Rumors have long suggested that Samsung may offer iOS compatibility for its Galaxy Gear wearables and other devices at some point. While prospective release dates have come and gone, new evidence has surfaced indicating iOS compatibility for Samsung devices is on the way. With compatibility, users will be able to control Samsung Gear products with an iPhone.
Vietnamese blog Tinhte recently leaked applications software for Samsung’s Gear Manager for iOS. The smoking gun is that the application is a .ipa file, which indicates it's an iOS application. While manually installing unofficial software on iOS devices is not recommended , especially if the device is not jailbroken, the software is available for any tech savvy individual who dares to use the app.
Reports first suggested that Samsung was working on a Gear Manager application for iOS in late January , while other rumors suggested the application would release in late March . However, the iOS Gear Manager remains unofficial.
At this time, neither Samsung nor Apple have confirmed or denied plans for Samsung and iOS compatibility through Samsung’s Gear wearables. However, many pundits believe that Samsung’s wearables would need to have iOS compatibility to have mass-market appeal.
What sets Gear wearables apart is that they use Samsung’s Tizen operating system, while most smartwatches on the market (with the exception of the Apple Watch) run Android Wear. Samsung announced Gear compatibility with Android devices in September 2015, but remained mum about iOS compatibility.
Google’s Android Wear software for smartwatches and other wearables is compatible with iOS. However, Apple and Samsung remain among the top players in the wearable market. In 2015, Apple was the second most popular wearable maker after FitBit, according to the IDC . Samsung was the fifth most popular.
