Bandbreite
Do you enjoy showing off your Apple Watch band collection but feel that carrying 50 straps in your pockets is a little overkill? Bandbreite solves that problem by introducing the definitive Apple Watch collection & curation app. It’s the diehard Apple Watch band collectors dream app!
According to the polling of nearly 1,600 users on MacRumors.com, 55% of Apple Watch owners report owning between 1-4 OEM (i.e., Apple own brand) bands, while another 20.5% own between 5-8. The remaining 24.4% belong to an elite class of Apple Watch nutters, among which I proudly find myself, who own anywhere from 9-200+ of Apple's own Apple Watch bands. And for this unique group of Apple Watch diehards, & those who may only own a few bands but hold a tremendous appreciation of their history, there is Bandbreite!
Since 2016, Filip Chudzinski, the brainchild behind Bandbreite, has been archiving and posting his Apple Watch posters in the MacRumors thread fittingly titled: "Every Apple Watch band Apple released. Ever." Currently, that thread received 16 thousand replies and over a million views. So when I heard that he had teamed up with several developers to turn his gorgeous posters into an iOS app, I was beside myself.
Released on September 24th, Bandbriete is the definitive Apple Watch band curation tool for Apple Watch fanatics. With Bandbreite, users can browse bands by material, name, or curated collection (e.g., Close Your Rings, Pride, etc.). Each page features high-resolution artwork of each band, along with more information than you'd know what to do with, including the colour, sizes, season the band was introduced, model numbers, material, price, Apple's description of the band, and even a place to write your own notes. It currently lists 425 of Apple's bands, all beautifully catalogued, and allows users to add bands to one of two lists: Collection (the bands they have) & Wishlist (the bands they wish they had). And it is on the Collection page where things get even more interesting!
Each band includes a detailed description and breakdown of its availability, size, material, and color.
The developers behind Bandbreite figured that people who are nuts for the Apple Watch are also nuts for stats. They were right! Inside their Collection page, users can see insights about their growing collection of straps, including a breakdown of the styles they own (Leather, Woven Nylon, Sport Loop, etc.), colour, bands based on the year of release, and... ahem... even the approximate value of all the bands a user has purchased (though I honestly wouldn't mind an IAP being made available that hid this particular stat from view).
Insights provide a novel way of visualizing your collection by material, color, and year of release.
I have a lot of appreciation for the bands I've purchased in the last five and a half years since the watch was released, with many having a high degree of sentiment attached to them. From the Cosmos Blue Classic Buckle I bought on one of my favourite trips to New York in 2018, to the Orange Woven Nylon, which my partner purchased as a gesture of support when was I was going through a difficult time. Bandbreite was developed by a team that seems to understand the significance people have for their bands. They have poured a lot of effort into creating an app that honours people's appreciation for their Apple Watch collections, and I am thankful for their time and skill in crafting such a beautiful, polished app.
Wish List
Worn When?: I would love to see a feature were users can record the band(s) they wore on a particular day. A notification could prompt the user to chronicle the band they are wearing, and later go into the app to see several stats related to their use. Insights could include how often they wore a particular band, how their usage changes across time, and even when they last wore a particular band.
Personalized Collections: The ability to created personalized collections of bands would be another feature I'd love to see in Bandbreite, creating custom collections of bands; including "Top 10" or "Formal Bands" for example.
Wrecked & Worn Out: I also wish there was a way of marking off bands that are sadly no longer with us. Whether they became damaged, lost, or given away, I wish there were a way of separating out bands that you once owned, but which are no longer in your collection.
