Android Wear Watches 2015: Android Smartwatches to Now Work With iPhones, With Some Restrictions
Google saw how quickly the Apple Watch became popular. Instead of trying to fight with Apple, Google is now allowing its Android Wear to work with Apple iPhones, CNET reports.
Google announced on Monday that smartwatches that run the Android Wear operating system made by Google will now be compatible with Apple iPhones.
This is a big change for Google. Until now, Android Wear smartwatches only worked with Android smartphones. This meant smarwatches made by vendors like LG, Motorola and ASUS would only work with Android smartphones from companies like HTC, LG or Motorola.
Google is adding millions of potential users to its customer pool. Apple sold an amazing 47.5 million iPhones in the last quarter.
Now that iPhone owners will have an option besides the Apple Watch, Google hopes that they will choose an Android Wear device. The Apple Watch only works with iPhones and not Android smartphones.
Google first launched Android Wear in 2014, but it has had trouble convincing customers that they need smartwatches on their wrists. A total of 720,000 smartwatches from Android Wear were sold in 2014, out of a possible 4.6 million wearables, market research firm Canalys reports.
So far, Apple has been quiet on how many Apple Watch devices it has sold.
Currently Google is setting some limitations on how Android Wear watches will work with iPhones. Currently, they will not be able to connect to a WiFi network and only to a cellular connection. This means the phone will have to be nearby to use it.
Notifications that are sent to the iPhone will also be sent to the Android Wear watch, meaning users can keep their phones in their pocket.
Only newer Android Wear watches that came out since May will be compatible with iPhones. The iPhone must be an iPhone 5 or newer and running at least iOS 8.2. Android Wear owners will need to download the Android Wear app from the Apple App Store to start enjoying the compatibility.
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