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Can I pair and use a Samsung Galaxy Watch with an iPhone?
Samsung now makes some of the best Wear OS smartwatches around. The Galaxy Watch 5 builds on the success of the Galaxy Watch 4, and both make for excellent companions if you own a Samsung smartphone. But can these smartwatches work with iPhones? We explain in detail below.
QUICK ANSWER
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and Galaxy Watch 4 models will not work with iPhones, but you can pair an older Tizen Galaxy Watch with Apple's smartphones without issue.
Can I use a Samsung Galaxy Watch with an iPhone?
The simple, straight answer is no. No iOS app will facilitate the pairing of a Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 or 4 with an iPhone. Therefore, you cannot pair or use the new Galaxy Watch models with an iPhone.
That limitation is not necessarily because of Wear OS, either. The likes of Montblanc and Fossil have demonstrated that their Wear OS 3 watches can pair with iPhones. It instead seems to be the decision of Samsung to limit its watches’ functionality to Android devices only.
If you must have a Samsung smartwatch paired to your iPhone, the company’s older Tizen smartwatches work well with Apple’s smartphones. These include the Galaxy Watch 3, the Galaxy Watch 2 Active, and the original Galaxy Watch.
In reality, if you own an iPhone, you should get an Apple Watch or one of the other excellent Samsung Galaxy Watch alternatives.
FAQs
Surprisingly, there are plenty of smartwatches than run on Wear OS 3 that will pair with an iPhone. The most notable example is the Fossil Gen 6 platform.
There are plenty of Apple Watch alternatives available for iPhone users, but few provide the functionality and seamless integration that they provide alongside iOS.