The Apple Watch is, according to Apple, one of the bestselling watches in the world – and that includes all watches, not just smartwatches. Given this is the case, after a decade of the devices being strapped to wrists around the world you might have thought one of the most-used apps also had an Apple Watch app, but that hasn’t been the case until now.
As spotted by 9to5Google, the Apple Watch finally has an official Google Calendar app. It looks quite simplistic, but finally gives Apple Watch users the ability to view the Google Calendar app on their wrist.
iPhones run all Google apps, but there are very few Google apps available on the Apple Watch. If you use Google Calendar on your iPhone, you will have to make do with the Apple calendar app on your watch and hope it syncs accurately, or import your Google account’s calendar onto the Apple app on your iPhone.
What a faff.
Now, it appears your Google prayers have been answered. Apparently you can’t create new events or reminders from the wrist, but at least Apple Watch owners now have an official way to view Google Calendar and get notifications so they don’t miss those important appointments.
The app can display the next week’s worth of events and your Google Tasks. It also reflects the colour coding you can assign to these events and Tasks from the main Calendar app.
It’s also reported that there are two complications available, which you can incorporate into select watch faces. These are for your next appointment and the current date, which already exist in Apple Calendar format. Presumably tapping the new complications will open the Google Calendar app.
But it wouldn’t be Google if the firm didn’t scrap something at the same time as bringing out something new.
Tech Radar noticed that Google has killed the Google Keep app for Apple Watch. Keep is Google’s notes app, which I use frequently and prefer to Apple Notes. The Apple Watch Keep app was not well maintained and did not have much functionality, so it’s not too much of a surprise, but it’s a shame that Google giveth but then taketh away.
It means that there are yet again only three official Google apps available for the Apple Watch, with Google Calendar joining Google Maps and YouTube Music.
Such apps are quite constrained on the tiny screen of the Apple Watch and are generally limited in functionality. Music apps for the Watch tend to be most immediately useful as you can skip track, play/pause or change volume without getting out your phone.
The Google Maps app can give turn-by-turn directions, which is handy if you’re walking or on a bike, but beyond that you’ll probably want to pull out your phone.
The same goes for Google Calendar, but it’s nice to have the option. Hopefully it lives longer than many other departed Google apps.