Apple Watch with Android

https://abishekmuthian.com/apple-watch-with-android/

by Abishek_Muthian • 2 years ago

247 140 2 years ago

abishekmuthian.com

Abishek_Muthian13• 2 years ago

Project repo is here - https://github.com/abishekmuthian/apple-watch-with-android .

freedomben• 2 years ago

Really cool project, and thank you for writing it up so well!

My first question is "why" and the post answers that well (my paraphrasing): because Apple Watch is more accurate than anything else on the market, and health can be a matter of life and death.

OP is definitely an open source guy though so even if you'll never buy another Apple product (like myself) it's still a fascinating look at the current state of things!

defenestrated• 2 years ago

This is beautiful!

I've been using an Apple Watch Ultra with my Pixel using some of the same hacks.

0. I use messaging apps like WhatsApp, and Messenger which are multi device. So I log into them on the home iPhone. (WA finally added 'login as companion device' on iOS only a year ago). 1. Pushover to get notifications from any other apps that don't support multi device. (Signal ugh). I used Buzzkill to do the pushing from the android devices. Very reliable once set up. 2. I use Google Voice for my calls and SMS so that was easy to get on iPhone. (No calls though. The watch doesn't support sip/voip calls except Apple's own FaceTime ugh) 3. I spent a year doing cellular on Watch. I joined various family members' premium plans of the big 3 US networks (as well asany MVNOs like Visible) to use cellular on the watch. I paid ~$10/mo via this route. All good. But I stopped early this year because I found the cellular reliability to be just... piss poor garbage. (This is extensive use across US as well as international travel in Europe and Asia) It really wasn't worth cellular I realized.

4. I use Apple laptops, so the "watch to unlock" feature is useful multiple times a day :)

Abishek_Muthian13• 2 years ago

Thank you for sharing your techniques, much appreciated. I looked out for Buzzkill type apps and couldn't find any the FOSS space; instead I wrote a script in Termux.

Might try Buzzkill as it might be easier for those who aren't familiar with the terminal but I'm bit weary about the privacy implications especially since famous apps get acquired by shady actors all the time.

I've added blacklist in my script to prevent notifications from sensitive apps being sent over Pushover.

edit: Buzzkill depends upon Tasker for sending messages to pushover? That's a buzzkill(sorry) as Tasker heavily relies on GMS & not an option for de-googled phones.

293984j29384• 2 years ago

I've been using cellular on an Apple Watch 8 for years in the NYC metro area and it works flawlessly.

lstamour• 2 years ago

Signal can be a bit weaker on the watch up here in Canada but is otherwise adequate. The problem with Apple Watch cellular when not using an iPhone to forward data is (1) battery life on LTE is terrible compared to data over Bluetooth, using wifi, or turning on airplane mode and (2) call forwarding from iPhone to Watch, on some Canadian carriers, is charged per minute due to a carrier bug (Telus) which you can call to get refunded but is still frustrating. Normally calls go to your iPhone and the voice is forwarded to the watch over Bluetooth, I believe. Basically the Apple Watch more often acts like an AirPod than a cell phone.

I end up carrying my iPhome with my Android phone to avoid this. I mount the iPhone to my bike/scooter when available using Quad Lock waterproof cases.

lucb1e2• 2 years ago

Fixed newlines:

0. I use messaging apps like WhatsApp, and Messenger which are multi device. So I log into them on the home iPhone. (WA finally added 'login as companion device' on iOS only a year ago).
1. Pushover to get notifications from any other apps that don't support multi device. (Signal ugh). I used Buzzkill to do the pushing from the android devices. Very reliable once set up.
2. I use Google Voice for my calls and SMS so that was easy to get on iPhone. (No calls though. The watch doesn't support sip/voip calls except Apple's own FaceTime ugh)
3. I spent a year doing cellular on Watch. I joined various family members' premium plans of the big 3 US networks (as well asany MVNOs like Visible) to use cellular on the watch. I paid ~$10/mo via this route. All good. But I stopped early this year because I found the cellular reliability to be just... piss poor garbage. (This is extensive use across US as well as international travel in Europe and Asia) It really wasn't worth cellular I realized.

gf0003• 2 years ago

Won't it vibrate both on your arm and in your pocket, then? I can't even stand when someone decides to send 10 one-line message, let alone when it happens where both my watch and phone vibrates..

