8 Best Free Apps for Your Android Wear Device

The long-awaited Android Wear is finally here with a wide range of wearable devices running the new platform. While the devices were just launched two months ago, but a number of Android app developers have been updated their apps with Android Wear support.

These apps range from ones that improve personal productivity to something more personable, allowing you to track your spending and manage your money. Now, let’s see some of the bestfree apps for Google’s Android Wear.

1. Wear Mini Launcher
   Wear Mini Launcher is the first Launcher app for Android Wear. It displays an app drawer with all the apps installed on your smartwatch that lets you quickly launch apps by simply tapping the respective icons. If you have a lot of apps installed, this can make it easier for you to find the app you’re looking for.
   To use the app, you need to install it on your smartphone. While the smartwatch is still connected with your phone, open the app on your smartwatch to launch the app grid for the first time. Swiping right to the top left side of your smartwatch will open the app drawer where you will be able to see all the apps that are installed in your wearable.

2. IFTTT
   IFTTT, short for If This Then That, is one of the best Android Wear apps available in the market today. The app allows you to set rules to perform a specific function if an event happens. For example, you can tell it to send your phone a text message when you receive an email from your significant other, or automatically uploading photos to Dropbox that you post to Instagram. Of course, there are dozens of other things you can do with it which is what makes it so powerful.

3. Wear Aware – Phone Finder
   Wear Aware – Phone Finder is a very useful tool for your Android wear watch that can help you locate your phone when it’s out of sight.
   With Phone Finder, your smartwatch will start vibrating and buzzing on your wrist when you’ve accidentally left your phone behind. It also allows you to activate an alarm on the phone so you can locate it easier. It’s great for those times when you’ve lost it and do not remember where you put it.

4. RunKeeper – GPS Track Run Walk
   By default, Android Wear has integrated step-counting support but Runkeeper takes that a step further by offering more detailed stats. It provides at-a-glance run tracking info right on your wrist – the travel distances and detailed progress and stats during and after the run.
   You can also start tracking a run with just a voice action, and even see the calories you’ve burned.
   
5. Evernote for Android Wear
   Evernote is a powerful note-taking app that’s now compatible with Android Wear devices. With Evernote for Android Wear, you can create a note with simple voice commands or view a note from your watch.
   You can also check off to-dos by tapping your smartwatch, as well as add new checklists by speaking the to-do name. You can even search for a specific note right on your watch using voice commands, and you get automatic alerts on your watch when you set a calendar event in Evernote.

6. Level Money
   Level Money is a personal finance app that can help small business owners track their spending and manage their money. The app shows you your last transaction as well as how much spendable money you have left in your budget.
   You can also set a daily spending limit which you update every time you make a purchase. This will helps you stick to a strict budget.
   To get started, just link your bank account or credit cards to the Android smartphone app. The app will automatically track your income, savings and recurring bills, then show you your “spendable” cash, so you know how much you can buy that month, week or day. Level Money also links to Android Wear devices so you can view your spendable balance and transaction right from your wrist.

7. Lyft
   Lyft is an awesome app that lets people call for a ride from their Android phone, and now from the watch. With this app, you can get a cab to one of your saved locations without having to use your phone. Just simply ask the app to ‘call me a car’ and a Lyft driver will be on your way. The app will send you notification about timing and approaching drivers. If you’re looking for a quick ride, then this might be helpful to you.
   However, this service is currently only available in most major U.S. cities (check the full list here). So if you are living outside the US then this is not the right app for you.

8. Duolingo
   Duolingo is the best app to learn a new language, and the app is now compatible with Android Wear. It will help Android Wear’s user to recognize if the words are pronounced properly and help you improve your language skills.
   This app uses voice, multiple choice and text translation in order to help users learn new languages in small and interactive lessons. It’s totally free and contains numerous exercises for each course. Duolingo currently offers courses for 31 languages including English, French, Spanish, German, Italian and Portuguese. For anyone who wants to learn a new language, Duolingo is the best free app to download on your android wear watch.

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Facebook Messenger Updated with Voice Message Support for Android Wear

After WhatsApp released a beta version for Android to support Android Wear devices, Facebook has also pushed an update to its Messenger app for Android that adds support forAndroid Wear.

