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Android Wear Now Compatible With iPhone, iOS App Launches Today

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Apr 12, 2001
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Google announced today that Android Wear is now compatible with the iPhone 5 or later running at least iOS 8.2. An official Android Wear for iOS [Direct Link] companion app is rolling out on the App Store today worldwide.

AndroidWearforiOS.jpg

Android Wear for iPhone has several features familiar to Android users, including third-party watch faces, fitness tracking, notifications, Google Now and voice searches. Android Wear for iPhone will also have Google apps such as Weather and Translate preinstalled, but third-party iOS apps are not supported due to Apple's restrictions.

Google has attempted to work around Apple's limitations, but Android Wear for iPhone still has some locked-down functionality compared to what is possible with a paired Android smartphone. Rich notifications, for example, are only supported for a handful of stock Google apps, while the selection of watch faces is limited due to the lack of third-party app support.

Android-wear-iOS-app.jpg

Android Wear for iOS is compatible with the new LG Watch Urbane, upcoming Huawei Watch and Asus ZenWatch 2 and all future Android Wear smartwatches out of the box. Android Wear for iOS does not officially support existing Android Wear smartwatches such as the Moto 360 or Samsung Gear, but most users find that older models do work after a factory reset.


The Verge has published an extensive hands-on of Android Wear for iPhone alongside the announcement.

Article Link: Android Wear Now Compatible With iPhone, iOS App Launches Today
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2015/08/31/android-wear-iphone-now-compatible/
Looks like the older Wear watches will not be compatible (Just the newer ones). The LG Urbane watch is the only watch on sale at the moment that is currently supported and on sale and it's absolutely gorgeous (Blows away the Apple Watch IMO). Circular screens FTW! Enjoy! :)
 
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thekeyring said:
Goes against the whole "Android phones are about choice."

With an iPhone, I haven't limited myself to only choosing phones running Android. And now, I get a much wider selection of smartwatches to choose from. Lovely. :)
Click to expand...

I mean, you're not wrong... but I see it more as Google services being more about choice. You can use Android Wear, GMail and all of Google's services on Android and iOS. But Apple software is pretty much limited to Apple stuff (with some exceptions.)
 
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garylapointe said:
Compatible how? Just the Google apps or _________.....????

I suppose bluetooth functions (caller ID). Text messages?

Gary
Click to expand...
For now it seems mostly notifications (which are better supported from official Google apps) and some built-in apps. I'm guessing they will eventually release an iOS compatible SDK at some point.
 
nfl46 said:
Wow. Let me go pick up the 360 for less than a $100. No, I'm serious.
Click to expand...
You could but it isn't supported on iOS. Only the latest LG watch and all of the watches getting ready to be announced are supported.
 
thekeyring said:
Goes against the whole "Android phones are about choice."

With an iPhone, I haven't limited myself to only choosing phones running Android. And now, I get a much wider selection of smartwatches to choose from. Lovely. :)
Click to expand...

It work's both ways; if you have an Android smartwatch, you have a wider selection of smartphones available for pairing than you do if you go with Apple's offering.
 
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MacRumors said:



Google announced today that Android Wear is now compatible with the iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus running iOS 8.2 or later. An official Android Wear for iOS app will be released on the App Store today.

AndroidWearforiOS.jpg

Android Wear for iOS is compatible with the new LG Watch Urbane as of today, while future smartwatches from Asus, Motorola, Huawei and others will also support iOS.

The Verge has published an extensive hands-on of Android Wear for iPhone.

Article Link: Android Wear Now Compatible With iPhone, iOS App Launches Today
Click to expand...
Why is half that round screen green? Seems like a waste of real estate, unless the longer the message the more real estate it fills up on the screen?
 
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Sure that was a sweet contract to work on. They are probably using the CoreBluetooth Framework to connect via BLE. I doubt if they are using any private framework calls to get this running.
 
I almost bought a Moto 360 on a Best Buy deal that would have made it $80 3 months ago. Then saving it for this day. But I couldn't do it because of the pixelated screen. Not horrible but more like a non-retina Ipad mini.
 
DavidLeblond said:
I mean, you're not wrong... but I see it more as Google services being more about choice. You can use Android Wear, GMail and all of Google's services on Android and iOS. But Apple software is pretty much limited to Apple stuff (with some exceptions.)
Click to expand...

Sure. Apple builds products. So Apple "limited" iMessage (to take one example) to iOS isn't really because Apple are mean, it's because iMessage is a feature of iPhone.

Google builds internet services. As long as you're using it's services, it doesn't mind which platform you run on. Hangouts (to take another example) is as product in and of itself (rather than just a feature of Android), so they make sure Hangouts is as widely available as possible (Android, iOS and the web).
 
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