S2 <> phone - only stock apps?

[assumedname]

If it matters, I have a Samsung Alpha.
It appears the S2 can only receive notifications from the stock apps. I get no vibration on the watch with incoming calls from DW contacts, no text messages from Handcent, no reminders from Life Reminders. Does the communication between watch and phone require the phone's stock apps or is there a way to get 3rd party apps to work with the S2?

 

[tstreete]

I can't speak to the apps you mention, but the S2 receives notifications from lots of non-stock apps. The first thing to do is use the Gear application on the phone to enable notifications from the apps in question (Notifications/Manage notifications/). Sometimes you need to make sure notifications are turned on in the app you want to use as well. And sometimes the communications between watch and a particular app gets lost: turning the watch on and off sometimes fixes that.

I hope someone else can speak to those specific apps. A list of apps that are known to work to various degrees is here:
http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-gear-s2/599771-list-apps-work-gear-s2-please-add-here.html