Since we live in a connected world now, we expect access to information all the time, wherever we may be. Luckily, our smartphones, being an extension of ourselves, make sure that we get information as and when we ask for it. Having said that, smart watches, the extension of our phones, and thus of us, have made accessing information even quicker and easier. (You knew that already, didn’t you?) With just a flick of our wrist, and perhaps a press of a button, we get a quick glance of what we are looking for.

The Apple Watch has many functions, and you are perhaps familiar with almost all of them, or at least the ones that you care for. However, did you know that you can display information from your Power BI dashboards on your Apple Watch? No need to pull out your phone out of your pocket, open the Power BI app, and finally open the relevant dashboard to look for information. (That’s way too much effort! :))

How to Make It Happen

If you have the Power BI app on your iPhone, the Apple Watch will automatically get installed on your watch. However, that doesn’t mean that all of your dashboards are automatically available on your watch also. If you open the Power BI app on your watch, this is the message you’ll get:

Photo

Which means that you need to sync the dashboards you want on your watch from your phone. This is how you sync a dashboard:

In your iPhone Power BI app, open the dashboard you want to sync, and press the three dots/.

When you do that, you get a pop up menu. The last option on that menu is “Sync with watch”. Just select that option, and your dashboard will be on your watch!

Once synced, this is what it looks like on the Apple Watch.

Numbers Only

Keep in mind that (as of now) the Apple Watch Power BI app is only going to show you numbers and KPIs – basically, anything that’s not a visualization. If you sync a dashboard that contains only visualizations, you will get this message:

Accessibility

Digression: If you know anything about me, you know that I am always looking at ways people with disabilities would access an app or feature.

For many people with disabilities, accessing information on their phones can be tedious and cumbersome. The Apple Watch can be a very good way for them to look at numbers very quickly with minimal effort. Blind people or anyone with hand tremors or motor skills issues can use Siri to open the app and then use the crown to scroll through the tiles. They can also enable VoiceOver (Settings->General->Accessibility->VoiceOver) on their watch so Apple Watch could read information from the tiles to them when they tap on the watch screen. This video shows how VoiceOver can be turned on, and then used, along with Siri, to open Power BI, and go through each tile with minimal effort.

Awkward note: I start showing things at around the 1 minute mark in the video below, so if you are weirded out by my incredibly beautiful yet hairy arm, it’s okay to look away for the first minute. 🙂

Conclusion

Obviously the Power BI app for the Apple Watch is not meant to get detailed insights, but if you are always looking for the latest “numbers”, whether before entering a meeting, while eating lunch at the cafeteria, during commute to and from work, or while stressing about work at home or social situations because you haven’t embraced inner peace yet,  this app can work wonders and save you some time & effort, without interrupting the current task you are focussed on.