Apple Watch whiz kid puts OS X on his wrist

By

Apple Watch hack os x yosemite
That's great and all, but does it come in 38 or 42mm?
Photo: Billy Ellis (via YouTube)

An intrepid Apple Watch developer has managed to make a simulation of OS X Yosemite that runs on his wearable device.

15-year-old developer Billy Ellis revealed a quick preview of his latest project on his YouTube page. The program launches from his Apple Watch’s home screen and includes icons for the Finder, Launchpad, Settings, the App Store and Trash. You can see the demo in its entirety below.

https://youtu.be/3IBU18YYBUc

“Haven’t had the time to make everything fully functional just yet,” Ellis says in the video description. “Hopefully I’ll add some more to it later this week.”

It’s a really quick demo that only includes launching the simulation and opening the Finder, but it’s still pretty cool as look at what creative people can do with their Apple Watches. We don’t see any practical applications — but neither does Ellis.

“The reason why I create these apps is really just to show people how certain things could look/work on such a small device,” Ellis told Cult of Mac via e-mail. “So they are really just fun concepts that allow people to see how the Apple Watch could have been if Apple had decided to do things differently. Also, a lot of people seem to just love seeing unique apps and ideas that you wouldn’t find on the App Store.”

We’re down with that; we can’t get enough of these mods. Ellis’ previous project, which put iOS 4.2.1 onto the Apple Watch, had us reliving fond memories of 2010 until we realized that 2016 is way cooler because we all have Apple Watches now.

Here’s that earlier work:

https://youtu.be/j-CQE1Zq6o4

This kid isn’t alone in seeing what his Apple Watch can do. Other creators have put games like Flappy Bird onto their devices, and we’re looking forward to seeing what the next creative developers can come up with.

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.