The update brings support for voice messages directly from an Android Wear smartwatch, so that you can immediately respond to your friend’s message by talking to the watch. And if a voice message isn’t feasible at the moment, the messenger app also lets users send a “thumbs up” or “like” response to any message on the app.

Earlier the app only displayed phone’s notifications, but now you can read, like as well as reply to messages on Facebook with this app.

Since the Android Wear uses swipes to switch between the features inside an app, you can just swipe to access voice messages, like with a big thumbs-up symbol and more. You can also mute conversations right from the smartwatch’s notifications bar.

The updated Facebook Messenger app is now available on the Google Play Store.

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Android Wear: What Can The Google’s Smartwatch OS Do?

What is Android Wear?

Android Wear is a version of Google’s Android operating system designed for wearable devices, such as smartwatches. Google has partnered with several device makers like Sony, Samsung, LG, Asus, HTC, and Motorola to create Android Wear-based watches. It’s also teamed up with companies such as Intel and Qualcomm for the chip technology.

The first phase of Android Wear launch devices includes LG G Watch, Samsung Gear Live, and Motorola Moto 360, and the world’s first two Android Wear watches, the LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live, have already been revealed at the Google I/O 2014 and can be ordered via the Google play store or through Amazon.

What can Android Wear do?

The aim of Android Wear is to change the way users interact with wearable devices by bringing relevant information as well as notifications to wearer. As an operating system that is wearable, it makes suggestions to the user based on the current time, factoring in geographical information with the data, making the experience much more context-sensitive.

Android wear includes “Google Now” functionality for performing searches and issuing commands. you can simply say “OK Google” to ask quick questions. You can then get quick responses in the form of informational cards. You can get sports scores and schedules, check the weather, see the time in other time zones, translate words or phrases, get calories counts, check stocks, convert between units, and many more. For more details about instructions for each task, see the Android wear help page here.

In addition to that, Android Wear will help you monitor your fitness and health, as you can get fitness reminders and summaries as well as utilizing your favorite sports apps. Android Wearwill also let users access and control other devices such as music players, phones and TVs on your wrist.

Developers interested in developing for Android Wear compatibility can sign up to participate in a developer preview that is already available at developer.android.com/wear.

Below is a developer video detailing Android Wear and its basic functionality.

How does Android Wear work?

To use the Android wear device, you need to pair it with a phone or tablet running Android 4.3 or higher. More information about how to pair Android wear watch with your phone is availablehere.

Once that’s done, visit your phone settings and give your watch permission to access yournotifications. After you’ve allowed access, everything that shows up on your phone will shows up on your watch. You can also set different actions for different voice commands using settings in the Android Wear app.

Android Wear: Google’s Next Big Thing

There are lots of possibilities for wearable tech. At the moment it’s only found on smartwatches but over the coming years we’ll start to see it turn up on other wearable technology, like clips, pendants, and maybe even Google Glass.

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Two Simple Methods to Factory Reset Your Android Wear Watch

There are many different reasons why you might want to factory reset your Android Wearsmartwatch. For example, you might want to sell the watch and make sure all your personal data is removed from the device beforehand or just feeling like a fresh start or free up space. Whatever the reasons, you can easily restore your Android Wear watch to its out-of-box state. Here are two simple methods to perform a factory reset on an Android Wear device.

Please note that performing this action will erase all data stored on your smartwatch such as notifications and cards, fitness data, third-party apps, system settings and preferences. However, the smartphone counterpart will be unaffected. After the reset you’ll need to re-pair the watch with your smartphone again.

Method #1: Reset with Touch Display

1. Tap your watch’s screen to turn it on.
2. Tap again on the background and you’ll see a white screen with a red “G”.
3. Tap anywhere on the screen and a menu will show up
4. Scroll down until you see “Settings” option and tap on it.
5. Now, scroll down and select “Reset device.”
6. Confirm you want to reset your Android Wear watch by tapping the check icon.

After confirming the reset, the device will power off and perform a factory reset.

Method #2: Reset with Voice Commands

1. From the home screen, say “Ok Google”.
2. At next screen, say “Settings”.
3. Then scroll down until you see “Reset device” and tap on it.
4. Confirm your choice and wait for your Android wear to revert to factory settings.

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How to Play .VOB Video File On Android

VOB is a file extension that mostly found on DVD disks. A VOB extension can contain anything from audio and video to subtitle and menu information. Unfortunately, it is a kind of file format that are not supported by the default Android video player.

