In case you were wondering, no, the Galaxy Watch 4 series does not support Apple’s iOS. Samsung’s website did not mention iOS at all, and the fact it doesn’t support it has been confirmed by CNET.
The Galaxy Watch 4 does not support iOS, and that was to be expected
That report claims that Samsung basically has no plans to add iOS compatibility to its new smartwatches. At least it doesn’t plan to do that anytime soon. That is a surprise, as the vast majority of previous watches worked with iOS.
The software could be the reason why. Unlike many other Samsung smartwatches, which shipped with Tizen OS, this smartwatch comes with a brand new Wear OS. It is officially called “Wear OS Powered by Samsung”.
Samsung helped Google develop this operating system, and it’s obvious that iOS was not thrown into the equation. This does not exclude the possibility iOS support will be added at some point, though.
Android 5.0 and lower is also not supported
iOS is not the only example of an excluded OS, though. The Galaxy Watch 4 also doesn’t support some older Android versions. Smartphones running Android 5.0 and lower don’t support these watches.
Android 5.0 is quite old, though, so that’s not a surprise. The vast majority of people have moved on a long time ago. Every other Android iteration, above Android 5.0, should be compatible with the watches.
Do note that your phone will not only have to run Android 6.0, but also have at least 1.5GB of RAM, which shouldn’t be a problem nowadays. Samsung also noted that the “compatible smartphones and available features may vary by region, carrier and device.”
As many of you know by now, Samsung’s new smartwatches dropped yesterday. The Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic got announced during the company’s ‘Unpacked’ event. They got announced alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 3, Z Flip 3, and Buds 2. We have plenty of content on all of those devices already.