How to Install Android Wear for iPhone

Android Wear for iPhone is out for iOS, making it possible to connect an Android Wear smartwatch to an iPhone.

Here are the steps to connect your Android Wear watch to an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch.

Before you spend money on an Android Wear Watch like the officially supported Huawei Watch, Asus ZenWatch 2 and LG Watch Urbane, or an older unsupported watch, understand some things.

The Android Wear offerings for the iPhone don’t do everything the Apple Watch can do, and it can’t do as much with an Android phone. You’ll interact with notifications, Google cards, Google Fit support, watch faces, and Gmail and Google Calendar from iOS on the watch. I tested it with Samsung Gear Live but it does even less as it is not officially supported.

Anything that appears as a notification in the notification center in iOS 8.2 or later will appear as a notification card on the watch, even on unsupported watches like mine. Not many apps integrate Android Wear interaction into their iOS apps. When a user receives a call, they only see that there is a call and there is caller ID information. The person cannot reject or reply on the watch as they can with an Android Wear watch paired with an Android Phone or an Apple Watch connected to an iPhone.

Get started with a new Android Wear Watch

Most people who own an Android Wear Smartwatch have probably paired it with an Android smartphone. To pair with an iPhone, the user must reset the Android Wear Smartwatch.

This will make the watch arrive and ready to pair with an iPhone. It may take a few minutes to restore.

Installing Android Wear for iPhone

Now it’s time to pair the Android Wear watch with the iPhone. After performing a factory reset, the watch opens to a welcome screen.

First Time Setup on Android Wear for iPhone

After the above steps, the watch takes the user through some tutorial steps showing how to use Android Wear. To use different parts of the Android Wear watch operating system, follow the onscreen instructions to learn how to swipe and dim the screen by holding your palm over the screen. The user can also skip this if they already know how to use Android Wear.

There is a short tutorial in the Android Wear app for iPhone. Play using the play button at the bottom of the screen. Or skip using the button at the top right (see above).

Choose to continue and choose your Google email address. This step works best if the phone is already configured to use Gmail.

traffic etc. A box opens asking permission to use and store location data for It also asks, “Use your synced calendars, Gmail, Chrome, and Google data for reminders and suggestions.” Select one or more of these screens. I recommend the latter as the Android Wear watch won’t do much without these permissions enabled.

Follow the remaining onscreen steps to allow the app to access various features on iPhone, including location data, notifications, calendar, email, and more. After these steps the app ends on the main Android Wear screen (see screenshot below).

On Android Wear, at the bottom of the home screen, the watch has an option to turn on Gmail replying. Select one for more detailed control of this function or tap to use default settings only. This allows the user to reply to Gmail via voice dictation on the watch. Android Wear should now work with the iPhone as long as it’s running iOS 8.2 or later.

Basic Settings to Change

Here are a few Android Wear settings for iPhone that most users will want to change or configure right away.

Tap the gear icon in the upper-right corner of the Android Wear home screen to change the settings. This will show the user’s Gmail address/account. There is an item under it. Tap this to change some of the Google Assistant settings. All items are set by default. If you don’t want to see notifications about these items on your Android Wear watch, turn any of them off.

The next section changes the clock settings. The setting tells the watch to always display a clock face on the hour. It may look dim compared to the selected watch face, but you can still see it. Turn this off to save battery life.

When the person bends their wrist, the setting opens the dial of the watch. If you prefer to tap the button on the side or on the screen to show the watch face, turn it off.

Other settings include:

first impressions

If you already own an iPhone, don’t go out and buy an Android watch. An Android Wear owner shouldn’t buy an iPhone just to use it with the watch, either. The first iteration of Android Wear for iPhone offers little more than notifications, and their most basic form, and the few Android Wear watches available work entirely with iPhone. As might be expected. Using an Android phone with an Android Wear watch or an Apple Watch with an iPhone gives the user the best smartwatch/smartphone experience.

So, who should use Android Wear for iPhone?

It’s hard to imagine many people who fit into these three categories. Android Wear seems like a short-term option until someone can afford to replace their Android Wear watch with an Apple Watch or replace their iPhone with an Android phone.