Wattwatchers Digital Energy is an early-mover in using Apple’s recently-announced iOS features to add ‘app-linked widgets’ for smartphone home screens. Widgets have now been added to our mydata.energy mobile app, at this stage for Apple only (the app itself also is available for Android via Google Play).
GETTING CONNECTED: GAVIN DIETZ*
I often joke that each Apple announcement is like a religious event for me. One that I regularly attend at 5am in the morning thanks to international time zone complications.
I’m an unabashed fan of the Apple ecosystem for personal and home devices, and I get a lot of value out of it.
Apple recently announced widgets on the home screen. When I first saw this, I was like: ‘Why would I want these? What do I get from this that I don’t get from an app?’
Turns out I like them a lot, as they provide a readily-accessible snapshot of data I need to improve my daily activities.
Stepping up: Widgets for Wattwatchers
In what I believe may be an Australian first, Wattwatchers has released a suite of widgets—for iOS only at this stage—where installing a Wattwatchers Auditor device allows you to have access to your energy data in real-time via onscreen widgets.
Below is a screenshot from my smartphone showing how my key data sources that I like to review regularly throughout the day are now all together: my health stats including fitness ‘rings’, weather and energy. I would love a finance one too, but my bank currently hasn’t provided one (hint hint!).
This means I am proactively solving one of the biggest problems in energy—how to engage in a way that allows me to understand what my house is doing.
Boosted by the widgets, this supports me to make changes to reduce my energy consumption at the time action is possible, not one to three months down the track when my next bill comes in (and which may only be estimated anyhow).
Coming next: Budgeting and actionable notifications
At Wattwatchers we are only just getting started on this journey, and the ‘fitness’ of your home energy is a core belief of ours.
As we progress you will see additions of $ to widgets, proactive notifications and HomeKit integration. With all of these combined in coming releases, we will provide a platform for effortlessly interacting with, and automating your home energy use.
*Gavin Dietz is a keen home technologist and CEO of Wattwatchers Digital Energy
VISUAL RECAP: MY EXAMPLES OF THE FIRST-RELEASE WIDGETS NOW AVAILABLE WITH WATTWATCHERS’ MYDATA.ENERGY APP
