HttpClient is an app that is currently available for Garmin (on the connect iq store) and Wear OS based smartwatches (as APK here). It allows you to send HTTP GET requests from your watch to configurable URLs. You can give these requests a custom name and organize them in a hierarchy which is browsable on the watch in a convenient way.
The app has been developed with home automation use cases in mind where certain actions can be triggered by issuing an HTTP GET request to a local server that controls various appliances. However, numerous other use cases are imaginable as well.
As an input, the app requires an Endpoints Definition which is a textual description of all the requests that should be selectable on the watch. Here's an example:
- all,All
-- off,Office
--- shut_opn,Open shutter,/shut/office/open
--- shut_cls,Close shutter,/shut/office/close
-- liv,Living Room
--- l_on,Lights on,https://192.168.8.1/light/liv/on
-- kit,Kitchen
As you can see in the example above, the endpoint definition is structured hierarchically with the
hierarchy level indicated by - characters. This level indicator is then followed by a unique
identifier. After that, the request's human readably name as it will be shown on the watch display
is given, and finally the HTTP request URL. All these elements are separated by comma.
The request url can be given both in "relative" format (i.e., providing only a path as shown with the office requests) or in absolute format, including protocol and host as it is the case with the living room request. If you use "relative" URLs, the app automatically adds a "Base URL" in front of the paths (see Section "App Configuration").
HttpClient needs to access the Endpoints Definition from the (local) network. This is done by
providing an Endpoints base URL in the app's configuration screen (see Section "App
Configuration"). The app internally appends the path /endpoints to the Endpoints base URL. So if
you set your Endpoints base URL to, for instance, https://example.org, HttpClient tries to fetch
the Endpoints Definition from https://example.org/endpoints.
When the app is started for the first time, the following screen appears:
Here you can configure the Endpoints base URL that determines where the endpoint definition is downloaded (see Section "Description"). In addition there is an option to show the recently used endpoints. If the option is activated, it will show the entry "Recently Used" as first item on the top hierarchy level on the watch display. It contains the 8 recently issued requests.
Pressing the back button of the watch confirms the configuration and brings up the endpoints interaction screen which is described in the section below.
Getting back to our endpoint definition example above, this is how the first hierarchy level will be shown on the watch:
If you select "Office", the display will switch to the second hierarchy level, which is indicated on the top of the list:
Tapping on one of the "shutter" entries issues the request.
If the HTTP requests returns a response text with HTTP status 200 and Content-Type header set
to text/plain, the text is shown by the app in a separate view. You can see an example with a
sensor's temperature reading below:
To install the app you need to download the .apk file from
this repository. After that, the file must be
transferred to the Wear OS device (smartwatch). There are several guides how to do this, for
example here and
here. Just use the
method you're most comfortable with.
The app has been tested with Wear OS 4, API level 33 with round display (1.2") in the emulator and on a Samsung Galaxy watch 5.
v1.0.1: Improve error handling on request failure
- Improve error handling on endpoint definition parsing
- Test with missing/invalid TLS certificates
- Optimize performance
If you experience any bugs or issues using the app, please contact me! The software is developed as a personal leisure time side project with no commercial interest whatsoever. Hence no ads, nag screens, donate buttons or other annoying stuff.
HttpClient for Wear OS © 2024 by Christian Mader is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- Christian Mader, Initiator and Developer