LingoWatch (Updated: Sep. 2, 2026)

The Idea

I like to practice my German during my daily walks. But I don't like taking my phone with me, and even if I do, I don't like to be constantly looking at its screen. So, it got me thinking: what's the other device that I always have with me, has a screen at which I can quickly take a glance but doesn't distract me, and could be a fun challenge to design an app for? My Apple Watch, of course!

The second piece of the idea is actually the key part. I want this app to simulate a real-life sentence-making during a conversation. You know what's crucially different in that from typical flashcards? TIME! When talking to someone, you have mere seconds or less to build your sentence. That's what I'm aiming here.

List of Decks

Let's start from the simple. The Decks screen is a simple list. Each item has a title, a color (user-selected) and its number of cards.

Question Screen

As the content and the interactions are the star of the show, I want the question screen to be as minimal as possible. Nothing distracting, everything instantly readable.

As the first version of this screen, I only put the pieces of the sentence (the main content), below it the countdown bar, as time is the critical element of the practice. Of course, a menu icon is also needed to navigate to list of the decks.

But it seems that one item is missing: card number (e.g., 13/24). This required some thinking... Do users really need to see the number of the card? On one hand, it is an important progress indicator. Like, I would like to see how many cards I've practiced, and how many is left. On the other hand, minimalism!

I decided the progress is more important to ignore. So, where to put the card number?

My first thought was in the top navigation bar. The top right is not possible, as the time there is non-negotiable. I need the top left menu, obviously. That leaves me with the center. It is possible, but it goes against watchOS Human Interface Guidelines (HIG). So, what other option do I have? The bottom part. Cool, but then where do I put the time bar?! (I find this a fun challenge! The limited screen space makes you carefully think about every element).

Obviously, I can't have both the wide countdown bar and card number in the bottom part. So, I need to reshape the countdown. Circular progress indicator is a great alternative. It has a small footprint, while clearly counting down the time. I can even put the time inside. Bonus!

Btw, the color of the countdown circle and card number is the same as the deck color (duh!).