Building an iWatch App (Part 1)

Let’s get started!
Xcode 12 pairs with SwiftUI to make watchOS app development easier and quicker than ever. You can now create watchOS apps without Storyboards, so your apps are fully based on SwiftUI.

For developing an iWatch app, we need an Xcode version with Watch Kit support. The latest version is Xcode 12.3 with WatchKit. We can simply download it from the app store or dmg file.

After downloading Xcode, install the Xcode dmg file if you download it from the member center or install it from the app store.

Create a new Xcode Project
Open the Xcode and click on “Create a new Xcode project”.

Then select “Single View Application” to create an empty project.

Fill in the asked information. Choose Swift or Objective-C for the language, and devices as you want. Click next, then select a directory for the project and finish.

Now we have a project, and we want to develop some features to work on Apple Watch. We will add Apple Watch as a new target for the iOS Apps.

Add Apple Watch Target
With WatchKit support of Xcode, there is an “Apple Watch” section in the Targets.

To add a new target, click File, then New, and then Target.

Here you can see the Apple Watch section. Click it and chose the Watch App.

Enter the details and click Finish.

Congrats! You’ve created your first watch app.

Structure
Now you have a project with Watch App. Your project structure should look like this.

Two Directories have been added to your project. WKExample WatchKit Extension and WKExample WatchKit App.

WKExample WatchKit App provides a storyboard where you can design your Watch App.

WKExample WatchKit Extension contains the classes you need to write Watch App. You can create new classes and write your code files here.

Build something
We’ll be building a small iWatch app in the second part of this blog.

I hope this helps you to get started in iWatch App Development 🙂