Some applications that we use in smartphones are very useful, like the alarm clock. I have begrudgingly adapted to their quirks and privacy implications. I'd rather program my own versions, same for smartwatches.
Alarms I can understand, but that's been a feature of standard watches almost since they were invented I think. I'm looking for something that requires a programmable device to be meaningful and so far the ideas are fairly thin on the ground :-) I get the techy appeal though, and agree wholeheartedly about the value of having total control over a device if possible.
In case you're still reading... standard watches alarms are useless to me. Even regular alarm clocks were not very effective for my kinda morning sleepwalking.
Smartwatches are a godsend: I can set multiple alarms with chosen intervals, volume and ringtones, that never stop and place the phone easily at the right distance.
I could even improve on that and the same could be said of most phone apps. Recording and positioning are the most interesting features if they can be decoupled from big brother's eyes.
