.

RESEARCH THE MARKET AND COMPETITORS

The next step of wearable app development is research and analysis of the market and competitors. You can start by identifying what applications are popular right now in your target region and analyzing their strong and weak points. You will learn a lot about your competitors and come up with ways to provide a better solution that users will fall in love with.

After you have all the data, you can organize it into a business model canvas to stricture all your thoughts and ideas.

FIND A WEARABLE APP DEVELOPMENT VENDOR

You can create a wearable app by yourself or hire a software development company. The first option requires deep technical knowledge, coding experience and understanding of wearable app development. If you decide on the second option, you will be able to concentrate on the business part of your business, decrease risks and entrust the development process into the hands of professionals.

CHOOSE WEARABLE APP TYPE

There are a few possible solutions that you can build for a wearable device. They differ in the way they operate, their independence from a mobile device, and their functionality. Let’s review some of them:

  • Standalone app – such a wearable application runs on a wearable device itself and has a direct connection to the internet through Wi-Fi. Standalone apps are fully independent of mobile devices.
  • Companion app – such wearable apps complement mobile applications. They have limited functionality and require regular or constant data exchange with a mobile application.
  • Faces – this is not an app but a custom lock screen created for a smartwatch.
  • Glances – such cards contain the latest updates from mobile applications and are available to users at a glance.
  • Notifications – such solutions are limited to only showing push notifications from smartphones on the screens of wearable applications.

In most cases, businesses develop companion and standalone applications for wearables. Such apps have a sufficient level of independence from mobile devices and can perform numerous tasks. Wearable apps also differ when it comes to installation methods:

  • They can be installed from a wearable apps store
  • They can be installed from a smartphone
  • Not installed, meaning an app on the phone sends information to the wearable

You need to understand what type of application you are going to create before you start the development. This way you will avoid unnecessary re-doings and save a lot of time and money.

DECIDE ON THE LIST OF FEATURES

Let’s review some of the most common features used in wearable app development.

  • Smartphone module

When we talk about wearable app development, in most cases, we talk about the development of two apps – one for a smartphone and one for a wearable. If you decide to create a standalone application, you will probably need to develop a so-called container app. Such an app carries out the setup process and watch app installation. However, the vast majority of smartwatches can connect to the internet via Wi-Fi and get an app from a store directly.

You can also create a companion app for an already existing mobile application or develop both the companion app and the mobile app simultaneously.

  • UX, UI, and controls

When we compare mobile and wearable app development, there is one obvious difference – screen size. Wearables have tiny screens that require micro-layouts. You can only provide a great user experience only if you provide the necessary information, limit the use of buttons to one per screen, and use short text.

Some devices, such as the Samsung Gear series has a rotating bezel that can be used to navigate the menu. The digital crown performs a similar feature on Apple Watch. You need to understand which platforms you are targeting to make good use of them. This way, you will be able to avoid using unnecessary on-screen elements.

  • Navigation

As mentioned before, you can use the basic navigation implemented by wearable manufacturers to create a great user experience. For example, the vast majority of smartwatches have their own gestures for moving between screens with swipes, selecting an item with taps, etc. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel.

  • Push notifications

Users have wearables on them all the time. That’s why such devices are a great opportunity to remind users about upcoming events, planned calls, or workout sessions. Push notifications are a must-have for wearable applications. Today, you can even show whole text messages through such notifications or a preview of an upcoming event.

  • Voice commands

Some wearable devices have voice assistants, and you can integrate your app with them. For example, devices on Android Wear have an assistant by Google, and watchOS devices have Siri.

Integration with their API will allow you to add the support of voice commands to your wearable application. It’s a nice-to-have feature, especially for workout apps. They would allow users to set up timers while they are working out and control other features of the application.

There are a lot of other features that an app can have based on the specific needs of your solution.

The use of wearable app development is predicted to grow in the future.

With every year, such devices become more advanced and offer a wider range of features.

Wearable applications can become a great addition to your mobile app that will improve the user experience or a standalone solution with unique functionality.

For more information about Wearable App Development learn here.