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Will the iWatch be compatible with Android devices?

H

hajime

macrumors G3
Original poster
Jul 23, 2007
8,153
1,406
Hello, I am a Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 user. I am considering to buy the Samsung Gear S now or wait for the iWatch. Two major features that I need are: a) Be able to receive and make phone call via the watch. b) Notify me whenever incoming message or phone call arrive. Better if it can also show calendar on my Android device.

When the iWatch comes out, will it be compatible with Android devices such as the Galaxy Note series? Will it be able to do Points a to c?
 
First, not trying to be critical, but it's called the Apple Watch, not the iWatch. I can see that this is going to be like the old iPod touch vs iTouch debate sometime in the future (not in this thread)....

Ok, now for what you wanted to hear: we can say with about 99.999999% assurance that Apple will not allow the Apple Watch to work with Android devices. So, it will not work with android phones. I would suggest just buying the smart watch that you were previously looking at, if you'll continue to use Android phones.
 
It will be - the day Apple release a device with an S Pen-type stylus.
 
It will be interesting what Apple decide to do in the medium to longer term.

Any manufacturer generally does not want to deliberately choose to limit their own potential market.

At the moment, as the watch is mostly an almost dumb terminal screen for the iPhone, it makes perfect sense that it's done this way.

It's simply an iPhone accessory and nothing more.

As years and model go by, Apple are able to break the umbilical cord, and the Apple watch can grow up into it's own independent device, which I'm sure it will, then this may change.

With Android having more market share than iOS around the world, and in some counties, iOS having almost no real market share, Apple, in time will either have to do this, or lose these markets to competing devices as you can be sure, other watch brands are not going to sit still.

There will be other Smart Watches that will work across multiple formats, in competition with the Apple watch that only works as an iPhone accessory.

I'd say it's pretty obvious that Apple knows this is not the best scenario for the longer term.

Perhaps it will take say 2 to 3 years for this to change?

I'm sure it will, eventually as it would be silly otherwise.

At the moment, Apple's only market is a percentage of iPhone users with modern, and that's it.
They can't sell the watch to anyone else.

I think we can all see, that's not a sales tactic you would wish to keep for the long term.

Unless of course, Apple are currently arrogant enough to feel their watch will always be so amazing, and so much better than anyone else's that people will all flock from Android mobile to iPhones, simply so they can also have an Apple watch.
 
Oohara said:
It will be - the day Apple release a device with an S Pen-type stylus.
Click to expand...

Is that the same time Apple release a smaller iPad?
Or the time Apple release a large screen iPhone?

Times change my friend, times change.

Remember, PLEASE don't be a fool and think Apple are honest about long term plans when they try and sell you something.

They are businesspeople thru and thru, and will do and say ANYTHING to make you, the customer, believe in your heart, what they are selling TODAY is perfect and cannot be better.

That is until next year, when they have something different to sell you.

I'm sure you are clever and wise enough to understand this is what they do, just in a very very nicely presented way.

and who can blame them, that's why they are in business for, to sell YOU they products they have for sale TODAY.
 
Piggie said:
Is that the same time Apple release a smaller iPad?
Or the time Apple release a large screen iPhone?

Times change my friend, times change.

Remember, PLEASE don't be a fool and think Apple are honest about long term plans when they try and sell you something.

They are businesspeople thru and thru, and will do and say ANYTHING to make you, the customer, believe in your heart, what they are selling TODAY is perfect and cannot be better.

That is until next year, when they have something different to sell you.

I'm sure you are clever and wise enough to understand this is what they do, just in a very very nicely presented way.

and who can blame them, that's why they are in business for, to sell YOU they products they have for sale TODAY.
Click to expand...

Bad example. A good one would be how their messaging services and cloud service work on iOS only.
 
I sure hope so. But yeah this is apple. I see Google designing a watch that would work on iOS more than the other way around. Hopefully you you can jailbreak the watch somehow to be more open.
 
Michael Goff said:
Bad example. A good one would be how their messaging services and cloud service work on iOS only.
Click to expand...

Or that iOS, OSX and iWorks have been and always be Apple exclusives.

----------
soulreaver99 said:
Not going to happen. Would be nice if Moto 360 worked for the iPhone ;)
Click to expand...

I'd like to see this. If Martian and Pebble can add the API's, surely Motorola and LG can as well.
 
I'm sure Apple will do it when they need a sales boost, they must show growth to wall street, so when sales start to stagnate they'll make it compatible with android
 
Will the iWatch be compatible with Android devices?

hajime said:
Hello, I am a Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 user. I am considering to buy the Samsung Gear S now or wait for the iWatch. Two major features that I need are: a) Be able to receive and make phone call via the watch. b) Notify me whenever incoming message or phone call arrive. Better if it can also show calendar on my Android device.



When the iWatch comes out, will it be compatible with Android devices such as the Galaxy Note series? Will it be able to do Points a to c?
Click to expand...



But the Galaxy Note 12.2 can not make phone calls...... So you would need a phone firstly with the apple Watch for it to be able to relay calls & messages.

If you want the watch to be an actual phone, that is not what the Apple Watch does.
 
MacRumorUser said:
But the Galaxy Note 12.2 can not make phone calls...... So you would need a phone firstly with the apple Watch for it to be able to relay calls & messages.

