MacBook and iWatch

[mraamohamed]

OK I am new to the Mac World (well not really been about 10 years since I used a Mac) but any ways, I want to get an iWatch but I do not want an iPhone i love my Android device and I am just not wanting to change. Can I sync the iWatch with the MacBook or do I need to have an iPhone, I know I can not sync the iWatch with Android device.

Just curious before I make the leap to the iWatch.

Thanks
Abdulah

 

[ferrarr]

Yes, Apple Watch needs iPhone, as of right now. I have heard rumors that it might happen in the future, to not need an iPhone, that is.

You could buy an older (used) iPhone and use it to setup the watch.

 

[Slydude]

Your question has me wondering about something but it will be a few days before I can test my thinking.

There are many tasks where the Apple Watch does indeed need the iPhone to be fully functional. I am wondering whether some functions might work without the iPhone. The candidates for testing have the same app on the Apple Watch and Mac and can be tied to the same Apple ID:

Messages, Reminders, Contacts, Music, Calendar, Maps, News

 

[Slydude]

Here's that I have found with very limited testing.

During all tests my iPhone was powered completely down. I should also note that my Apple Watch has a cel number of it's own in addition to wireless network access. The Mac and Watch are tied to the same Apple ID.

Mail -- I can read mail on the watch and send from the watch.
Reminders created from the watch appear on the Mac
Calendar events created on the Mac appear on the Watch but do not seem to go the other way. I'm not sure about this. An event created on the Mac didn't appear on the Watch but it may need more sync time.
Messages doesn't seem to send from the watch without the phone.

If there are Android apps that have Mac and Watch versions that might work as well.

 

[ferrarr]

Messages doesn't seem to send from the watch without the phone.

Messages should send from the Watch without the iPhone nearby. Especially with it's own cell service. My wife had one and when she used her watch to send messages, I was asked if I wanted to add that cell number to her contact card.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

My guess is that the Apple Watch will most likely be a companion device to the iPhone. Making it a stand alone device would make it very expensive and the screen size isn't conducive to have it take over as a stand-alone communication device.

 

[Rod]

The AW is linked to a dedicated iPhone app called, not surprisingly, Watch. A lot of applications, weather, health, music apps are all mirrored from the iPhone rather than actually loaded on the AW. Some iPhone applications include “complications” that can be loaded on the AW allowing you to add them to watch faces. Without the iPhone I cannot see how you could obtain the complications or even load the various watch faces.
Last but certainly not least you need an iPhone to link your AW to your Apple ID at initial setup and not even an iPad can do this.

 

[Slydude]

Messages should send from the Watch without the iPhone nearby. Especially with it's own cell service. My wife had one and when she used her watch to send messages, I was asked if I wanted to add that cell number to her contact card.

I am not sure what happened last night and I didn't have much time to spend on this last night. You are right though. I'm sure I've sent texts recently from the watch without my phone.

@ Rod Thanks for the reminder about needing an iPhone for the initial setup of the watch.

I too have seen the rumors about making a version of the watch that could pair with Android devices, Even if that comes to pass there might be limited functionality -- especially finding a work-around for complications.

 

[Rod]

As we are aware, setting up requires pairing via a sort of moving QR code on the AW scanned to the Watch app on the iPhone. I imagine an Abdroid version of the Watch app could be produced but I have apps on my iPhone like AccuWeather which has a complication for the AW. It's downloaded from the iPhone to the AW so that a full screen display of the app can be viewed on the AW and that seems like a real stumbling block to pairing with an Android device. Surely that would require Android app developers to produce android complications for AW. Seems unlikely.