Months after promising iOS compatibility for its latest smartwatches, Samsung has finally released the Gear South app for iPhones. You can at present use your brand new Gear S3 or Gear S2 with your iPhone (find instructions on pairing the watch and iPhone here), but how well do they piece of work with an iOS device? Is it worth the trouble? We gave it a shot (using the Gear S3 with an iPhone 7 Plus), and hither is what we remember.

After you pair your Gear S3 (or Gear S2) with your iPhone, you need to allow the Gear S app permissions to admission the calendar, contacts, location, and photos. Samsung also asks a user to agree to the usual fare of terms and weather. Y'all as well need to log in to your Samsung account to download watch faces, apps, and to access S Wellness data.

Since the Gear S3 features a built-in loudspeaker and microphone, information technology can be used to make and receive calls. Information technology tin can act as a Bluetooth speakerphone when paired with a smartphone. However, you need to connect to a different entry of the Gear S3 (not-LE entry) from the Bluetooth settings menu of the iPhone.

Once yous're done setting up the watch, how does information technology all work? Here's what we discovered:

1. Connectedness stability: We don't know whether it'south an iOS-related issue or an issue in the Gear S app itself, but the smartwatch keeps on disconnecting from the iPhone frequently. You accept to open the app to reconnect the smartwatch. Sometimes it asunder fifty-fifty while installing and updating apps as well equally watch faces. At that place'southward a huge connectedness issue right at present, and information technology needs to be resolved.
2. Notifications: Smartphone notifications are mirrored to the Gear S3 well, but they aren't actionable, thanks to a limitation within iOS. This won't change until Apple releases an API to third-political party developers for actionable notifications.
3. Galaxy Apps store: So, how does one install apps and picket faces on the Gear S3 when it is paired with an iPhone? There are two ways. Either use the spider web-based Galaxy Apps shop within the Gear S app (it uses a web container), or apply the lookout man direct. We offset tried to install some apps and watch faces that were suggested on the watch itself, but the apps and scout faces didn't load at all. Some other major hurdle we faced is the language of the web-based Milky way Apps store. Samsung seems to prioritize local language, and the unabridged app store was being showcased in Hindi. There's no choice to change the language, and we can't fathom why Samsung would make such a motility.
4. Watch Faces: Information technology's just similar downloading any other app on the watch.
5. Gallery: The 'Transport Images' feature is quite piece of cake to apply and works really well. You tin select the photos that you need to transfer from the iPhone to your Gear device, and they'll be transferred swiftly.
6. Music Player: The feature is quite complicated. Ideally, you need to fire up your web browser and upload music tracks to the web using the IP address that'southward displayed on the lookout man. The smartwatch and the phone demand to be continued to the same Wi-Fi network. Quite the hurdle, and a organisation that's unlikely to change given the nature of iOS.
7. S Wellness: Since the lookout doesn't demand to be connected to the iPhone all the time for transferring fitness related data, information technology works effortlessly. Basically, it'southward simply like using a Fitbit or Misfit fitness tracker with an iPhone.
8. Find My Gear: Yous can find your watch using the Gear Due south app. This worked as expected. No issues here.

The in a higher place was our experience of using the Gear S3 with an iOS device. The biggest problem is connection stability, which means notifications don't always laissez passer through to the watch. The notifications aren't actionable, either, so yous can't respond to letters or emails. The next problem is the experience of installing an app or a sentinel face from the Galaxy Apps shop.

Overall, we recollect that a Gear smartwatch should be used with an Android smartphone (or meliorate, Samsung smartphones) for the best possible experience. Accessing notifications is one of the about important aspects of a smartwatch, and if you're not able to get the all-time feel in that regard, it's not really worth it. Samsung will hopefully set/meliorate other bug, but should y'all choose to buy a Gear smartwatch for use with your iPhone at this point in time, expect it to exist a bumpy ride.

Are you lot using either of Samsung's Gear smartwatches with an iPhone? If yes, how has your feel been? Let us know in the comments!