Top 10 aviation apps for Apple Watch

2 min read

We’ve been flying with the Apple Watch since it first launched, and while it has some unique uses, it’s mostly a novelty in the cockpit. Fortunately more and more aviation app developers are starting to include Apple Watch apps along with their primary iPad/iPhone app, allowing you to access bite-size pieces of aviation data from your wrist.

There are 2 main steps to installing one of these apps on your Apple Watch:

Download an app that supports Apple Watch features to your iPhone (the watch isn’t compatible with iPad).
Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone and use the “My Watch” button at the bottom of the screen to select the apps you’d like to install on your watch (here are more detailed instructions).

To get you started, here is our list of the top 10 aviation apps for Apple Watch.

Altimeter+ Display an altimeter flight instrument on your watch. You can choose to use the barometer (when paired with an iPhone 6 or newer), GPS or ASTER calculations as the source to determine altitude.

Aerovie, electronic flight bag (EFB) This is the most capable aviation Apple Watch app available today and offers the following features: weather radar, flight timers, digital checklists, pilot health monitoring, and nearby airport information. It also offers customizable watch face complications, allowing you to display widgets of nearby METARs and TAFs (with time travel support) on the home watch face.

Air Navigation Pro Display information about the surrounding airspace along with the the approximate distance to terrain or obstacles.

Bad Elf GPS Utility Monitor and control your Bad Elf GPS accessory right from your Apple Watch. Provides a moving map view and basic navigation information, including ground speed, track and GPS altitude.

FlightRadar24 Turn your Apple Watch into an air traffic radar and see a listing of nearby airplanes, including relative location, flight details and position on the map.

ForeFlight View METARs for nearby, recently viewed and favorite airports, monitor basic flight instruments showing GPS groundspeed, ETE and distance to destination, and run 2 simultaneous flight timers.

FuelBurn Keep a close eye on your airplane’s fuel status with this helpful watch app, including time/range information, alerts to switch tanks and warnings when reaching a low fuel situation.

MyRadar View detailed weather radar imagery, current weather conditions and a 5-day forecast.

NRST This is a must have for pilots flying with the Apple Watch. It continuously displays the direction and distance to nearby airports, along with a navigation instrument to guide you to a selected airport and descent planning data based on your current groundspeed.