(Seriously, why is vibration cooldown not a thing? I believe android will have something like this, but this should have been available for a decade! Like if I had 2 notification from someone 0.3 seconds ago, then I will surely not need a third one now)

twism• 2 years ago

wait ... what's wrong with a galaxy watch 5 pro?

dvh• 2 years ago

Wait... What's wrong with dying peacefully in sleep?

prmoustache3• 2 years ago

This, best way to die imho.

davidmurdoch2• 2 years ago

If the author can be believed: accuracy.

MrDresden• 2 years ago

I'm not sure about the Galaxy 5 pro, but I'm fairly certain that I've seen it reported that some functionality of the Samsung watches is only available to when paired with Samsung phones. This may be wrong though.

stalfosknight• 2 years ago

WTF is "aspiration porn"? What is it with people being so salty about Apple and going out of their way to paint them in as malicious a light as possible?

gessha2• 2 years ago

My guess on what the author means by aspiration porn is Apple sell you a product by selling you aspirations: you can be more healthy if you have an Apple Watch, you can be more connected if you have an iPhone, you can be a great developer if you sell on the AppStore, etc, etc.

More generally, I think people's complaints about Apple are due to a combination of brand engineering and market dominance. Apple make amazing hardware, they market their products as premium and they price it accordingly. If they made inferior products, say Surface Books, nobody would care about it. If they didn't sell at high price, they wouldn't make big money which will limit their ability to innovate (or polish if you will).

prmoustache3• 2 years ago

But doesn't buying a refurbished product of them show you are ok with falling for that?

tonygiorgio• 2 years ago

This is a cool exploration. The post mentioned the health aspects, yet mostly goes over basic app integrations.

I’m curious about how well the health features translate over to the android phone. Is it mostly just to track health metrics locally on the Apple Watch, or is there any sort of “export/sync to android phone” for health?

I’ve been really curious about other open source (or at least reversed engineered) devices like the Colmi, and while I’m still an Apple consumer, prefer to track and keep things locally and private to myself with my own apps and scripts.

codethief2• 2 years ago

I came here to ask the same question. I hope OP responds!

Abishek_Muthian13• 2 years ago

I responded to parent, I don't have anything interesting to share right now but auto-export & analysis is on pipeline.

manmal2• 2 years ago

I‘d write a small watch app that syncs with Health locally and then exports the data to wherever I want it.

Abishek_Muthian13• 2 years ago

Very valid criticism.

So far the health data is stored within watch and the iPhone. I'm currently fine with it, but planning to export the data and analyze it in future.

There are various existing tools to export and analyze Apple-Health data already[1].

[1] https://github.com/topics/apple-health

dcdevito• 2 years ago

This is a great write up on how to accomplish this, I hope someday Apple just allows the Apple Watch to work standalone.

Having said that, the Apple Watch is the primary reason I switched to the iPhone (and Apple ecosystem with it). I have been using the watch with cellular since April 2019 and I only take my phone with me on the rarest of occasions (usually for events that I want to snap pics or video or if I’m taking a day trip or on holiday). I’ve even taken just the watch on small holidays/trips by keeping my iPhone fully charged but on Wi-Fi to get all notifications.

Once I got used to the workflow I never looked back. I noticed I was more focused at work, at social events, dinners either the wife and family or friends while being more social and attentive, and noticed a huge overall improvement in mood and well being. Part of this is due to more focus on health and fitness and the Apple Watch certainly helped me stay motivated.

Since 2019 I’ve lost 25lbs, gained some muscle mass, I now compete in friendly running races and I’ve lowered my blood pressure. The Apple Watch truly is the most important gadget I’ve ever purchased and owned.

keleftheriou• 2 years ago

I couldn’t agree more, and this is the reason why I built some apps for the Apple Watch that I was missing: first a keyboard app (before it came built-in with watchOS), a Notes app (there’s still no official app), and most recently a ChatGPT Voice Mode app -- I now feel like I’m carrying a productivity powerhouse on my wrist!

mrcwinn2• 2 years ago

If you bought an Apple Watch and keep an iPhone connected to the internet, I'm not sure you've completely fulfilled your anti-Apple agenda. XD Still neat though.

