[HN Gopher] Show HN: Merge - Connect Google Wear OS to Apple iOS
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Show HN: Merge - Connect Google Wear OS to Apple iOS
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...
Author : urip
Score : 80 points
Date : 2023-09-01 12:09 UTC (10 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.merge.watch)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.merge.watch)
| MrThoughtful wrote:
| 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?
| super256 wrote:
| 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
| urip wrote:
| 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
| ThePowerOfFuet wrote:
| This should have been a huge red flag that your health data (!)
| should not be given to Samsung in any way.
| skavi wrote:
| How do you support the Pixel Watch 2 when it doesn't officially
| exist yet?
| stronglikedan wrote:
| I don't see that anywhere in the title, description, or linked
| page. Are you sure you read that right?
| alanbernstein wrote:
| Google pixel watch 2 is listed under "supported products" on
| the linked page
| urip wrote:
| 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.
| post_break wrote:
| 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.
| urip wrote:
| 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.
| stronglikedan wrote:
| 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.
| oezi wrote:
| Is there a project which tries to achieve the reverse: using
| Apple Watch with Android (for notifications in particular)?
| urip wrote:
| I'm not currently familiar with any. Will let you know if I
| start one :)
| mdorazio wrote:
| 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.
| urip wrote:
| 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
| post_break wrote:
| 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.
| mdorazio wrote:
| 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...
| KMnO4 wrote:
| 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.
| virtue3 wrote:
| 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.
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(page generated 2023-09-01 23:02 UTC)