If you want the watch to be an actual phone, that is not what the Apple Watch does.
Click to expand...

It can. I have the LTE version. I have been making and receiving phone calls through this device for months. The main problem is that sometimes I don't want people nearby (e.g. in subway, in a quiet place) to hear the conversations.
 
hajime said:
It can. I have the LTE version. I have been making and receiving phone calls through this device for months. The main problem is that sometimes I don't want people nearby (e.g. in subway, in a quiet place) to hear the conversations.
Click to expand...


Really, I just can't imagine ever making a call on it. I have a non LTE note 12.2 myself.

Have you thought about using something like the Sony SBH52 with it.
 
I had Galaxy Note 10.1 (3G, phone model) for two years as my primary phone. I was carrying it in my bag all the time. I have Sony Smartwatch 2 and of course a bluetooth headset (samsung bt and jabra halo2). Works great =) sw2 doesnt have a microphone (i wouldnt even talk to a watch anyway) but i was able to see who is calling and answering/making calls with it using a bt headset, reading/writing sms/emails, calender, daily tasks, etc... I would be using that still, but I just bought OPO couple months ago when i had a chance to buy it, so it replaced my Note (as a phone). So get a smartwatch and good bt headset!
 
Guess it will never happen since many apps require an iPhone to work.. they won't go through all the hassle and try to code for 5.000 different android devices.
 
hajime said:
Hello, I am a Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 user. I am considering to buy the Samsung Gear S now or wait for the iWatch. Two major features that I need are: a) Be able to receive and make phone call via the watch. b) Notify me whenever incoming message or phone call arrive. Better if it can also show calendar on my Android device.

When the iWatch comes out, will it be compatible with Android devices such as the Galaxy Note series? Will it be able to do Points a to c?
Click to expand...

naaah, apple engineers get confused by junk OS :p
 
verpeiler said:
Guess it will never happen since many apps require an iPhone to work.. they won't go through all the hassle and try to code for 5.000 different android devices.
Click to expand...

They all can handle notifications and Bluetooth control, which is why Sony, Martian and a bunch of others support both iOS and Android. That's not a big deal.

As for compatibility, I think that Apple and (partly) Samsung are making the same mistake about their watches by making them brand specific. It's not like very many people will choose their smartphone by first choosing the watch. But I do think watches can serve as ambassadors for their maker.

Heck, I think Samsung (and others) let a huge opportunity slip through their fingers by ignoring the months long delay in the Apple watch release, and not putting out an iOS compatible model. They even knew what the Apple Watch looked like, and what it could / could not do.

I think with the right hardware, they could've sold a lot of devices over Christmas, and taken the wind out of Apple's coming Watch sales. They blew it.
 
Lloydbm41 said:
I'd like to see this. If Martian and Pebble can add the API's, surely Motorola and LG can as well.
Click to expand...

They could but it would require a far amount of work and also do not forget that to using android wear OS they do have some of their hands tied on what they can add. They could make an App to handle it but just take.

Google could add some stuff to android wear for the API but at the same time why trust Apple not to break their API with an OS update. Apple OS updates are known to break API and make life hard on developers to address this stuff.

verpeiler said:
Guess it will never happen since many apps require an iPhone to work.. they won't go through all the hassle and try to code for 5.000 different android devices.
Click to expand...


And the joys of miss information continue. They really do not have to do that. Here is the thing if you can get it to work on a nexus it is going to work about any Android device as that is the base OS. The only devices that developers tend to have issue with is Samsung which tend to do the one offs issues. So having a nexus and a samsung device is all you really need for full testing and it will work on just about all of them.


As for Apple doing it. Nope Apple believes in brand lock in so they will use it to make it even harder to leave Apple. A good example of this is look at Apple TV only works really with other Apple products.
 
Will the iWatch be compatible with Android devices?

verpeiler said:
Guess it will never happen since many apps require an iPhone to work.. they won't go through all the hassle and try to code for 5.000 different android devices.
Click to expand...


Eh!? Os and devices are two differend thing. Do you really think that all apps and devices need to be tested for all android devices before they can be released? Howabout when you get a device for windows machine, is it "coded" for million differend kinds of win-computers?

That is the reason why they are standards. Unfortunately we have companies like apple who doesnt follow general rules and standards...
 
Last edited:
It will be jailbroken and some people will use it with other devices.

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kdarling said:
They all can handle notifications and Bluetooth control, which is why Sony, Martian and a bunch of others support both iOS and Android. That's not a big deal.

As for compatibility, I think that Apple and (partly) Samsung are making the same mistake about their watches by making them brand specific. It's not like very many people will choose their smartphone by first choosing the watch. But I do think watches can serve as ambassadors for their maker.

Heck, I think Samsung (and others) let a huge opportunity slip through their fingers by ignoring the months long delay in the Apple watch release, and not putting out an iOS compatible model. They even knew what the Apple Watch looked like, and what it could / could not do.

I think with the right hardware, they could've sold a lot of devices over Christmas, and taken the wind out of Apple's coming Watch sales. They blew it.
Click to expand...

Samsung sells the Gear live which is an Android Wear watch.

I had the Gear 2 Neo since Nov and love it so far. It was extremely hard to find any Gear watches in stock at the time in NYC, most were sold out. So I guess they are selling at a decent level.
 
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