Trusted Reviews is supported by its audience. If you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a commission. Learn more.

Android Wear adds iOS support thanks to hack

Tired of waiting for the Apple Watch to launch? Thanks to one developer, Android Wear smartwatches can now receive notifications from your iPhone.

While official iPhone support for your Android Wear timepiece is still little more than a pipedream, developer Mohammad Abu-Garbeyyeh has managed to tweak his Moto 360 to receive iPhone alerts (via 9to5Google).

How has this cross-platform witchcraft been achieved? Through the use of a custom APK and the same ANCS technology found within the Pebble smartwatch line of course.

With Pebble watches capable of syncing with both iOS and Android devices, Abu-Garbeyyeh has repurposed the tech to work on Android Wear offerings such as the 360 and the LG G Watch R.

Further echoing the Pebble watch, this iPhone, Android Wear communication is a one-way street, with the wearable unable to send commands back to the hosting handset.

The detailed ins-and-outs of Abu-Garbeyyeh’s handiwork are still unclear, although he claims you neither need to jailbreak iOS, nor gain root access to Android Wear in order to make the hack work.

If you’re holding out hope of your iPhone speaking with your Android Wear watch, however, we have bad news. Abu-Garbeyyeh’s APK has yet to be given a public release.

Related: Everything you need to know about the iPhone 6S

For those waiting for more integrated iOS smartwatch support, the Apple Watch is set to hit retailers in April.

With prices set to start from $349 (£227), Apple’s first foray into the wearables market is set to be significantly harder on your wallet than Google’s debut offerings.

(YouTube)DIIYmVSc9Yw(/YouTube)

Why trust our journalism?

Founded in 2003, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy.

Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.

author icon

Editorial independence

Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.

author icon

Professional conduct

We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.

Trusted Reviews Logo

Sign up to our newsletter

Get the best of Trusted Reviews delivered right to your inbox.

This is a test error message with some extra words