To be able to play .VOB files, you need to install a third-party video player, which can play various formats including .VOB format, in your Android device. One of the best Android video player apps to play .VOB file is Wondershare Player. Wondershare player is a free media player that lets you play video and audio files in all popular media file format like AVI, FLV, MKV, WMV, VOB, MOV, RM, RMVB, ASF, MP3, WMA, AAC, FLAC, M2TS, F4V, 3GP, and more.

It also supports subtitles embedded video files, such as .SSA, .SMI, .SRT, .SUB, .MPL, .PSB, and .TXT.

How to Play .VOB Video File on Android using Wondershare Player

1. Download and install Wondershare player app on your Android phone or tablet
2. Once installed, launch the app
3. On the Local menu, tap on the ‘three horizontal lines’ that are placed at the top left corner of the screen and then tap on ‘Gear’ icon to open the settings menu.

4. In the Settings menu, tap on ‘Decoding Mode’ option.

5. Now, you’ll see a number of file formats which are supported by Wondershare player. Find ‘VOB’ format and tap on it and then check the ‘Auto’ option. Done!

Now, Wondershare Player will start supporting .VOB video files in your Android phone and you can start playing the video file without any interruption.

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How to Use Whatsapp on PC Using Airdroid

WhatsApp is one of the best mobile messaging apps that allow you to chat with your friends and family for free. With this app, you can send text and voice messages, share pictures, audio notes, videos, location, and many more.

However, Whatsapp is only available for mobile platforms like Android, iOS, Windows phone, Symbian and Blackberry. Although WhatsApp has not been created for PCs, there are ways to run it on PC and use it.

If you’re looking for a great and easy way to run Whatsapp on your PC, then you should give Airdroid a try. Airdroid is free Android device manager app that allows you to transfer files between your Android phone and PC via WiFi. Apart from that, it also allows you to mirror your Android device to PC, which means you can interact with all the apps installed, including WhatsApp. Now let’s see how to use Whatsapp on PC using Airdroid.

1. Download and install AirDroid on your Android phone
2. Sign in into the app or Sign up with a new account.
3. Once you’ve signed in, the app will ask you to enable real time notifications on your PC. Tap on ‘Enable’ button.

4. Enable the Android Notification Mirror feature.

5. Now head over to the www.airdroid.com and download the respective Airdroid client for your Mac or Windows PC from the download links provided.
6. Install the application on your computer.

7. Sign in to your AirDroid account using the same username and password that you used to sign up on your Android phone.

That’s it! Now whenever you receive Whatsapp’s message on your Android phone, the same message will be also displayed on your PC in real time. Click on the message notification to reply.

Please note that you should have your Android phone and PC connected to the same network to get notifications.

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How to Easily Record Screen on Android Lollipop Device

The native screen recording was initially introduced on Android 4.4 KitKat but the functionality required either a rooted device with a Screen Recording app installed or a non-rooted device with some Android Debug Bridge (ADB) commands.

Luckily, on Android 5.0 Lollipop, the process is much, much easier, as the new OS version released with a new API that allows developers to build apps that can record screen without the need of root access or any ADB knowhow. Currently, there are few apps which have taken advantage of the new API and let’s users to record screen on their lollipop smartphones or tablets.

If you’re looking for a great screen recording app, then you should give AZ Screen Recorder a try. It’s by far one of the best app to record a video of your Android screen. The best part of this app is that it has no recording time limit and there’s no watermark or logo of the creator will be displayed on your videos. Moreover, it also allows you to pause and resume while recording.

After you install and launch the app, a small toolbar will appear in the middle of your screen. The toolbar contains four different controls like Recording, Settings, File Manager and Exit button.

When you start recording for the first time, a few prompts will explain how the recording feature works. You will always be able to access the recording panel in your notification bar. On the recording panel you can pause, stop, and start new recordings.

In the settings, you can enable touches to show up on the screen, enable or disable audio recording, set time limits for recording, as well as change the resolution and bitrate of video captured.

The output format will be MP4 file, and you can select the default folder where the file will be saved, although it will automatically appear in your gallery app.

The app is completely free to use, but as mentioned above, you need to have Android 5.0 Lollipop installed. If you have a prior version, your best bet is to root your Android device and install a screen recorder app called Shou.TV from Google play store.

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