As long as the Moto 360 has the latest version of Android Wear, it just works.
Today, Google revealed that its Android Wear platform will now work with the iPhone, a big step for the nascent wearables world. However, that step doesn’t come without a few caveats, namely that it only applies to new Android Wear models, such as the LG Watch Urbane, Huawei Watch, and Asus ZenWatch 2. According to Google, the reasoning behind this decision was to ensure that buyers could use the watch with an iPhone right out of the box, and not have to worry about compatibility issues.
This of course leaves a lot of existing Android Wear owners that were hoping to pair the devices with an iPhone in the lurch, as Google is officially not supporting the Moto 360, LG G Watch, LG G Watch R, Samsung Gear Live, Asus ZenWatch, or Sony Smartwatch 3 on iOS. However, as we discovered today after downloading the new Android Wear app for iOS and successfully pairing a Moto 360 to our iPhone, what’s officially supported and what’s actually possible don’t always align.
Our Moto 360 has the latest Android Wear 1.3 software, which was installed when it was paired to an Android phone. Upon opening the Android Wear iOS app and resetting the Moto 360, we were able to pair it with the iPhone without issue. Notifications from the iPhone show up on the Moto 360 just as you might expect, and we were also able to install third-party watch faces from Google’s limited collection in the iOS app. Voice search also works — there really isn’t anything we’ve found that works on the officially supported watches but doesn’t work here. Performance has been a bit slow, however, though that’s something we experience during the first few minutes of using an Android Wear watch with Android devices as well.
There’s always the chance that Google could close this loophole, and this might not last forever, but for now, we have a Moto 360 paired with an iPhone and didn’t have to hack anything to get it to work. It’s not clear if this will work with Moto 360s that haven’t been updated to the latest Android Wear firmware, but if you happen to have one that is and want to pair it with an iPhone, there doesn’t seem to be anything standing in your way.
Author: Dan Seifert
Source: TheVerge