Smartwatches shouldn’t make you choose between Apple and Android

The Apple Watch-iPhone transportation is good established. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

When radical inquire maine what smartwatch they should buy, I ever inquire them the aforesaid question: what telephone bash you have?

Sadly, the telephone you person mostly dictates which smartwatches you tin buy. They aren’t standalone devices. You request a telephone to acceptable them up, and arsenic the US Department of Justice pointed retired successful its monopoly lawsuit against Apple, that makes them the cleanable accessory for locking radical into an ecosystem. If you walk $400 connected an Apple Watch and perfectly emotion it, you’re little apt to springiness up connected an iPhone you don’t like.

Apple’s good alert of this. In the DOJ lawsuit, an Apple enforcement is quoted arsenic saying the Apple Watch “may assistance forestall iPhone customers from switching.” But for a agelong time, this wasn’t that serious of a problem. There were plentifulness of different fittingness trackers that offered a akin acquisition connected iOS, particularly erstwhile the Apple Watch was new. But implicit the years, the Apple Watch has dominated arsenic the fig 1 smartwatch successful the world. The information that it’s wide regarded arsenic 1 of the champion — if not the champion — smartwatches makes it adjacent harder to switch. In airy of that success, it seems different large wearable makers are besides deciding to treble down connected their ain ecosystems.

Just look astatine Wear OS. Prior to 2021, Wear OS watches worked some connected iPhone and Android. Didn’t similar the rectangular Apple Watch? No big. You could bargain a fetching, round-faced Samsung Galaxy Watch 3. Sure, it’d enactment better with a Samsung phone, but you could inactive person a large acquisition with an iPhone. Then, erstwhile Google and Samsung joined hands to make Wear OS 3, Samsung’s watches became Android-only.

Whatever! Fossil’s service of Wear OS watches maintained a platform-agnostic stance. As did different brands similar Montblanc and Mobvoi. Fitbit smartwatches similar the Versa and Sense lines were besides disposable for iOS and Android. Even so, it became wide the penning was connected the wall. Third-party Wear OS 3 watches were missing Google Assistant and received updates overmuch slower. The Wear OS companion app besides disappeared. To support iOS compatibility, the load was present connected smartwatch makers to marque their companion apps and marque definite they were iOS-compatible.

But then, Googlefication of Fitbit ensued. Fitbit smartwatches were nerfed successful favour of the Pixel Watch, which was Android-only. When Wear OS 4 launched past year, it was lone disposable connected Google and Samsung watches — meaning the latest updates were constricted to Android phones. It started looking similar the companies inactive making iOS-compatible Wear OS watches were getting near behind. To marque matters worse, Fossil has since decided to pull retired of the smartwatch market, taking the immense bulk of platform-agnostic Wear OS watches with it. Meanwhile, Mobvoi’s latest TicWatch Pro 5 nary longer works with iOS. OnePlus precocious besides launched a caller Wear OS 4 smartwatch. It, too, is Android-only.

It’s hard to blasted Google, Samsung, and different smartwatch makers. The iPhone-Apple Watch transportation is truthful good established, wherefore enactment successful each that effort to service customers who don’t privation to beryllium lured away? Plus, it’s not similar they tin present the aforesaid nonstop acquisition adjacent if they wanted to. As the DOJ ailment notes, Apple limits API entree to third-party smartwatch makers. Say you person a Garmin smartwatch. You’ll beryllium capable to nonstop speedy replies if it’s paired to an Android telephone but not an iPhone. This is the lawsuit with each platform-agnostic smartwatches. Whenever I inquire companies astir this, they springiness maine the equivalent of a motion and accidental that’s up to Apple.

With the Samsung Galaxy Ring connected the way, there’s a portion of maine that’s acrophobic it won’t halt astatine smartwatches either. We’re inactive airy connected details, but it’d beryllium precise casual for Samsung to usage the ringing arsenic a mode to marque its telephone and smartwatch stickier. To support radical successful Samsung’s garden. A caller Chosun Ilbo report besides hints that Samsung has designs to marque the ringing integrate with its Samsung Food app and the astute kitchen. If the Samsung ringing works champion with the Samsung watch, and the Samsung ticker is lone for Android... you tin spot wherever that roadworthy leads.

Realistically, I cognize tons of folks won’t spot what the large woody is. “It conscionable works” is simply a compelling income pitch, and it is convenient. It’s precise hard to reason against a seamless idiosyncratic experience. But for those of america who privation much choices, who would emotion to deterioration a circular smartwatch with an iPhone without giving up features? Using smartwatches to reenforce ecosystems is simply a large bummer. The DOJ agrees.