[List] Working Sideloaded Android Wear Apps (Not Maintained anymore)

[EpicLPer]

THIS DOC IS NO LONGER ACTIVELY MAINTAINED!
Sorry for this, but real life took over and managed to take so much of my time up that I’m no longer able to verify and test stuff on my own. Besides, since Android Wear 6 a lot of things changed and I’d have to test all of these apps again.


Greetings dear Android Wear users!

Today I got my LG G Watch and I'm just amazed by the capabilities of that watch so I thought I'd create a list of all working sideloaded apps.
For everyone who doesn't know: Sideloaded Apps are .apk files installed directly to the watch via ADB.

Since Android Wear is technically the same and the specs for every watch are also kind of in the same range this list will most likely apply to your own Android Wear watch too, even when it's not an LG G Watch.
Please report any weird behaviors here with the keywords mentioned below to make things easier for me to search and add to the list.

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Useful Links:
Apps2Wear - Directly install APKs onto your watch via your SmartPhone
How to Sideload Apps onto your Android Wear device (YouTube)
Easily download any APK file directly from the Google Playstore
Easily launch apps from your watch
Un/Install Android Wear apps (Google Docs)
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The list of all sideloaded apps working on Android Wear can be found on Google Docs (to make things more simple for me to update).

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CLICK HERE TO SEE THE LIST (Google Docs)
Will be updated over time
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Want to help?
If you want to help making this list bigger and better please write the following keywords into your reply/report so I can find things easier and faster:

"Tested & Working" - App install works and application is running and starts without a force-close.
"Tested & Crashing" - App installed but crashes/force-closes at start up.
"Tested & Report" - App installed and runs fine but is unusable (e.g. GUI is too big, example would be Temple Run 2)

This makes my work a whole lot easier and my thankfulness for you even bigger

And now: Have fun testing!

 

[iannolsen]

Can you make to work the SwiftKey and WhatsApp in a smart watch?

 

[thejonnyd]

Can you make to work the SwiftKey and WhatsApp in a smart watch?

Probably not SwiftKey (minuum is probably best suited to wear anyway), and definitely not WhatsApp. If you look at the guide by Corbin Davinport on pushing APKs to android wear, he says that he found that apps that require internet connection do not work. Therefor, WhatsApp wont be able to directly connect, as you would design the app so that it works through the devices Bluetooth connection to connect to the internet. However, I believe the developer of Wear Messenger has an app that lets you access WhatsApp through text messages, which then allows you to use WhatsApp from wear messenger.

The second point of this post is directed at OP,
In the google docs, it lists "Don't tap the white tile" as partially working and intermittently crashing in certain game modes. Once again referring to the guide by Corbin, the crashes arise whenever the app try's to show an ad. If you go into the settings and disable banner ads and only allow popups, you can get to the end of the game without the app crashing. It probably will crash at the end though if it tries to show an ad as this tries to connect to the internet, and that causes apps on wear to crash. One would probably be able to fix this by decompiling and recompiling the application to remove ads.

 

[EpicLPer]

Probably not SwiftKey (minuum is probably best suited to wear anyway), and definitely not WhatsApp. If you look at the guide by Corbin Davinport on pushing APKs to android wear, he says that he found that apps that require internet connection do not work. Therefor, WhatsApp wont be able to directly connect, as you would design the app so that it works through the devices Bluetooth connection to connect to the internet. However, I believe the developer of Wear Messenger has an app that lets you access WhatsApp through text messages, which then allows you to use WhatsApp from wear messenger.

The second point of this post is directed at OP,
In the google docs, it lists "Don't tap the white tile" as partially working and intermittently crashing in certain game modes. Once again referring to the guide by Corbin, the crashes arise whenever the app try's to show an ad. If you go into the settings and disable banner ads and only allow popups, you can get to the end of the game without the app crashing. It probably will crash at the end though if it tries to show an ad as this tries to connect to the internet, and that causes apps on wear to crash. One would probably be able to fix this by decompiling and recompiling the application to remove ads.

Hey, thanks for this tip! Will correct it as soon as I'm in the office again
That guide I know, even know the guy who made it. I'll probably create a tiny little program which will make pushing, installing and initializing the connection easier.

Sent from my Xperia Z1 Compact via XDA mobile app

 

[thejonnyd]

Hey, thanks for this tip! Will correct it as soon as I'm in the office again
That guide I know, even know the guy who made it. I'll probably create a tiny little program which will make pushing, installing and initializing the connection easier.

Sent from my Xperia Z1 Compact via XDA mobile app

That would be incredibly handy if you made that, I am surprised no one has so far.
Maybe one to add to the list would be Es3, its handy having a file manager on the device.

 

[EpicLPer]

That would be incredibly handy if you made that, I am surprised no one has so far.
Maybe one to add to the list would be Es3, its handy having a file manager on the device.

Well I tested ES File Explorer (if you mean that) and it's pretty well useable actually but some parts would require a back-button sadly. Means via ADB faking a key input.

