Apple Watch for Android: Can You Pair & Use an Apple Watch on an Android Phone?

In today’s time, everyone wants to use the Apple Watch, and why not! The Apple Watch is probably one of the best smartwatches on the market.

But what if you have the Samsung Galaxy S23 series or the OnePlus 11, or any other Android phone? By this, we are trying to convey that if you use an Android phone, your dream of using an Apple Watch may not come true, at least until you have an iPhone.r

However, we suggest you not lose hope and read this article till the end because then you will surely get your answer on whether it is possible to use Apple Watch with an Android phone. So, without wasting any second further, let’s get started—

Before anything else, let us first answer quickly—

Why to Have an Apple Watch?

The Apple Watch was launched in 2015, and since then, it has taken the wearable market by storm. Apple Watch is arguably the best smartwatch that one can buy despite being an expensive accessory because it’s absolutely worth it.

The Apple Watch is arguably the best smartwatch one can have today despite being an expensive accessory because it is absolutely worth it.

When you wear it, you get meaningful health insights, a fitness partner that measures your every step, and a well-built connection to the people and things you care about most. Overall, it is the ultimate tool for healthy living. 

So, if advanced health and fitness tracking appeals to you, this is an invaluable tool that you should be using today.

But if you have Android then you need to definitely think twice about this question: ‘Does Apple Watch work with Android?’ 

To know the answer to the question, keep reading—

Can You Use an Apple Watch with an Android Phone?

Both the Apple website and the name suggest that the Apple Watch is specifically designed to work with Apple iPhone devices, but with a hack, you can use the Apple Watch with an Android phone. So, ‘Can an Apple Watch work with Android’- Yes, it is possible!

Warning: Despite not being advertised, you can pair your Apple Watch with an Android phone but as you might expect, there is a limitation that you will lose a lot of its functionality. This is because the Apple Watch is designed to sync with the iPhone, so it’s quite obvious that some apps may not work correctly (or at all) when using the watch with an Android device.

If you’ve understood the warning and still want to know ‘how to connect Apple Watch to Android,’ read the next section.

Also Check Out: – Apple Pencil Wireless Charging—How to Charge Apple Pencil through iPad?

How to Pair and Use Apple Watch on Your Android Phone?

For those who’re wondering ‘how to pair Apple Watch to Android without iPhone’ let us tell you that it is not officially possible to pair and connect Apple Watch on Android.

However, there is a solution that might work as we’ve already tried it and it worked a few times out of many tries. So, if you really want to use Apple Watch on Android, you too can give this workaround a shot.

Prerequisites to Connect Apple Watch to Android

To start connecting your Apple Watch to your Android smartphone, you need to meet the following requirements—

• An unlocked Apple Watch with LTE (or Long-Term Evolution that is sometimes referred to as 4G LTE. It’s a 4G wireless standard that allows you to download music, websites, and videos really fast).
• An unlocked iPhone.
• An unlocked Android smartphone.
• A SIM card removal tool (if you have an iPhone 13 or older) to eject and move the physical SIM card between your devices.
• A strong and stable cellular network that supports the Apple Watch.

Once you have met all the requirements, you are all set to pair your Apple Watch to an Android phone. To do so, follow these instructions carefully—

• Step 1: ‘Set up your Apple Watch with iPhone’ as you normally would so that you can connect the device with your phone number and download any apps for Apple Watch.

  

• Step 2: Once that’s done, ‘make a test call or two’ from your device to ensure everything is working.
• Step 3: Next, what you need to do is put the iPhone with which you have paired the Apple Watch in ‘Airplane mode’ (or switch it off) and make sure it is not reachable.
• Step 4: Not just the iPhone, ‘turn off your Apple Watch and Android Smartphone’ also. 
• Step 5: Now, use the ‘SIM card tool’ to ‘remove your SIM card from your iPhone’ and then, you should carefully ‘insert the SIM into your Android phone’ and turn it up.
• Step 6: Once your Android phone is on, connect it to your ‘cell carrier’s network.’
• Step 7: After that, ‘turn on the Apple Watch’ also and while doing so, hold both your Android and Apple Watch near each other.
• Step 8: Now, when the Apple Watch is on and you receive the ‘disconnect from Apple Watch notification,’ you’re done. Your Apple Watch is successfully connected to your Android phone.

Through this process, you can make and receive calls on both devices and even use limited voice controls. But note, the two devices aren’t paired via Bluetooth and only share a single SIM detail – so you’ll miss out on a bunch of Apple-exclusive features.

What Functionality Should Be Expected After Connecting Apple Watch to Android?

Now, it’s finally time to cover the most asked question regarding this topic and i.e., what functionality can you expect? Well, after connecting Apple Watch to Android (as warned earlier too) be prepared to see a loss in functionality such as—

• Your Apple Watch and all its installed apps will update in a timely manner over a cellular connection. Also, you can delete iPhone apps and install more from the App Store on the Apple Watch directly over a cellular connection. However, note, you will not be able to properly keep your device and software up to date because you will not have access to the iPhone.
• You can make phone calls, but sending messages can be cumbersome. Where on the one hand, the standard text messaging (SMS) system would fail, iMessage on the other hand works well with this setup.
• Voice commands can be used to make calls as long as you use the name that is saved in contacts on your iPhone SIM and not your Android phone.
• You’re also out of luck if you want to install a new app on your watch because you’ll need an iPhone to accomplish this task.
• Last but not least, continued use of LTE will drain your Apple Watch battery faster than normal.

Tip: Use the discussed hack if something happened to your iPhone and you really wanted to continue using your Apple Watch otherwise, it is largely pointless because you cannot use most of the smart functions on the watch

Final Thoughts

Well, if for some reason you’ve been wanting to pair and use an Apple Watch on an Android phone, now you know that it’s possible and it’s also pretty clear how you can pair them.

However, you can make it happen but setting up an Apple Watch with an Android phone is a tricky task, and while doing so you may lose much of the Apple Watch’s functionality ranging from health data syncing to Apple’s suite of apps.

With that in mind, we recommend you try out the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 or the Google Pixel Watch, or other smartwatches (that work within Android’s own ecosystem) to have a full smartwatch experience with your Android device.

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