January 19, 2025

Apple Watch: Why Apple did not make Apple Watch compatible with Android phones

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Apart from the iPhone, Apple Watch is one of the most desired pieces of technology today. A market leader since its launch in 2015, a major ‘annoying’ thing about the wearable for Android users is its incompatibility with Google-owned OS. A news report has claimed that Apple wanted to make the watch work with Android smartphones but the company later shunned those plans.
According to a report by Bloomberg, once upon a time, Apple put in engineers to make the Apple Watch work with billions of Android devices. This would have seen the company’s health features come to more people but then other business considerations forced Apple to cancel the programme.
“For a time, Apple engineers were also deeply engaged to make the watch and Health app compatible with the billions of Android devices in circulation,” a report by Bloomberg said.
This move was codenamed Project Fennel and “would have brought the company’s health features — and the health benefits Apple has repeatedly underlined — to many more people, especially in countries where Apple has little market share.”
Why Project Fennel was cancelled
The publication says that the work was nearly complete when Project Fennel was cancelled “in part because the Apple Watch is a driver of iPhone sales.”
“If you gave up the watch to Android, you would dilute the value of the watch to the iPhone,” Bloomberg quoted someone with knowledge of the decision.
Apple Watch shipments
The report also said that Apple’s wearables division has been a key source of growth for the company.
According to a report by Counterpoint Research, Apple Watch alone captured 22% of the market share. Despite a 4% negative growth in quarter-over-quarter shipments, Apple remained at the top spot.
Apple is also expected to bring a host of features in the next year’s Apple Watch. These may include health-related features such as blood pressure monitoring and sleep apnea detection that will use sleep and breathing patterns to estimate whether someone has the condition.



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