Google announced in a blog post today that Android Wear will now work with iOS devices.
Compatible devices will reportedly roll out soon, but today, the LG Watch Urbane is compatible.
This is good for both Android and Apple fans because it gives Apple users an easy, innocent way to give Android a test-drive without walking away from their iPhones and iPads. But with the recent Apple Watch release, why would users switch to Android Wear?
To put it simply, options and customizability. There's a plethora of shapes, sizes and OSes available for the watches, and there's a price point for just about every kind of buyer out there.
Here's what you'll get with Android Wear for iOS:
- Notifications mirrored to Android Wear
- Google Now cards
- Native apps, such as Weather
- Various watch faces, including third-party
- Google Fit fitness tracking
- Voice Search
Jeff Chang, Wear's lead product manager, commented on how they made this possible.
"Basically, like any other iOS developer, we work with Apple to make sure we understand and abide by their guidelines, what the policies are. That's what we're doing, wnd we'll continue to do that as we make updates in the future."
Apple doesn't allow third-party app stores on iPhone, so unfortunately, iPhone users will not see third-party watch faces available to them. However, all the Google-curated Wear faces will be available to users.
Also not allowed is responses to texts. You can see the notification, but you can't reply to them from the watch. You can, however, reply to emails sent to a Gmail account.
What would you like to see brought to Android Wear for iOS? Tweet us @VAVEL_Tech and follow us for all the latest technology news!
Jack Griffin is a writer for the VAVEL USA Technology and Music sections. Follow him on Twitter at @jacksonlgriffin.