Best Apple Watch apps 2015

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Announced back in September 2014, Apple Watch is set to launch somewhere between "soon" and "fairly soon". We already know about its crown-packing hardware, and the perception is that it'll galvanise the wearable and smartwatch sectors by its very presence, with analysts rubbing their hands with glee and saying things like "30 million sales in the first year".

We'll see about that, but one thing's for sure: there will be apps. Here are 14 we are certain you'll see on launch day, whether from the Watch App Store from third parties, or preloaded (and irksomely impossible to remove), from Apple.

Can't wait for your smartwatch software fix? For a roundup of our favourite Android Wear apps you can actually buy right now, head here.

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1 Apple Health

One of the main reasons for Watch is for Apple to corner the health market, hence the Watch's miscellany of sensors including infrared LEDs, photo sensors, gyroscope and accelerometer. It'll be hoovering your heartbeat, activity and steps, to shout at you to get active, stand up and walk to McDonalds and then even have words with your doctor about your poor regime, if Apple's plans come to fruition.

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2 Facebook

If they can figure out how to streamline sending check-ins and status updates from wrists that isn't a counterintuitive chore, Facebook should fly on the Watch. Zuckerberg and co are getting pretty good at making their app work on mobile platforms, and we expect this to be no different on the Watch. Imagine how much money they're currently throwing at this particular UI challenge. Excellent. Now double it.

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3 Music

Another no brainer, one of the first things you'll do when you fire up your Watch loudly and ostentatiously in the pub, is control your tunes from your wrist, and pausing, fast forwarding and scrolling through playlists will be one of the most fingerprint-collecting tasks this thing will be performing. Make it your friend immediately.

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4 Twitter

140 characters is a fine number of characters for a screen so small. Almost a perfect number of characters for a screen so small. Micro blogging will do well on the Watch, with any attached pictures supplying backgrounds to Tweets and retweeting, dismissing or – the poor man's passive/aggressive like – favouriting all done with one, triumphant finger.

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5 Passbook

This won't just be Passbook as you know it, even though that's already a hugely handy app for things such as boarding passes and... erm, well boarding passes. Passbook will also hold Pay, Apple's contactless means of paying for stuff with just a tap of your watch. Visa have committed to bringing Pay to iPhones in "early 2015" so it should be a formality to extend this to Watch, which is also due in "early 2015".

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6 Whatsapp

With news that Whatsapp has passed SMS in terms of traffic, statistically the way you'll most probably pick up messages is a discreet buzz to the wrist and a Whatsapp notification glance. Because who needs privacy anyway when you can send LOLs, ROFLings and BAEs free?

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7 Instagram

As we saw from the demo, this will boast thumbnails of picture slideshows scale so small, only peregrine falcons can see them on the small screen, but the 42mm window is perfect for Instagram's speedy peak into what Kanye West and Kim Kardashian are taking photos of this morning. We'd expect remote control of your iPhone's camera too, on this and all other photo-related apps.

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8 Google maps

The small screen will make searching similar to needles in haystacks, but fire up a route on your phone, and you should be able to stride off, confident that you'll be able to navigate to your destination via a combination of on-screen map directions and wrist buzzes (one for left, two for right, maybe?) with consummate ease, sharing your location with chums along the way.

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9 BMW i

At CES 2015, BMW demonstrated an app which, at the touch of a button, tells your i3 electric car to run along and park itself. That's a wee while away, but BMW will have a companion app for their leccy motor which will communicate your car's charge remaining, time to full charge, available range, lock and unlock the doors and navigate you to where it's currently sitting. We'd expect similar apps from Hyundai, Audi and the rest of the CarPlay brigade.

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10 The Guardian

Already a big hit on Android Wear, if this isn't an Apple Watch launch app we'll smash our iPhones with hammers*. The Guardian is pleasingly and dependably tech savvy, and that's reflected in this app, which throws up a breaking news "glance" as stories happen, which you can then investigate on your iPhone if you want, or dismiss if it's not a new iPhone 7 rumour.

(*No we won't really).

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11 Flashlight

The Android Wear incarnation of this hardy smartphone perennial is currently sitting on a rock solid four-star review (via 677 reviewers, not just the developer and his mum). If the Apple Watch is a tenth as bright as the retina-burning, seen-from-orbit Moto 360, a flashlight app will be an obvious early app.

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12 Jawbone Up

Jawbone's excellent fitness tracking app, only without the Up fitness tracker. It's already available as an iOS app, and the Apple Watch has more sensors than the fitness band packs, so this will be Up, only uppier. Incorporates a "smart coach" (how could being told off by an app ever get old?), links to diet and calorie counting apps and also plays nice with Apple Health. We'd anticipate all the big fitness-tracking players (Fitbit, Withings, Runtastic, Nike et al) to be joining Jawbone in the App Store, too.

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13 Domino's Pizza Tracker

Alternatively, forget the above and order your Mighty Meaty, Chicken Strippers, cheesy garlic bread, Potato Wedges, 'slaw and full fat Coke and get a buzzy update every time your meal passes a delivery milestone. Pair with HealthKit apps to make sure you're not overdoing it…

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14 Pipes

News aggregating app uses a bespoke algorithm to edit better than human editors, summarising "pipes" (news feeds of your choice: Man United, iPhone 7, Star Wars etc) that you've set up, with a pic and a few, choice words. Dismiss or save for later as is your wont. "Know less and more at the same time," the devs say, enigmatically.

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