Apple App Design Awards 2016

Apple Watch Apps That Busy Parents Love

Photo Courtesy: MediaNews Group/Bay Area News via Getty Images/Getty Images

Technology has changed a lot over the centuries, but one thing remains the same: Parenting is exhausting. However, while the latest gadgets can't make parenting easy, they can at least make surviving it easier, and few more than the Apple Watch. With apps to help with everything from making dinner to just getting a bit more sleep, the Apple Watch can be of particular service to busy parents. Best of all, you can pick one up online or in person at stores like Target, making buying one easy.

Whether you're looking to buy an Apple Watch or already own one, these are some of the best apps for improving your life as a parent.

Green Kitchen Timer

From start to finish, Green Kitchen makes preparing dinner easier. It comes with a range of recipes designed to provide whatever you and your family need in a meal, including vegan and gluten-free options. Each recipe breaks down the process in a step-by-step list and includes pictures to help you know what to aim for. You can even share or print out recipes using AirDrop or AirPrint respectively.

Photo Courtesy: Ute Grabowsky/Getty Images

Green Kitchen is also much more than just an electronic cookbook. You can create shopping lists with your entire family, set smart timers that know what you're cooking and more for a faster, tastier mealtime. Now if only an app existed to help with the cleanup afterward ...

Breathe

Parenting doesn't leave much time for relaxation, but that doesn't mean taking a moment to just let all the stress out isn't important. Breathe is an app that comes by default with the Apple Watch, and it's designed to remind you to take a moment to just focus on your breathing. You breathe in and out to match an animation on the screen, and in doing so, you recenter yourself in the moment and let out tension. Breathe can be used both when you're suddenly overwhelmed with stress and periodically throughout the day through the use of notifications.

Photo Courtesy: BSIP/Getty Images

Health

Staying healthy is harder with kids, but that doesn't make it less important. If you want to make the most of whatever time you do have for fitness, Apple's Health app can help. Similar to a Fitbit, Health automatically keeps track of the number of steps you've walked, how far you've moved each day and your heart rate. You can also import data from other health apps or devices to keep all of your fitness information right on your wrist. And if you're ever active without your watch, you can manually enter it later as well.

Photo Courtesy: Future Publishing/Getty Images

Calendar

Another invaluable app that comes standard with Google Watches is Calendar. In addition to doing everything its name suggests, the app lets you coordinate schedules across Apple devices as well as import other schedules and events from social media, your email account and many other calendar services. You can also share your calendar with others to keep everyone on the same page. Overall, Calendar is a great choice for coordinating your family's schedules and managing work/life balance in equal measure.

Photo Courtesy: Bloomberg/Getty Images

PlayKids

PlayKids is a subscription service for cartoons, books and more provided through Apple devices. Think Netflix for children, but with the added benefit that much of the content is educational and can help your kid practice important developmental skills. From learning a second language to lullabies for naptime, PlayKids is surprisingly versatile, and you can even watch videos offline.

Photo Courtesy: Artur Debat/Getty Images

You don't need an Apple Watch to make use of PlayKids. With one, however, you can monitor what shows your child is watching and for how long, review time spent on different kinds of content, set limits and restrictions on shows and more, all from your wrist.

Cloud Baby Monitor

If you're a new parent who's worried about their baby, Cloud Baby Monitor has your back. It not only lets you check in on your infant anywhere you go, but also receive noise and motion alerts, view reports about previous notifications over the past 24 hours and even monitor multiple babies at once.

Photo Courtesy: Ute Grabowsky/Getty Images

On top of that, the app also offers ways to take care of your child remotely. With the right accessories, you can play white noise or popular lullabies, toggle night light brightness, import your own playlists and more. Battery life and connection quality indicators also let you know when the monitor won't be enough.

Sleep++

When you're a parent, sleep is important — and scarce. Tracking how often and how much you sleep is a great way to stay healthy, and Sleep++ makes doing so easy. It identifies when you get your best and worst rest of the night so that you can improve your sleep habits. Sleep++ can also connect directly to the Health app to save your sleep report each night, and it's designed to use as little battery power as possible.