Apple Watch Series 7 Lacks Hidden Diagnostic Port, Likely Uses Wireless Data Transfer Instead

[justperry]

So, Apple has to open the watch if the watch is hard bricked.
Almost all devices with firmware have a Com port, mostly 3 wire TX/RX/com internally or through a USB dongle.

 

[seek3r]

So, Apple has to open the watch if the watch is hard bricked.
Almost all devices with firmware have a Com port, mostly 3 wire TX/RX/com internally or through a USB dongle.

The wireless chip in this case *is* the USB dongle, I wouldn’t be surprised if this exposes a direct com access option in addition to higher level access on Apple’s corresponding diagnostic tool

 

[Rychiar]

A portless iPhone would also mean there is no way to connect headphones. Unless they make some kind of detached wireless device that combines a DAC and headphone amp. That might actually be cool but it doesn’t seem like they can even make wireless headphones lossless, let alone something that has to drive a serious set of cans. No thanks.

I haven't used any headphones on my iPhone other than AirPods in years, can't even imagine still using wired

 

[foobarbaz]

This is what the EU market version of the iPhone will look like if they demand USB-C. Apple will simply delete Lightning and charge through MagSafe. Consumers will have to buy an Apple charger so it’s an even better deal for Apple.

That doesn’t make any sense. They already started supporting charging without Lightning, and you don’t need to buy an Apple charger for it. It doesn’t even need to be Apple certified.

This is for data transfer. If they build a modifier version of MagSafe that can also transfer data then (a) 99% of people will neither need nor buy it and (b) I’d be thrilled because I’d love to upgrade my CarPlay setup to MagSafe.

 

[macduke]

This is definitely going to be used for the port-less iPhone, lol, using an updated MagSafe connection.

 

[CharlesShaw]

Whenever Apple Watch is compared to a potentially port-less iPhone, I ponder how excruciatingly long it takes to transfer WatchOS updates and music playlists without any ports.

 

[california_kid]

ok I figured it out!

1) Hold down the power button
2) Press on the crown 4 times
3) Speak into the mic and say "ekky, ekky, ekky, ekky, z'Bang, zoom-boing, z'nourrrwringnmmm"

Done correctly, the face will slide 2 mm to the left thereby exposing the hidden diagnostic port!

 

[Brien]

Seems like something we could see used for a portless iPhone too.

I'm sure end game for Apple is portless everything.

 

[MrRom92]

this is one major reason why i dont think they'll go portless on the iphone any time soon. apple lossless & hifi lossless was *just* added this year. if they go portless even within the next 5 years, they don't have any ground to stand on when promoting new features, since we wont know how long they'll actually be relevant for.

the watches going portless is fairly meaningless to everyone who ever owned a watch, except for the few device hackers who managed to interface with it. i think they'll get clever and find a way to leverage the new wireless communication tech. for the rest of us, no hardwire connecting to the watch didn't matter since apple didnt provide us a way to do anything with that data port, sadly including just being able to restore it ourselves.

portless on the iphone and their other devices really just doesnt make sense from a number of standpoints, and lossless is absolutely one of them. they did, after all, have to spend time and resources to get almost the entire AM library into lossless & hi fi lossless. silly to bother with something like that, advertise it, and then just get rid of the means to use it.

Great point, I hadn’t even considered that there would be literally no other way to even use their service if not for the ability to have a wired digital connection on the device.
I think one day we’ll have that nice hi-fi wireless future I’ve long dreamed about, and everything so far is a small step towards that. But we’re just not quite there yet. Going portless at this point in time would really just be a regressive motion for a company that just introduced these streaming options.

A portless iPhone would also make local iPhone backups much more difficult if not entirely impossible - a dealbreaker for those who don’t wish to use the cloud. Until there’s a reliable method to wirelessly backup/sync, I think wires will be here to stay…

I haven't used any headphones on my iPhone other than AirPods in years, can't even imagine still using wired

I couldn’t imagine using AirPods as they currently exist, but to each their own!

 

[Gix1k]

Why should I care about this? I’ve had every series of Apple Watch and never knew they had a port.

 

[SegNerd]

So basically the only new feature of the series 7 is one that is not user accessible?

 

[Eorlas]

I haven't used any headphones on my iPhone other than AirPods in years, can't even imagine still using wired

of course you can, it's really quite easy unless the insistence is on being willfully ignorant on the basis of selfishly believing there's no way people behave differently from you. wired is the only way to get the absolute highest fidelity possible out of one's music, and apple deliberately, as well as publicly, makes it possible to do this. it's a highlight feature of apple music. people specifically use this feature.

there, easy to imagine.

 

[Flight Plan]

Perhaps someday Apple Watch will get RF-based wireless charging. Sit at your desk and charge. No need to remove it for recharging.

Hey, might be useful for people who want a quick charge for their pacemakers!

of course you can, it's really quite easy unless the insistence is on being willfully ignorant on the basis of selfishly believing there's no way people behave differently from you.

Wow, the dude just said he didn't know about the ports. What's with the accusation of being selfish?

wired is the only way to get the absolute highest fidelity possible out of one's music

You say that like everybody wants, needs, and can appreciate the same thing you want.

But that's not what everybody wants or needs out of their music. Some don't need "highest fidelity" all the time, and others don't need "highest fidelity" pretty much at all. I know, shocking!

Having lived through vinyl, cassette tapes, and early CD technology, I realized that I don't really need highest fidelity at any time. And I love music and sometimes make music!

