I was playing with my old Apple Watch recently and realised it might be a fun challenge to create an AC_thing app for it!

Actually, I used AI for building a few elements of this. I used Claude and it did a decent job of writing the communication layer between the AC_thing iOS app and WatchOS apps. I mostly did the UI but I did end up going back and forth with it a lot to simplify some of its overly-complex solutions to edge case issues. It was probably just about worth using AI for this feature.

Anyways, it’s actually pretty handy! I wasn’t sure whether this should just be a simple version of the app with an on button and an off button or it should focus on the advanced controls as they are settings that would theoretically be adjusted throughout the day. That’s a requirement where a more easily-accessible method of control like a watch would perhaps be valuable.

In the end, I’ve created two screens; an initial, very simple on/off screen (the on button sends the last mode and temperature the user has sent) and then swiping to the left reveals an “advanced options” screen which allows the user to control mode and temperatures.