A constant since the launch of the Apple Watch in 2015 has been the requirement that everyone be paired with just one iPhone. (These days, each iPhone can pair with multiple Watches simultaneously, but each Watch must pair with only one iPhone at a time.) Potential Apple Watch buyers may own a house full of Macs and iPads, but if they’re using an Android handset rather than an iPhone, they’ve been out of luck…until now.
Thursday, the prolific leaker (who also goes by Anonymous-AS on the MacRumors Forums) posted the claim that the Apple Watch “can also sync to more than one Apple device, finally”, and added the bombshell that this applies to iPads and Macs as well as iPhones.
There are, however, a few caveats to this. The first is that the timing is unconfirmed: the funder says it “hopes it actually happens this year”, but mentions next year as another possibility. They also admit they “don’t know how this will be implemented.” Will there be new Watch apps for iPadOS and macOS? Will a Mac or iPad be able to set up an Apple Watch, or only sync afterwards, as a secondary companion on top of the iPhone? If it’s the latter, Android users will still be out of the loop, which might suit Apple’s goals, given the value of access control devices like the Apple Watch and AirPods for keep customers inside the walled iPhone garden.
Besides, we should probably add that the idea as a whole should be considered unconfirmed because the funder’s track record remains distinctly thin. @analyst941 is a darling of the press right now, with high-profile predictions popping up across the tech media in recent months, but so far they’ve only got one proven correct prediction to point to, after accurately describing a dynamic island privacy feature shortly before the announcement of the iPhone 14 Pro.
The timing caveat aside, @analyst941 faces a big toll at WWDC on June 5th. Is a leaky promising career about to flourish, or tank? Prosstradamus has proven that you can go wrong and keep running, but it’s hard to come back after doing a lot of very specific things wrong at once. Buckle up, friends: it’s almost the critical moment.
For all the latest news and rumors related to Apple Watch software updates this year, check out our regularly updated watchOS 10 superguide.
