Does OnePlus Watch Connect to an iPhone?

After years of producing high-end and polished smartphones, OnePlus has finally committed to the wearable market with the launch of the OnePlus Watch. The device, in many ways, stands as competition for Apple’s Watch Series offerings with features like a 1.39 inch AMOLED, 14-day battery, Blood oxygen monitor, sleep tracker, HRV detector, GPS, 5ATM, and IP68 water resistance, support for 110 workout types, and more.

At $159, the OnePlus Watch broadcasts itself as a functional yet affordable wearable for Android smartphone owners but can you benefit from it if you use an iPhone instead? That’s what we’ll try to explain in this post.

Does OnePlus Watch support iOS?

The short and straight answer to this is a clear NO. The OnePlus Watch isn’t yet compatible with iOS devices, meaning there’s no way to set up the wearable from your iPhone or iPad. Essentially, you cannot relay your iPhone notifications onto the watch or use the watch to make calls without your phone.

Is there a OnePlus Health app for iPhones?

The OnePlus Health app is what you install on your smartphone to set up your OnePlus Watch, sync all your fitness data and notifications between your phone and watch, change watch faces, set reminders, track activity and sleep details, and more. The OnePlus Health app supports both the newly-released OnePlus Watch and the OnePlus Band that released earlier this year.

Currently, you can only install the OnePlus Health app on Android devices and not on iOS. When the OnePlus Band was released a few months ago, the company confirmed that iOS support and the OnePlus Health app will be made available at a later date but we’re yet to hear a timeframe for the release.

When that does happen, we can expect the OnePlus Health iOS app to support both the OnePlus Band and the OnePlus Watch.

Does it make sense to buy OnePlus Watch if you own an iPhone?

On the face of it, NO! Although the OnePlus Watch uses Bluetooth for connectivity, you cannot pair it with your iPhone in any way. At the moment, iPhone users will need to use an Android device to even set up their OnePlus Watch or sync fitness data. If that wasn’t enough to pull you away from it, the lack of iOS notifications on the Watch might certainly be a reason to not buy the OnePlus Watch right away.

OnePlus is already behind on its promise of bringing iOS support to the older OnePlus Band having promised connectivity with iPhones sometime after its launch. There’s also no concrete information about the release of the OnePlus Health iOS app as well.

To explain it to you in a simple way – if you use an iPhone, you cannot set up the OnePlus Watch, can’t sync fitness data between your phone and watch, can’t get notifications, can’t make calls, and can’t update the Watch itself when an update is available.

All this might be enough a reason for us to strongly suggest against getting the OnePlus Watch if you own an iPhone.

Why should you hold off on purchasing OnePlus Watch?

Even if you’re willing to surpass the many shortcomings of using the OnePlus Watch with your iPhone, there are other things that may want to consider before buying this smartwatch.

Wear OS missing: Instead of Wear OS, OnePlus has opted for a custom-made OnePlus Watch OS meaning that might behave a lot like Google’s Wear OS but lack a few features.
Payment modes via watch are unavailable: OnePlus Watch has an inbuilt NFC chip, but there’s yet to be a payment solution that takes advantage of this.
Absence of a voice assistant: If you’re a fan of using digital assistants on your phone, you’ll be disappointed to know that there’s no Google Assistant or Alexa support on the OnePlus Watch. This means you cannot use your voice to control the watch and other devices, set reminders, start the timer, and more.
Third-party app support is missing: Since it runs on a custom-made OnePlus Watch OS, there are no third-party apps that can be installed, meaning you cannot install external apps or even watch faces on the OnePlus Watch to customize it your way.
Doesn’t work with iPhones since launch (even till today): As explained above, you cannot set up or use the OnePlus Watch with an iPhone. Using the watch from scratch requires an Android device, at least for now.
Lacks music control: Although there’s a built-in audio player that can play music that’s saved on the internal 2GB of memory, the music control functionality is limited to the native player. There’s no support for Spotify or other streaming apps.
No Always-On Display: Although it packs an AMOLED screen for showing rick black elements, the watch doesn’t have an Always-On display that would make it easier to take a glance at the time or check for notifications.
One size may not fit all: OnePlus’ offering comes in a single 46mm watch case which might be a good look for decently-sized wrists but may be too large for smaller hands. If you’re looking for a watch that occupies a smaller footprint, you should definitely stay away from the OnePlus Watch.