Sent from my Xperia Z1 Compact via XDA mobile app

 

[thejonnyd]

Well I tested ES File Explorer (if you mean that) and it's pretty well useable actually but some parts would require a back-button sadly. Means via ADB faking a key input.

Sent from my Xperia Z1 Compact via XDA mobile app

Yep thats what I mean, strange that that happens, I haven't had any issues with needing to get back. Swiping from the centre of the screen to the right has gone back for me in all of the menus :s

 

[tonydd]

Anyway to get c25k free or Nike running app working?

 

[cyrilp]

I will let you use many more apps on your wear device

hi,

for information i'm the developer of a companion app for android smartwatch.
SWApp Link

https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/108675494963196634299
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.preiss.swapps.link

Since yesterday i'm working on adapting it for wear.

Besides it's own feature, it has a specific feature that could make many more apps working on wear: it has a remote clipboard feature that allow to set the clipboard on the wear device from your phone.
They are many apps that don't work on the wear because they need text entry: this would allow you to type the needed text on your phone and paste it in those apps.

Cyril

 

[EpicLPer]

hi,

for information i'm the developer of a companion app for android smartwatch.
SWApp Link

https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/108675494963196634299
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.preiss.swapps.link

Since yesterday i'm working on adapting it for wear.

Besides it's own feature, it has a specific feature that could make many more apps working on wear: it has a remote clipboard feature that allow to set the clipboard on the wear device from your phone.
They are many apps that don't work on the wear because they need text entry: this would allow you to type the needed text on your phone and paste it in those apps.

Cyril

Wow, awesome! This would make such things far easier

Sent from my Xperia Z1 Compact via XDA mobile app

 

[cyrilp]

"Tested & Crashing" All in one Gestures

"Tested & Crashing" All in one Gestures

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.phoenixstudios.aiogestures

 

[tonydd]

Anyway to get c25k free or Nike running app working?

Nike wouldn't side load but c25k free did but never worked. Still looking for comparable running app.

 

[XorZone]

Nokia Here maps works offline on watch, but only Sony smart watch has GPS atm. And change of density required to be able to start navigation.

 

[Ranomez]

I tested Terminal emulator and it is working well with minuun keyboard.

 

[wolfebaine]

So far I have the following sideloaded and working on an LG G Watch

NES-FC Lite (NES Emulator)
QQplayer (video player WITH BLUETOOTH SOUND!)
ES File Explorer
Astro Bluetooth Module (to transfer files from phone->watch)
v1_Bluetooth_Arduino (to control my garage door connected to an arduino/BT Shield)

 

[EpicLPer]

So far I have the following sideloaded and working on an LG G Watch

NES-FC Lite (NES Emulator)
QQplayer (video player WITH BLUETOOTH SOUND!)
ES File Explorer
Astro Bluetooth Module (to transfer files from phone->watch)
v1_Bluetooth_Arduino (to control my garage door connected to an arduino/BT Shield)

Thanks! Added

 

[EpicLPer]

"Tested & Crashing" All in one Gestures

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.phoenixstudios.aiogestures

Added but can you please tell me which Watch you used?

 

[cyrilp]

Added but can you please tell me which Watch you used?

sure: LG G W R

 

[ShapeShifter499]

Just got my LG Watch G and I tested all sorts of apps after installing the "Ghoma rom", below are some of the apps not on the list I tried.

Tested & Working

Retry
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rovio.retry&hl=en
Game complains about missing Google Play Services but if you "ok" the prompt the game will load and seems to be fully playable. The built in "ad" button that opens a ad to view and earn coins does not work. You must earn coins the hard way in game.
EDIT: The game seems to be usable once every boot, in my case I had to reboot the watch to play the game again.

Tested & Report

Speedtest.net
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.zwanoo.android.speedtest&hl=en
The app loads but doesn't do anything because there isn't system wide internet access.

Tested & Crashing

Youtube
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.youtube&hl=en
Crashes and fails to load anything.

Keepass2Android
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=keepass2android.keepass2android&hl=en
There are two versions of this app, regluar and offline. I tested the regular one and it crashes and fails to load anything.

8-ball Pool
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.miniclip.eightballpool&hl=en
Crashes and fails to load anything.

NHK World TV Live
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.nhkworldtv.android&hl=en
Starts to load but crashes complaining about internet access.

Starbucks
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.starbucks.mobilecard&hl=en
Crashes and fails to load anything.

ICE
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.queader.ice&hl=en
The game doesn't even seem to try loading, no crash message. But it causes the screen to rotate till it silently crashes in the background.

Angry Birds Friends
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rovio.angrybirdsfriends&hl=en
Loads to a black screen and just sits there. Required putting the watch to sleep with the palm gesture to exit.

 

[babelmonk]

2FA apps

Was disappointed to see these crash on start:

• Google Authenticator
• RSA SecureID

Not really surprised, but it would have been nice
babelmonk