Apple Watch is now compatible with Huawei smartphones, with limitations

While the European Union's Digital Markets Act forces Apple to allow deeper integration of third-party smartwatches with the Apple iPhone, there is no comparable regulation for the Apple Watch ($389 on Amazon). For this reason, the Apple Watch remains compatible exclusively with the Apple iPhone, so anyone who wants to use the smartwatch does not have the option of switching to another smartphone.

Huawei now wants to change that, as the company has released a new version of its own HarmonyOS Interconnect app in China, which makes it possible to connect an Apple Watch to a Huawei smartphone running HarmonyOS 7.0. However, several significant limitations still apply at present. First, the corresponding app must be installed not only on the Huawei smartphone, but also on the Apple Watch. This means that the smartwatch must first be set up on an Apple iPhone.

Second, although the Apple Watch then connects directly to the Huawei smartphone via Bluetooth, it can only display incoming notifications and calls, but cannot synchronize any other data. It is therefore not possible to transfer health and fitness data to the Huawei smartphone without going through an iPhone, or to control other smartwatch functions from the smartphone. For now, this is only a first step, but anyone who wants to switch from an iPhone to a Huawei Pura X View, Mate 90 or Mate XT 2 can at least continue using an Apple Watch with limited functionality this way.