Competitor analysis
On our induction day we were given an overview of what our module would entail and I am looking forward to all the challenges ahead that will broaden my skills and knowledge, our first project being the smart watch, we are to do a competitor analysis on the top 3 apps on smartwatches and I’ve decided to research some apps on the apple watch since it is the most known and used smartwatch in the smartwatch world; the objective is to spot UX elements and marketing strategies that can help us in our ideation.
Since I’m keen on fitness I decided to start with Apple’s fitness app, the app is well equipped with many features that make it very reliable and easy to use, beside tracking movement in steps, standing, running, cycling, and swimming, it also tracks the user’s heartrate with an ECG via electrical heart signals, the series 6 and above also allows the user to track their oxygen blood levels, I must say for it’s size it is backed with some high technology that makes it enjoyable to use. The app tracks everything and logs it all in real time, it also adds new sessions to its workout library every week, another feature I forgot to mention is that the watch tracks calories burned and atrial fibrillation, a potential indicator of a serious heart condition, and the user’s sleep routine.
This feature displays your calories burnt, exercise, and standing activities
This screens displays how one would view the progress of their cycling activity along with their heart rate
Here are some more screens showcasing the many of their health & fitness features. A pattern I’ve noticed in their designs is their use of radius around the corners of each element, this gives a smooth feeling when using the app and makes transitions and interactions very satisfying, their use of colours is also brilliant I must say, it makes it easy for users to know what is what given that it is all on a small screen
Something I took into account is how small these devices are and how careful designers have to be when designing apps and features for smartwatches, but thankfully for precise information, Apple recommends developers use the Human Interface Guidelines for watchOS, which provides detailed information about safe areas and layout
With a touch target size of 44x44 pixels, users are able to easily tap on whatever app they want to open
In order to start a workout the user would simply tap on the workout app and scroll to find the adequate workout to do and track
Another Apple watch app that caught my attention was the Todoist app which clearly means “to do list” and I must say I like the way they decided to go along with the name “Todoist”, it is a good marketing strategy in my opinion because the thought of “ to do list” sounds boring whereas “Todoist” sounds more fun, this then entices users to engage with the app and learn how to navigate it in order to make us of it. The Todoist app offers features that allow users to manage their tasks and stay productive directly from their wrist. The key features of this app are task management which allows the user to add, view, postpone, and complete tasks, another key feature is the customizable notifications that can be done for specific tasks; users can also use Siri on the Apple watch to add or check tasks. I really like this app because I personally feel like it would make my life a lot easier as I find it very hard to remember, start and complete tasks, and I feel like having a constant reminder on my wrist would lead me on productive path
This screen above is the homepage of the Todoist app which showcases a profile of the user and the number of tasks they have for the day
Todoist benefited from one of the Apple watch’s best features, the Force Touch, this allows users to add a new task no matter what screen they’re on by simply applying some pressure on the screen when touching, this feature can also be seen in Apple phones when editing the home screen. Another cool feature the app has is that it lets you label the task, this can be seen in the far right screen
The design of the Todoist app might give a boring impression but I think it serves its purpose really well by being an easy navigable app, the layout and colour scheme is simply because the creators know that users want to cut straight to the point and log in their daily task