A Dutch yacht technology expert has unveiled a new app for the Apple Watch which is said to offer new levels of convenience and service quality for superyacht guests and owners.

Designed by Van Berge Henegouwen (VBH), the app integrates the Apple Watch with the firm’s Pivot control system.

The app can help a superyacht captain raise the quality of his on-board service, says VBH. 

The Apple crew watch system builds on the capabilities of the Pivot system with the mobility, flexibility and convenience of the Apple Watch. VBH has extended the steward call function of the Pivot system to allow calls placed by guests to be received by the crew on their Apple Watches. 

Push notifications will ensure that calls are received even if the watch is not active. When a crew member receives a call he or she can accept the call, which informs both the calling guest as well as other crew members that the call has been received and assistance in on the way. 

This is an effective and discreet alternative to the use of radios and reduces the number of devices crew members have to carry around, VBH points out.

VBH has also developed a system that allows messages such as information (All Crew Guests are awake!), notifications (Crew Lunch is served in the mess) and alerts (Fire alarm lower deck guest cabin) that may be received on the watches.

The Pivot Apple Watch app can also be used by owners and guests to control the entertainment and environment on board. After much research VBH found that the best watch interaction is one that is short and meaningful, so the app is designed to be used for quick exchanges of information.

The watch therefore features the use of contextual controls where, based on the activity the guest is busy with, only the most important controls are show on the watch. For example, when a guest watches TV the channel up/down volume and mute are the buttons immediately available. These then change to play/pause, next and previous if the guest switches to listening to music.

The app allows users to create their own custom pre-sets via the app. Lighting, curtains, as well as the control of the entertainment system may be stored as a custom pre-set for each guest. The app extends the capability to activate these pre-sets directly from the watch.

“This new service is another step in our quest to bring the latest technologies to our customers and merge them with other on-board systems to deliver experiences that are both pleasurable and convenient,” says VBH CTO Ameet Sarvaiya. “We call this ‘Living Technology’ as it refers not only to the way in which individuals can define and control every aspect of their environment, but also to the fact that our systems are designed to grow and evolve over time with minimal disruption. We welcome challenges like this that owners and captains bring to us, and the opportunities that they present to use existing products in new ways, or to develop something entirely new.”