Show HN: Merge – Connect Google Wear OS to Apple iOS | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Merge – Connect Google Wear OS to Apple iOS

merge.watch

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TLDR: Wear OS app for Samsung Galaxy Watches and Google Pixel Watches to connect them with iPhones, after Samsung and Google ditched iOS support back in 2021.

Hi all!

I recently switched to an iPhone and became frustrated when my Galaxy Watch was rendered useless, due to Google's and Samsung's decision to cut off iPhones from Wear OS back in 2021. I then started a project to create an alternative integration.

I launched it 3 weeks ago as a Google Play app for Wear OS watches, most prominently for the Samsung Galaxy Watch and Google Pixel Watch. With this app, these watches can now connect to iPhones to control notifications and take phone calls.

The response has been fantastic so far, with nearly 1k downloads and a steady growth rate. Should the demand continue to rise, I intend to expand the integration with additional features.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback, and answer any questions you might have. Thanks for your support!

--

Merge is also on ProductHunt today: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/merge-connecting-wear-os-t...

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Excellent. I'm 100% Apple watch right now, but for a while the Samsung offerings were just so good. Rotating bezel, unlimited watch faces, intuitive UI. Being able to rock a wear OS watch on iOS is really nice. I didn't know Samsung pulled support because I was using the WearOS app.

True! It has a more classic round style which many people prefer, myself included; and yes, Samsung pulled support since the Galaxy Watch 4 and later.

Nit, but they didn't pull support. They just didn't include support when they switched from Tizen to Wear OS. I'd imagine Google was more influential in that decision than Samsung.

Is this just for notifications and calls? One of the worst parts of having a Galaxy watch and an iPhone is that I can't do basic things like sleep tracking because apparently those need app pairing.

For those wondering, I got the Galaxy watch specifically for the biometric sensor which is far more functional than the one on Apple Watch.

Functional? I mean it does temperature, heart rate, oxygen, and body composition**. The asterisks are because let's face it, it's not very accurate. A cheap $30 scale will guess your body fat, bone density, etc just as "accurately". A dexascan is what I'd suggested over impedance guessing. To call the biometric sensor far more functional than the Apple watch is a big stretch, especially when you see actual comparisons with real data.

I never understood those scales.

Let’s imagine they have a perfect formula which can correlate electrical impedance to fat %.

But the electrodes are on your feet, so the very best it can measure is the shortest path up your leg and down the other side. Less than half your body.

I'll do you one better.

The US navy devised a formula based on height age and your neck and waist circumference and was 2-4% accurate for body fat calculation (it's not good for tracking relative changes tho).

You can make generally fairly accurate assumptions about body fat percentage from a few key indices when it comes to general population.

The electrical impedance issue becomes more problematic when you have a higher muscle mass vs fat mass as the scale has a much harder time figuring that out (which is why some of the scales have an "athlete" mode on them).

Most of the good scales also have a handheld impedance sensor on them to track upper and lower body impedance for a more accurate measurement tho.

I think you're misinformed about modern BIA sensors vs. the cheap ones in scales. Here's a study for reference [1]. 97-98% as accurate as a dexa scan, but you can do it whenever you want, for free.

[1] https://ajcn.nutrition.org/article/S0002-9165(23)03666-3/ful...

At the moment, our app focuses on notifications and calls. However, syncing health data is high on our list for upcoming updates. You can stay tuned on our Twitter for the latest developments: https://twitter.com/MergeWatch

Can this also help getting data from a Samsung watch?

I don't like to be tracked. So when a device does not work without initializing it via an app, I install the app on a secondary phone and then delete it again. But to get my data from my smartwatch, I need the Samsung Health app. And that one refuses to install if the phone does not have a SIM card inserted.

Is there a way around this, so I can get my data without being tracked by Samsung?

This should have been a huge red flag that your health data (!) should not be given to Samsung in any way.

Future versions of the app will sync health data to Apple Health, so most probably could help you with that. You can follow us on Twitter to get updated once that happens: https://twitter.com/MergeWatch

Samsung Health stores your data locally + encrypted via knox.

Samsung is very transparent about what they save and what they don’t. If you want a takeout of your data saved by samsung online, you can check out privacy.samsung.com

Is there a project which tries to achieve the reverse: using Apple Watch with Android (for notifications in particular)?

I'm not currently familiar with any. Will let you know if I start one :)

How do you support the Pixel Watch 2 when it doesn’t officially exist yet?

I don't see that anywhere in the title, description, or linked page. Are you sure you read that right?

Google pixel watch 2 is listed under "supported products" on the linked page

Its compatibility status with the app is already shown for developers on the Google Play Console, although you're right I didn't personally test it on one just yet. Should work on it when it comes out, though.

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