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Now you can control your PowerPoint presentation with your Apple Watch

Apple-Watch-powerpoint

Microsoft has today updated the iOS version of Powerpoint to allow you to use your Apple Watch as a remote, to start presentations, navigate to the next slide and track your progress by viewing elapsed time, current slide number and total number of slides. The watch app currently only controls the iOS version of Powerpoint, not the OS X version.

Microsoft added support for iCloud and other third-party storage services back in February.

Powerpoint is free for iPhone and iPad, but you’ll need an Office 365 subscription to unlock the full functionality. You can download it from iTunes, and you may like to check out our guide to the best Apple Watch apps available to date.

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Comments

  1. msmithj567 - 9 years ago

    Reblogged this on Mohit – The caretaker.

  2. chrisl84 - 9 years ago

    How is this simpler than using a clicker? The watch basically requires two hands to do this…

    • chrisl84 - 9 years ago

      This only seems useful if you….take the watch off and hold it in your hand and use it like a clicker

  3. freediverx - 9 years ago

    This makes no sense. You can do the same thing, single-handedly, using your iPhone, without killing your Watch’s limited battery life. Also, I think fiddling with your watch every time you want to change a slide is going to be awkward and distracting for the audience.

    • incredibilistic - 9 years ago

      Agreed. I’m not sure this is such a good idea. And while I thought the idea of controlling Keynote was cool I’m rethinking that as well.

      With the iPhone app you can circle or laser-dot information. Doubt you’ll have that same functionality from Apple Watch and if you did, as you said, fooling around with your watch every few seconds would be pretty distracting.

      That doesn’t mean I won’t try it out once my Watch arrives but the workflow and use case doesn’t seem very useful.

  4. monty72 - 9 years ago

    How many people here use their iPhones or iPads to connect to projectors when doing presentations? I mean this as a genuine question, as at least 8 out of 10 times when I do PP presentations on client sites their projectors are limited to VGA.

  5. JE S2K (@muzicdox) - 9 years ago

    I wonder if Apple Watch can control the KEYNOTE with a unique gesture so you can do it nonchalantly when you flip to the next slide. If Apple can invent a remote for it, why not gesture. I use my iPhone all the time when I use it for Preaching but I want something a little discreet.

    Can someone please post a link if this was maybe in the works at Apple?

  6. coinaphrase - 9 years ago

    I am astounded at the number of app updates I have received recently that support using Apple Watch. Apple has done a tremendous job motivating developers to do this, even before day 1 of retail delivery.

Author

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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