Don’t expect the Pixel Watch to work with iPhone

Google’s keynote from Google I/O 2022 was packed full of hardware announcements. One of those was the long-awaited Google Pixel Watch, which will finally be released this fall.

We also got a short teaser video about the upcoming device, and it’s sad news for iPhone owners. The Pixel Watch doesn’t look like it will be compatible with the iPhone.

The video mentions that the Pixel Watch will work with devices running Android 8.0 and later. That means no iOS or iPadOS devices will get to use Google’s latest smartwatch.

Honestly, is this really a surprise? The Apple Watch has never worked with any Android smartphone. Nobody even bats an eyelid when Apple locks things to its own devices.

Why shouldn’t Google do the same thing? Because Android is an open platform? That just means anyone can use Android’s platform and modify it. Apple could get the Apple Watch working on Android, but it really wants you to buy an iPhone to go with it.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, which is the only other device that runs Wear OS 3 currently, also doesn’t support the iPhone. That breaks the chain of Wear OS watches working on iOS that goes back to 2015.

I’ve used Android smartwatches on my iPhone before. It wasn’t a fun time. Notifications were spotty (if they worked at all), and fitness tracking metrics were inaccurate. I can’t blame Google for wanting the user experience on its Pixel Watch to be better than that.

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