Apple had launched a project to make the Apple Watch and its Health application compatible with Android smartphones, but ultimately decided to abandon it
It is a long investigation that the agency published Bloomberg on November 1 about the history of the Apple Watch. The opportunity for journalists Mark Gurman and Drake Benett to look back on Apple’s projects around its connected watch, but also on its forced compatibility with iPhones.
Indeed, since the very first Apple Watch, released in 2014, Apple has limited the use of its connected watches to iPhone owners only. Unable to pair the watch with an Android smartphone. However, the investigation of Bloomberg reveals that Apple has discussed the idea of pushing for more general compatibility of its smartwatch… including with Android smartphones.
According to agency information Bloombergthe project was known internally at Apple as “ Project Fennel“. The idea behind this project was to enable compatibility of the Apple Watch and Apple’s health application with Android smartphones. A way to extend the potential popularity of the manufacturer’s watches to more users. However, according to Bloombergthe project would have finally been abandoned just before completion, when everything was ready to announce it with great fanfare.
A project abandoned in favor of the iPhone
In question, “economic considerations» for Apple, which finally decided to reserve Apple Watches for its iPhones. It must be said that Apple watches are the best-selling in the world and that they can represent an important argument to push people to buy an iPhone rather than an Android smartphone. By continuing to limit Apple Watches to its smartphones only, Apple has maintained this selling point in favor of iPhones:
The work was almost complete when Project Fennel was canceled, due to the Apple Watch being a driver for iPhone sales.“By abandoning the watch to Android, you would have diluted the value of the watch for iPhones”indicates a person with knowledge of the decision.
However, it is unknown when this project was carried out and whether it could one day see the light of day again.
For two years, Google has used the same system as Google by limiting watches under Wear OS 3 and Wear OS 4 to only smartphones equipped with Android. It is now impossible to use a watch equipped with the Google system with an iPhone. Whether it’s the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6, the Google Pixel Watch 2 or the Xiaomi Watch 2 Pro, all of them are compatible only with Android smartphones.