Things for Apple Watch

We’re delighted to show you the latest addition to the Things family: Things for Apple Watch.

Available on the App Store

Designing Things for Apple Watch

With the Watch, Apple is entering a new device category: wrist-worn computers. Much like with the iPad before, in order for the Watch to be useful, it needs to do some things better than our existing devices. This burden is not on Apple alone—we as developers need to strive to find good answers for our apps as well. What exactly is the watch better at? Which interactions would be great, and which wouldn’t?

Making Of... Things for Apple Watch

In our view, the most defining feature of Apple Watch is its immediacy: it’s always with you, literally at your fingertips. There is no barrier between your wish to interact with it and your ability to do so—all you have to do is tap your wrist. The watch can even tap you on the wrist to get your attention. We believe it’s the immediacy of these interactions that makes it possible for Apple Watch to become your very own companion that guides and assists you throughout the day.

Apple’s own health app is a perfect example of this: if one of your goals in life is to live healthier, you now have a friendly companion to help you achieve that goal—subtly reminding you to move more, and showing you at a glance how far you’ve progressed.

We see Things for Apple Watch in exactly the same light. Things has always had a unique feature that lets you curate your very own Today list: everything you want to accomplish on a given day goes there—be it individual to-dos, to-dos from various different projects, or even entire projects themselves. After you’ve compiled your list for the day, all you need to do is follow through. As with your health goals, this is easier said than done. The Watch, we believe, is the perfect companion to help you stay on track.

With this in mind, we set out to design a version of Things that’s focused, not on task management, but on task accomplishment. Specifically, what you’ve decided you will do today. Let’s take a look at how it works.

A Tour of Things for Apple Watch

Today’s To-Dos at a Glance

Things for Apple Watch: Glance

As you go about your day, the quickest way to access your to-dos is by pulling up Things’ Glance—just raise your wrist and swipe up on the watch face to see it. Two things are prominently displayed here: the next few outstanding to-dos for today, as well as the progress you’ve made so far. There’s also a nice little graph that tracks your performance over the past few days.

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Tapping anywhere on the Glance opens the main app, and brings you directly into your full Today list where you can quickly mark your to-dos complete as you go.

Each accomplishment doesn’t go unrewarded: there’s a nice animation as you check off your items, and the ring at the top inches forward as you progress through the day.

Quick Decisions

If you tap on a to-do, you’ll see all relevant information: its title, the project it belongs to, its notes, as well as its due date. This gives you all the information you need to decide how to proceed with the to-do.

Do it now? Great, then tap the checkmark at the top to complete it.
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Plans changed? No problem, just tap the arrow to postpone it for later.
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If you scroll down to the bottom of this screen, you can also tap to dictate some notes, or change the due date.

Adding To-Dos

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With Siri, you can add new to-dos to Things right from your Apple Watch. Just press and hold the digital crown, or say “Hey Siri, remember to contact Sarah about our trip”. This sends the new to-do to Things’ Inbox where you can process it later.

Inside the app, you can also tap the + button in the top right to dictate your to-do. If you want to work on it right away, move it from the Inbox to your Today list with a quick tap.

Work with Projects

If you know you’ll mostly be working on a given project throughout the day, you can simply mark that project with a star on your Mac, iPad, or iPhone and it will show up on your Apple Watch, together with all its to-dos.

Fully Integrated

Things for Apple Watch is integrated with Things Cloud for seamless updates across all your devices. Every thing you dictate; every task you complete; every due date you set; every change you make—it’s all passed over and synchronised instantly with your Mac and iPad via the iPhone app.

Also, if you’ve scheduled to-dos for a certain date, Things for Apple Watch can remind you in the morning on that day. This gives you a chance to review them so you don’t miss anything important. Just turn it on in Things for iPhone, and choose a time for your alert.


With this combination of features, we hope you’ll find Things for Apple Watch to be a great companion that truly helps you achieve your goals every day.

Available Today

Things has already been released for Apple Watch. This means that if you already own Things for iPhone—and millions of you do!—you’ll be able to install it as soon as your watches start arriving later this week. Just pair the new device with your iPhone and all of your to-dos for the day will appear on your wrist.

We look forward to hearing what you think of the latest addition to the Things family!


Things for Apple Watch
Available on the App Store

If you like Things for Apple Watch, you can share today’s news on Twitter or Facebook. Also, a big thank you to Peter Gromer for writing the great music for our video.