But the fact is, a lot of today's music doesn't need super high fidelity. And in some cases, hasn't earned it either!

There's a lot of crap out there. Crap is crap, we all know it when we see it. And hear it. And smell it. Do I really need it to be presented in 4K video High Dynamic Range, with 24bit/96kHz sound and patented "Smell-O-Vision" clarity at all times? No, I'm pretty sure I can recognize crap just as easily at 8 bit and I don't need to sniff it!

💩🤣

 

[svish]

Wireless data transfer for watch! Apple is definitely testing out things. Looks like a portless iPhone coming is in the future.

 

[AndiG]

If Apple would make the iP portless, any kind of fast charging would be gone. Transfer of high volume data like ProRes videos would be impossible. Restoring the iPhone from a local backup would take forever an a day.

Last but not least, wireless charging doesn‘t work well and comes with a high loss. You loose 50% for the convenience of not plugging into a cable.
Doesn‘t sound much? Consider a billion iPhones with wireless charging.

 

[yegon]

If Apple would make the iP portless, any kind of fast charging would be gone. Transfer of high volume data like ProRes videos would be impossible. Restoring the iPhone from a local backup would take forever an a day.

Last but not least, wireless charging doesn‘t work well and comes with a high loss. You loose 50% for the convenience of not plugging into a cable.
Doesn‘t sound much? Consider a billion iPhones with wireless charging.

Yep, and it completely undermines all the eco friendly hand waving they love to go on about.

 

[I7guy]

I’m an apple fanboy, and can usually look the other way/find reasoning for Apples BS they like to pull.

But if they make a portless iPhone, using short-range-wireless like this new tech in the watch for data transfer through MagSafe at usb 2 speeds, instead of just putting a stupid USB-C 3.1 port, that will be probably the first iPhone I’m not interested in getting at all. It’s just an over-engineered solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.

The problem that doesn’t exist is forcing apple to use usb-c on its iPhones.

 

[I7guy]

Yep, and it completely undermines all the eco friendly hand waving they love to go on about.

1 billion less cables to manufacture. It’s a trade-off.

 

[kalafalas]

The problem that doesn’t exist is forcing apple to use usb-c on its iPhones.

While I would personally prefer USB-C so I can have one charger to rule them all (Mac, iPad, switch, my various other use-c stuff, and am right now using stupid little lightning adapters) if they stuck with lightning I would be fine. Just make it USB 3.1, please! The 2017 iPad Pro had a USB 3 lightning port, so I don't see why the phones are still using 2 in 2021, esp with 1tb storage options.

 

[justperry]

The wireless chip in this case *is* the USB dongle, I wouldn’t be surprised if this exposes a direct com access option in addition to higher level access on Apple’s corresponding diagnostic tool

It's not a physical connection, most devices have one, the new Apple might also have one on the inside.

 

[Tom Stevens]

I’m an apple fanboy, and can usually look the other way/find reasoning for Apples BS they like to pull.

But if they make a portless iPhone, using short-range-wireless like this new tech in the watch for data transfer through MagSafe at usb 2 speeds, instead of just putting a stupid USB-C 3.1 port, that will be probably the first iPhone I’m not interested in getting at all. It’s just an over-engineered solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.

Tbf, I bet most iPhone and budget iPad users probably don't even know the advantages of USB-C over Lightning and will probably be more mad at the fact that they're now going to have to buy a completely new set of accessories. Other iPad and Mac users are more likely to know the benefits.

 

[Tom Stevens]

A portless iPhone would also mean there is no way to connect headphones. Unless they make some kind of detached wireless device that combines a DAC and headphone amp. That might actually be cool but it doesn’t seem like they can even make wireless headphones lossless, let alone something that has to drive a serious set of cans. No thanks.

There's about zero iPhone users I know who don't use AirPods. If you're serious about music, I'd say try out the Sony Xperia 1 Mark 3.

 

[Tom Stevens]

this is one major reason why i dont think they'll go portless on the iphone any time soon. apple lossless & hifi lossless was *just* added this year. if they go portless even within the next 5 years, they don't have any ground to stand on when promoting new features, since we wont know how long they'll actually be relevant for.

the watches going portless is fairly meaningless to everyone who ever owned a watch, except for the few device hackers who managed to interface with it. i think they'll get clever and find a way to leverage the new wireless communication tech. for the rest of us, no hardwire connecting to the watch didn't matter since apple didnt provide us a way to do anything with that data port, sadly including just being able to restore it ourselves.

portless on the iphone and their other devices really just doesnt make sense from a number of standpoints, and lossless is absolutely one of them. they did, after all, have to spend time and resources to get almost the entire AM library into lossless & hi fi lossless. silly to bother with something like that, advertise it, and then just get rid of the means to use it.

They could just as well make the new AirPods 3 and AirPods Pro 2 support lossless. No need to keep the Lightning port now. It took them 5 years to remove 3D Touch even though nobody used it. They still haven't taken out the Touch Bar. Do you really think they'd just forget about a feature they only recently introduced?

 

[Tom Stevens]

Just data transfer over Wifi. Who the **** even uses the cable on an iPhone anymore for anything other than charging?

Who uses the cable to even charge? I haven't touched the port on my iPhones or my Android phones since the last 3 years.

 

[Tom Stevens]

ProRes video files are huge

So.... do it overnight, ig? It's not like the Lightning is port is all that faster compared to iCloud sync or AirDrop. Heck, if I'm at home using my WiFi, uploading to iCloud so that it syncs through all my devices will actually be much faster than using wired transfer with all of them one by one.