Apple tried to make Apple Watch work with Android

Apple Watch only works with iPhones, but there was a point in which Apple tried to make it compatible with Android phones, too. Unfortunately, it didn't work out.

The long-rumored news was revealed in Apple's response to the Department of Justice's lawsuit against the company, 9to5Mac reported Thursday.

The DOJ's lawsuit explicitly mentions Apple Watch in its antitrust suit against Apple.

"Apple’s smartwatch—Apple Watch—is only compatible with the iPhone. So, if Apple can steer a user towards buying an Apple Watch, it becomes more costly for that user to purchase a different kind of smartphone because doing so requires the user to abandon their costly Apple Watch and purchase a new, Android-compatible smartwatch. (...) Apple also recognizes that making Apple Watch compatible with Android would 'remove[an] iPhone differentiator'," the lawsuit states.

But 9to5Mac says Apple has confirmed it considered adding Android support for the Apple Watch. The company looked into the idea for three years, after which it determined that it could not be done due to technical limitations.

A Bloomberg report on this matter dating November 2023, however, does not shed a very positive light on Apple's intentions regarding the Android-compatible Apple Watch. According to the report, the effort to bring Android support to Apple Watch was partially scrapped as it would "dilute the value of the watch to the iPhone."

It's worth noting that many popular smartwatches that aren't made by Apple, including Google's own Pixel Watch, aren't compatible with Apple's iOS, either.