Three generations in, and the Pebble is still the smartwatch to beat. The groundbreaking wearable nabbed our Editors' Choice with its affordable price, long battery life, comprehensible interface, and open developer platform, and it hasn't let go of the award since.

In the post-Apple Watch ($300.00 at eBay) era, Pebble watches are the strongest option for Android phone users. I've come down hard on Google's Android Wear platform for its seemingly random interface—you never know what you're going to get. That just isn't the case with the simple, clear Pebble.

And Pebble is thriving. Its app store now has hundreds, if not thousands, of clearly defined, easy-to-use apps, many of which are now in color for the new Pebble Time . We put some heads together here at PCMag and picked our 15 favorite apps for the original Pebble and the Pebble Steel , with an eye to Pebble Time-compatible and Android phone-friendly choices.

CatchOneBus (Free)

OK, this app recommendation is really a category recommendation. There are a lot of Pebble apps that let you find out when the next bus is coming, and you really just need to pick the one that applies to your city. This one works in Seattle and New York, so I'm using it. In New York, where buses bunch and often arrive erratically, it's a great way to see whether I should wait a few extra minutes or just walk the 10 blocks.

FitCat (Free)

FitCat is a gamified combination of a Tamagotchi and a fitness tracker. It's adorable. Move around more throughout your day, and you earn virtual currency to buy cat treats. FitCat is also in full color on the Pebble Time, and it looks great.

Evernote (Free)

I'm an Evernote cultist, and the Pebble Evernote app gives me well-organized access to my entire Evernote online database. It could be better—it doesn't have graphics or actionable hyperlinks, and the app's interpretation of line breaks is looser than I'd like. But it's clean, easy, clear, and simple, the bywords of a great Pebble app.

Glance (Free)

If your Pebble is just showing the time, it's probably wasting space. I think Glance is the most elegant of the many notification apps: At the very least you get time, weather, and missed messages, but you can also potentially see calendar entries and reply to text messages. This is the first thing I'd install on any Pebble.

JavaPay (Free)

As I'm writing this, the Pebble store is heavily featuring JavaPay, in part because Pebble doesn't have an official Starbucks app. Pebble is far behind Apple when it comes to showing scannable third-party data like loyalty cards and boarding passes, but this unofficial little Starbucks card app helps even the score a bit.

Maptastic (Free)

There are a whole bunch of mapping apps available for the Pebble, but Maptastic gets my nod because it offers a wide range of potential map data sources and looks great in color on the Pebble Time. You can scroll around the map and zoom in and out using the Pebble's side buttons.

Misfit (Free)

Pebble doesn't have a default health or activity tracker app. That turned out to be a good idea, because it lets users choose from the whimsical (Fitcat), the specialized (Runkeeper), or the general-purpose, which is Misfit. Misfit is simply a solid activity and sleep tracker, which syncs with the Misfit app on your smartphone and on the Web.

Music Boss ($2.99)

Pebble has a pretty basic music app; Music Boss ramps up the power significantly. It's in full color (on the Pebble Time), it gives you access to a diverse set of media apps, lets you control a Chromecast from your Pebble, and even lets you rate songs on Google Play Music.

Pebble Transport (Free)

I'm not a big fan of Uber, but if you're going to Uber, you might as well do it from your watch. Pebble Transport lets you summon an Uber to your location using a full-color (again, color is only available on the Pebble Time) interface, for free.

Pinywings ($1.50)

There are a lot of games for Pebble now. Some of them are even in color. Pinywings is a Pebble-ized (and respectful) homage to the popular Android/iOS app Tiny Wings, where you use one button to maneuver a fat little bird over a set of hills. It makes this list by being absolutely gorgeous in color on the Pebble Time, and one-button games are really the way to go with this watch.

RunKeeper (Free)

The best bet for athletes, Pebble's version of RunKeeper synchronizes all of your runs, walks, and hikes to a cloud database via the RunKeeper app on your phone.

Strike Force (Free)

Big points for ambition here. This full-color Pebble shooter uses the watch's accelerometer to move your plane around the screen as you play a vastly simplified version of a 1980s-style arcade game. It's a little tricky to play by wiggling your wrist around, but fun, because you're wiggling your wrist around.

Toggles for Pebble ($1.49)

Mute your phone, toggle Wi-Fi, turn on the flashlight, or find a device lost in your couch cushions with this useful set of utility toggles for Android devices. There are a bunch of toggle apps in the Pebble store, but this one seems to have the most options.

Weather Radar (Free)

This weather app is kludgy to install, but it's unique and looks gorgeous on the Pebble Time. A lot of Pebble faces have a weather component—if you've installed Glance, you have weather. But those weather reports rarely give you the precise "it is about to rain" information you can get from looking at a color radar map. Installing this app requires you to sign up for an account on Wunderground.com, but the animated weather radar images are worth it.

Yelp (Free)

Yelp is tremendously useful on the standard Pebble, but isn't as reliable on the Pebble Time—it looks like it hasn't been updated yet, and it has trouble getting its location on the Time. On the other Pebbles, Yelp searches for businesses around you, including bars, restaurants and drugstores. My favorite feature here: Twist your wrist and get a random, nearby suggestion.

Further Reading

Smartwatch Reviews