Connect Samsung Galaxy Gear to iPhone - Here's how
Samsung has launched the Galaxy Gear, the first full-fledged smartwatch. You can also connect these to the iPhone. We show you how it works and what you can expect from the combination.
Root and Custom ROM: How to prepare the Galaxy Gear for the iPhone
- The Galaxy Gear absolutely needs a device to pair, because it cannot set up an Internet connection by itself. Unfortunately, Samsung has limited the devices allowed for this to the latest generation of Galaxy androids. If you do not have a Galaxy S4, S5 or Note 3, you need a custom ROM on your gear to be able to pair another device at all.
- Before you have a custom ROM, you first need root access and custom recovery on your smartwatch. You must be aware that rooting and installing custom ROMs can damage your device and possibly void the warranty.
- In addition to the custom ROM, the developers from the XDA forum also provide a toolkit to create the prerequisites for the installation. With the tool for PCs found here, you can install the necessary drivers, root your device and set up custom recovery.
- After preparation with root and custom recovery, download the ZIP file in the XDA forum for the "null_ROM" and download it to the Gear's SD memory. Now you can install it from the recovery menu and have the required Samsung-free Android system on your smartwatch.
How to connect iPhone and Samsung smartwatch
- To connect to the iPhone, open the Bluetooth menu in the settings menu of the Galaxy Gear and make your smartwatch visible to other devices.
- Then you can also see the Galaxy Gear on your iPhone in the Bluetooth menu and connect with a click.
- Thanks to the Custom ROM and the Internet connection via iPhone, you can now surf the Internet freely on your Gear and also install apps from the Play Store.
- You will soon realize that the iPhone and Galaxy Gear are not necessarily made for one another: Interaction with the iPhone is so limited that the Galaxy Gear looks like a very expensive Bluetooth headset. You can practically only accept calls from the iPhone on the smartwatch and also make calls yourself. However, you will not see any notifications about incoming SMS or similar from the iPhone on your Galaxy Gear. These functions are reserved for the Gear Manager app on the Samsung androids.
It remains to be seen whether the new generation of Samsung smartwatches will change the compatibility with iPhones. But maybe we'll see an Apple smartwatch soon?