You might also check in on Garmin watches. They have many of the same heart rate monitoring (though no automated emergency SOS) and work well with Android.

(Sorry to hear about your friend's passing.)

becurious• 2 years ago

Garmin has incident detection and will send a message within fifteen seconds unless you cancel.

mrcwinn2• 2 years ago

Oh good to know! Thank you.

pedalpete4• 2 years ago

I thought Apple Watch was compatible with Android, just not as smooth to use. This is eye opening.

At the same time, though I agree Apple Watch has the best sleep tracking (and I work in the sleep space), the difference in sleep tracking compared to others probably isn't big enough to justify jumping through all these hoops, unless, like the author, you enjoy doing this sort of thing.

The Whoop sleep tracking is quite good, but a rather expensive (I think) subscription just to get data about a health function you have very little direct influence over.

The Xaoimi Bands are inexpensive, and from what I understand, also have good sleep tracking.

I also just came across this https://cardiomood.com/, which seems to be like a non-subscription, but rather expensive Whoop.

rerx• 2 years ago

Do you have an opinion on the sleep tracking in Garmin Fenix watches?

hangonhn• 2 years ago

I have both an Apple Watch 8 and the Garmin Fenix and I use the Fenix for sleep tracking. I find the Apple Watch to be too general with the stats. The Fenix gives a lot more detail. You can debate if the extra detail is useful or not. I also like the heart rate variability tracking with the Fenix (it seems to mirror how tire I feel pretty well). Lastly, the Fenix can hold a charge for several days. I can use it to sleep track and run and repeat and it charges quickly. If I sleep track with my Apple Watch, it may not have enough battery for the rest of the day. I run with both -- the Fenix for running specific tracking and the Apple for calling friends, listening to Audible, or podcasts.

kdmtctl2• 2 years ago

Data aside, neither are ideal. I can’t sleep with the Apple Watch because it needs to be charged while I sleep to get through the day, and the Fenix is too heavy for my wrist at night. I use an old Mi Band, which tracks approximate data that suits me.

lawgimenez• 2 years ago

I’m still using old Fitbit Inspire, which is not too big for sleep tracking. And it’s very accurate, for me.

pedalpete4• 2 years ago

I recently got a Fenix 7, but not for sleep tracking purposes. I find it ok. I definitely think it isn't great at measuring wakefulness at night, but I also have a very low HR and high HRV (while awake), which so this causes the margin for error in the device to be very low.

As I usually say, all of the devices are good enough. You're getting historical data about what your body did. You can't go back and change it anyway. I don't see real value in knowing my historical sleep data.

m463• 2 years ago

I had the fenix 7 and I liked the sleep tracking.

Because the garmin can function without requiring and acount/online nonsense, it does the sleep analysis and recommendations on the watch.

draven2• 2 years ago

Not OP but I have a Fenix 7x. What happens very infrequently is that I would wake up during the night, and then be absolutely still (I'm trying to go back to sleep) except for checking my watch every 15-20mn. This does not get detected as "awake" the following morning.

I don't really care because I got this watch so I can upload a track and follow it while recording various metrics during 5+ days, and for this it works perfectly.

oidar• 2 years ago

How does apple watch compare with the ooma ring for sleep tracking?

pedalpete4• 2 years ago

I think you mean Oura ring.

I used an Oura for a while, and it is quite good.

The thing I say about all of them is...what's the value in you having better tracking?

Let's say it's off by 4% and that you got 4% less deep sleep last night than your tracker says? What are you going to do about it? You can't change the data from the past anyway. They're all "good enough" I'd say.

jerlam• 2 years ago

The Oura ring does a lot more analytics. There's a "sleep score", a "readiness score", various algorithms to suggest an "optimal sleep time", etc.

The Apple Watch just records stuff and throws it in the Health app. That's it. They added a "vitals" app that mostly alerts you when the numbers it records are drastically different than the norm, but it's not really analyzing or suggesting anything.

