Bringing some good news to the iPhone users, Google has announced the official support for Android Wear on iPhone. The Android Wear app will go live on the App store soon (probably today), which allows iPhone users to install it on compatible smartwatches to route the notifications on their device to the watch. For more than a year now, Google has been playing fast in extending its services to other platforms. Cross-Platform support is a clever market strategy which brings more users to the Google. Here’s what Google offers to the iPhone users through Android Wear:
- Get your info at a glance: Check important info like phone calls, messages, and notifications from your favorite apps. Android Wear features always-on displays, so you’ll never have to move your wrist to wake up your watch.
- Follow your fitness: Set fitness goals, and get daily and weekly views of your progress. Your watch automatically tracks walking and running, and even measures your heart rate.
- Save time with smart help: Receive timely tips like when to leave for appointments, current traffic info, and flight status. Just say “Ok Google” to ask questions like “Is it going to rain in London tomorrow?” or create to-dos with “Remind me to pack an umbrella.”
However, don’t be happy yet. The Android Wear support for iPhone is just bare bones as of now and doesn’t really offer much. Currently, Android Wear on iPhone is only supported by LG Watch Urbane, but it will also be supported by the future Android Wear watches. In additions to this, you’ll need to have either an iPhone 5, 5c, 5s, 6 or 6 Plus running iOS 8.2 or later. Moreover, the Android Wear functionality is highly limited on iPhone when compared to Android devices.
Currently, iPhone users can enjoy app notifications, fitness tracker and Google Now using Android Wear but the feature set is supposed to be expanded in the future. With app notifications, you can just view alerts such as phone calls, text messages, emails and other info but there’s only little interaction with them. For starters, you can view and dismiss the notifications but you can’t enjoy the complete features which are privileged to Android users for now.
Nonetheless, this is a fabulous news for iPhone users as they can now choose from a wider variety of smartwatches. This great move from Google also helps the Android smartwatch manufacturers to boost their sales as they have access to both Android and iOS users as well. But it might be a threat to the Apple Watch which is comparatively priced higher than Android smartwatches.
So, do you have an iPhone and compatible Android Wear smartwatch? Just pair them up and let us know your experience in the comments section below.
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