Cufflink for Apple Watch is a smart messaging alerts app

Awear is unveiling a messaging app for the Apple Watch that will allow you to send a text message using touch taps rather than a combination of dictation and voice recognition.

The Cufflink app for the Apple Watch is a “Wrist-First” app, designed to work with wearable devices from the ground up. Jakob Wilkenson, founder of San Francisco-based Awear, created the app, which uses Bluetooth to connect the Apple Watch to your iPhone. It sends the messages as texts.

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Awear is one of the companies operating within Peter Relan’s technology incubator, 9Plus, which works with a small number of groups and mentors them for longer than many incubators do. The 9Plus refers to the number of months the incubator works with a startup.

Awear previously launched a version of the app that works with Android Wear. That app works with devices such as the Samsung Gear Live, LG G Watch, LG G Watch R, Sony SmartWatch 3, Asus ZenWatch, and Moto 360.

This is the first Apple Watch app Relan has created with his new “Wrist-First” philosophy, which will support early adopters still discovering how the Apple Watch will integrate with their daily lives.

“Wrist-First apps — those created specifically for the Apple Watch platform vs. iPhone apps just repurposed for the watch — will turbocharge Apple Watch’s appeal to consumers still undecided if they need a smartwatch,” said Relan, in a statement. “Just as mobile-first apps like Instagram, WhatsApp, and Uber changed mobile behavior, we’ll soon find that consumers will only want smartwatch apps that are tailored to extremely quick and efficient interactions, with a hyper-easy user interface and design that help make the Apple Watch a must-have device.”

Cufflink for Apple Watch is a platform for priority communications for up to five close personal connections, or links. It forms a priority graph of people who have direct access to you, the owner of the Apple Watch. Partners, kids, and close friends will probably comprise the majority of the links established.

“Cufflink provides a priority channel for people who have direct, unrestricted access to you,” explained Wilkenson, in a statement. “In some ways it’s like Slack for your personal life, but Cufflink is built specifically for your wrist and for the people who matter most to you.”

With the app, your partner might send the message, “Can you pick up Jack from karate class at 6:30?” The watch will tag the question as a task and attach a picture of Jack’s karate schedule. The receiving partner gets notified on her watch and can choose “I can do it” or “Sorry, I can’t” or “I’ll get back to you.” Selecting “I can do it” creates an automatic reminder and optionally adds it to her calendar. She can also pin the photo to their shared photo board, so they both have easy access to it.

Cufflink will be available for the Apple Watch within weeks following the smartwatch’s availability to the general public.

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