I get the feeling that Apple thought there would be a whole ecosystem of apps that would analyze your sleep data, so they didn't need to build any of it into the watch or the health app itself.

samtheprogram2• 2 years ago

This guy actively went the hard path. He didn’t need to do the for Kids pairing. It’s actually a case study in getting too in the weeds of a problem that’s tangential to what you’re trying to solve: good health reporting.

Some of the article you’d probably still want to do with Android, however (e.g. calendar syncing).

That said, I got an Apple Watch to attempt to replace my cell phone when leaving the house, but Apple seems to intentionally or nonintentionally wants to sabotage this use case.

karlgkk• 2 years ago

How is the use case being sabotaged? They actively advertise that

ngai_aku• 2 years ago

Has it been a bad experience? I feel bad about how much time I spend staring at my phone, and I think the watch would be the ideal form factor for me, but I haven’t pulled the trigger because it feels silly spending more money on tech to reduce my dependency on tech

Abishek_Muthian13• 2 years ago

I had to try Apple Watch for kids because my initial goal was not to buy iPhone to get the Apple Watch working.

FrequentLurker• 2 years ago

The Xiaomi Bands are quite poor according this tester[1]. Huawei Bands are slightly better but I guess you can't complain much for the price.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_aS0Q188tY

pedalpete4• 2 years ago

The MiBand7 is fairly far on the right, based on the price. But you're right, I thought more of the Mi products where higher.

cchi_co• 2 years ago

It seems like the "best" solution depends on how much one values ecosystem freedom, data accuracy or simplicity of use

isodev• 2 years ago

Indeed, Apple gadgets work well if your body and lifestyle are close to what Apple tests for. Apple Watch is good “in general”, but for example it would regularly show me to be below sea level, not capture my heart rate (like measure it wildly off by 20-30 units) etc. AirPods as hearing aids — what if I'm not using an iPhone? So yes, the post is quite accurate and there really is no choice at the end, the wall of the garden is impossibly high.

ctm92• 2 years ago

From what I've heard, Whoop (https://whoop.com) has the best sleep tracking, but it is subscription based and the monthly price is ridiculous for a device that has not even a screen

matco11• 2 years ago

For years, I was an Apple Watch user: I assumed that all medium/top end trackers were the same, and that Apple Watch was pretty much the benchmark.

…but now that is have had the opportunity to use extensively Garmin watches, my experience is that they offer far superior accuracy, precision and technical details for activity tracking and sleeping than Apple Watch.

My picks would be in the following order:

1) Garmin high-end watches, they are truly a work of love

2) Aura ring, because of great convenience and reliability

3) Apple Watch, because they are great all-rounders

4) Coros, Suunto, Whoops, because they are highly reliable, but lack some of the smart functions

5) Withings, Fitbit, etc…, they are a solid option, but they generally lack distinctive features/capabilities

I would stay away from any brands offering super cheap products, due to privacy concerns and lower reliability and lack of advanced features.

blairbeckwith2• 2 years ago

I would love to hear more about your opinions on this as someone who has been experimenting with as a semi-serious runner after years of being Apple Watch exclusive.

What I see is benefits around battery life, form factor (buttons are awesome), and good native support for "compound metrics" like Endurance Score, Hill Score, Training Status, etc.

But when it comes to actual stats and metrics, Apple Watch feels superior in most ways. Garmin sleep tracking anecdotally feels much less accurate. It baffles me that it only shows pace to the nearest 5 seconds during a workout. It confuses me that it only shows a Vo2max estimate to zero decimal places.

Then, Apple Watch is at least 10x more customizable via third party apps. Want a Whoop-like experience with strain score, recovery score, etc.? Bevel and Athlytic are there. Want a much more in-depth and customizable workout experience? WorkOutdoors puts Garmin to shame here.

What am I missing that makes Garmin so pervasive, while Apple Watch is derided as "not a serious sports watch"?

0xFF0123• 2 years ago

*Oura ring I assume, for anyone googling

kridsdale3• 2 years ago

I was one of the implementers of the Apple Watch (OS 1.0) CalDAV support. We always wanted people to be able to "bring your own server".

