Facebook has a new Apple Watch app for talking to close friends

Apple Watch Series 5
Apple Watch Series 5 (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • Facebook has a new Apple Watch app out.
  • Kit is like Messenger, but for close friends.
  • Because why have one app when you can have two?

Facebook has a new Apple Watch app out. Called Kit, the app is designed for those who want a new way to talk to their close friends. When the already available Messenger app just won't cut it. For some reason. Oh, and Kit apparently means "Keep in Touch." Cute.

The app comes out of Facebook's NPE Team which makes it experimental. Whether that makes you want to use it more, or less, I'll leave that up to you. As spotted by TechCrunch, the app is new and hasn't ranked on any App Store charts so far. But being Apple Watch-only, it might not anyway.

Facebook Kit Apple Watch Screenshots

Facebook Kit Apple Watch Screenshots (Image credit: iMore)

So what's Kit for? That's a good question. Over to Kit's App Store entry.

Kit makes keeping in contact from your watch easy. Everything you need to compose a message is just one tap away. No more struggling to navigate a tiny screen to find the right option.

Because Kit is an Apple Watch affair, signing in involves using a QR code rather than the usual username and password combo. There's more to look forward to as well.

Features

  1. Onboarding: Log in by scanning a QR code on your watch, or by entering an access code at fb.com/devices.
  2. Contact selection: Select a Messenger connection from your suggested and recent contacts with one click. Tap on "Change Contact" in the settings page to switch.
  3. Sending a message: Send a message with one tap via audio recording, emoji, location sharing, scribble, or dictation input.
  4. Receiving Messages: Swipe to see your contact's messages on the right.
  5. Notifications: Receive and respond to notifications from your top Messenger contact.

If all of that tickles your curiosity bone, you can download Kit for free from the App Store now. But remember, there's no iPhone app – this is all Apple Watch, all the Time.

Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.