iPhones May Soon Work Better With Third-Party Smartwatches

[ProbablyDylan]

MR is the only place I see people bring up the overpriced Garmin fitness trackers. Their annual device sales are probably equivalent to a few days of Apple Watch sales - is it really a shock this isn’t a priority?

You're just not the clientele. Says more about you than about garmin tbh.

 

[matsan]

Can't say I miss any notifications on my Garmin, they are too many as it is. Maybe this is because Garmin's Connect app is installed on the phone?
BTW - really love the ability to pause notifications during work-outs on the Garmin. I only allow phone calls and they are easily dismissed with a button press on the watch.

 

[Tiger_Stud]

MR is the only place I see people bring up the overpriced Garmin fitness trackers. Their annual device sales are probably equivalent to a few days of Apple Watch sales - is it really a shock this isn’t a priority?

Si tacuisses…

 

[Anonymous Freak]

This could be very helpful for the new Pebble watch. I know Eric had to jump through hoops to get messaging working on the original Pebble watch.

If this worked with more than just smartwatches, it could speed up text message integration for Rivian and other car manufacturers.

Yeah, this looks like it's just about notifications - something Pebble already did just fine.

The text messaging was by reaching individual deals with individual phone carriers to allow the watch to directly send text messages via data. It was 100% separate from Apple's own messages system. It just used the iPhone to have data access to the carriers. If you weren't on a supported carrier, you couldn't send text messages. And it didn't work with iMessages. Any replies you sent were "green bubble" SMS messages. (iMessage incoming did appear just fine via the notification system. It was only outgoing/replies that were impacted.)

 

[AppleGuy RL]

The way Notification Forwarding is described, how it won't allow notifications to your Apple Watch and how it needs to be turned on and off for each app manually, sounds like it might be maliciously compliant again. If you'd have both an Apple Watch and another third party accessory you'll constantly have to switch these on and off if you want to swap between them, and you can't use them at the same time.

 

[robvalentine]

You must have some setting toggled then, when I get a call my Watch, iPhone, and Mac all start going nuts now.

This is gonna sound nuts, but I'd love some kind of “Apple Watch Shuffle.” No screen, just a band that does the basic health monitoring and does the buzz thing when I get a message. Bonus if I can put it on my ankle under a sock.

Like a whoop with notifications?

 

[pdaholic]

Just wanted to mention Amazfit watches. I've got the $79 Bip 6, and it has everything I need (mp3 playback, sleep tracking, GPS for running/cycling), and I easily get 10 days of battery life.

 

[AndiG]

Apple ignored competition for too long. So here we go!!

 

[svish]

Not sure how much functional it will be. Might be a very basic version to comply with the regulation. Also Apple might make it available only in the EU. More than this, it will be nice if Apple watch can function with other devices.

 

[toph101]

I dont get this, my Garmin works fine with my iphone?

 

[toph101]

MR is the only place I see people bring up the overpriced Garmin fitness trackers. Their annual device sales are probably equivalent to a few days of Apple Watch sales - is it really a shock this isn’t a priority?

This is an article about third party devices, what do you expect?

Also, the AWU is a comparable price to the ‘overpriced’ Garmin watches, and Garmin watches are much more suitable for ultra endurance activities.

(From a previous Apple Watch owner)

 

[VMukhtarov]

Finally my wife can use her Galaxy Watch 6 with iPhone

 

[DaveTheRave]

MR is the only place I see people bring up the overpriced Garmin fitness trackers. Their annual device sales are probably equivalent to a few days of Apple Watch sales - is it really a shock this isn’t a priority?

My Vivoactive cost less than $300 brand new. And it’s battery lasts for days.

 

[AndiG]

MR is the only place I see people bring up the overpriced Garmin fitness trackers. Their annual device sales are probably equivalent to a few days of Apple Watch sales - is it really a shock this isn’t a priority?

Garmin and Apple are playing in different leagues. The tracking data a Garmin watch delivers just isn‘t comparable and Apple Watches are just a toy in comparison.
the real benefits of an AW can be found in the deep integration into the Apple ecosystem. It can unlock your Mac and it ha a huge pro with Apple Pay.

But talking about battery life or connectivity, the Apple Watch is just a joke. Have you ever tried to connect the heart rate monitor of the AW to e.g. your bicycle computer (Garmin, Wahoo, whatever ..) - this is not possible just because Apple does not want you to. Third party device manufacturers would have to pay Apple and implement GymKit Hardware (which also uses only BLE to transfer data) to make this possible.

Apple, just works.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

MR is the only place I see people bring up the overpriced Garmin fitness trackers. Their annual device sales are probably equivalent to a few days of Apple Watch sales - is it really a shock this isn’t a priority?

Clearly you don't follow DC Rainmaker, Desfit, Chase the Summit, , etc....and as for numbers, show up at a 10k, half or full marathon, or any trail-running event, and count the number of Garmin vs Apple Watch.

In other words, get out of your bubble.

It's about damned time. Garmin is going to be a lot better for many things sports-wise than AWU3 for a while to come, and Apple need to cater to that until such time as it's an actual Fenix competitor. I think it'll happen, but it's a ways off (and new battery chemistry) yet.

There are a lot more Garmin watches than the just Fenix. It's the flashiest, but I rarely see them compared to other Garmin watches. I paid $350 (on sale) for my Forerunner 265 and I get about a week of battery life, with daily 1-2 hours of GPS usage.