How to make an Apple Watch App

December 28, 2020

The Idea

I got an Apple Watch for Christmas this year. Since I use my watch as a timer when I run workouts, I needed a timer app. The one that comes with the watch didn't work for me. The buttons were WAY too tiny for me to be able to hit them if I was doing a sprint workout. I searched the app store for just a super simple stopwatch app with BIG buttons. There were none to be found.

Then I thought: "Hmm, maybe I could build an Apple Watch app instead?" I didn't know how to build an Apple Watch app, but I figured my idea was simple enough, that maybe I could figure out the basics and get it done.

Quick victories, and shots to the nuts.

So, I learned how to build an apple watch app. It took me about 2 hours to get it working. I was pleasantly surprised at my quick progress. I was excited that I had a working prototype, and I decided to check out how to get my app on the app store.

Then Apple kicked me in the nuts. I learned 2 disappointing things:

1. There are more steps, and it's more difficult to get your app published on the app store than it is to build the app in the first place.
2. It costs $99 PER YEAR to have your app on the app store.