You're welcome.

divbzero• 2 years ago

Thank you.

CalDAV and CardDAV are wonderful cross-platform protocols that I use every day (including on Apple Watch) and I hope they continue to be supported in the future.

mercutio2• 2 years ago

In practice it's unlikely you're using CalDAV or CardDAV on Apple Watch, those data classes are synced from your paired phone unless you've set your watch up as a stand-alone device, which is rare.

One day, hopefully!

Abishek_Muthian13• 2 years ago

Thank you.

I'm the author of this post, I assumed Apple still has support for these protocols because of legacy business systems.

I hope that the support for interoperable protocols continue to remain in future versions of Apple Operating Systems.

darkwater• 2 years ago

Is there a way, without jailbreaking, to use that spare iPhone at home, powered on and connected to the internet, to run/host some server software?

amelius• 2 years ago

Ask this guy:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42455642

Apparently, the people at Apple are very open to using your own server software with Apple hardware.

lucb1e2• 2 years ago

You think they're an employee? I read it as a tinkerer like you and me. Their profile doesn't say unfortunately

talldayo• 2 years ago

The simple answer is no, not really. I wouldn't even trust it for baseline FTP provisioning, much less anything like Plex that might need working GPU drivers. The emulated shell is really not enough to do anything remote on an iOS device, in my experience.

manmal2• 2 years ago

There‘s UTM SE on the App Store, which might be ok to use for very minimal distros (no JIT): https://apps.apple.com/at/app/utm-se-retro-pc-emulator/id156...

If you had a second spare iPhone, you could run it semi tethered with JIT and just any ARM/x86 OS: https://docs.getutm.app/installation/ios/

Though a JB would be more convenient. And things start to get interesting with M1 and its virtualization support.

reissbaker2• 2 years ago

FWIW, the Pixel Watch 3 45mm is basically equivalent to the Apple Watch in accuracy according to testing by the same YouTuber mentioned in the blog post [1]. And it works out of the box with Android. Personally I also like the form factor better, since it's round rather than square, and unlike the Apple Watch, it still has a working SpO2 sensor...

1: https://youtu.be/Jr4p66vSmLY

buu700• 2 years ago

Agreed, I'm really not a fan of the square look, and the Pixel Watch looks great. I'd probably get one if Google sold a claspable mesh band like the one I use with my Galaxy Watch[1], or had better support for third-party bands. I don't get the obsession with magnetic bands; the one time I reluctantly gave one a chance, the watch fell and broke and I returned it for a replacement, then the replacement fell and broke and I had to get a refund.

1: https://web.archive.org/web/20210622043132/https://www.welly...

j1elo• 2 years ago

I just got a Pixel Watch 3 and find it impossible to understand how they have such an advanced monitoring on so many health aspects, including sleep cycles, but it doesn't support Smart Alarms (aka. Smart Wake or similar names), i.e. an alarm that is able to wake you up when you are in the lightest phase of sleep.

(just like what Fitbit bands themselves had, or what apps such as "Sleep as Android smart alarm" try to guesstimate)

pedrocr• 2 years ago

That's weird. The fitbit bands that Google still sells do have that. They seem to be having a really hard time making the fitbit acquisition work in many ways so I guess that's not surprising.

fishywang• 2 years ago

I use Sleep as Android on my Pixel Watch 3 for smart alarm. I also found the lack of native smart alarm feature on pixel watches weird.

chimeracoder• 2 years ago

I just got a Pixel Watch 3 and find it impossible to understand how they have such an advanced monitoring on so many health aspects, including sleep cycles

The Fitbit integration with the Pixel watches is not great. The Fitbit support is even worse - it actually makes Google's support look decent by comparison, which is really saying something.

sschueller• 2 years ago

I prefer using "Sleep as Android" as nothing changes when I change to a different smart watch or android phone.

GlassOwAter• 2 years ago

What’s that about the SpO2?

reissbaker2• 2 years ago

Apple illegally cloned a smaller company's patented SpO2 sensor [1], which resulted in a US ban on Apple using the cloned SpO2 sensors. As of 2024 new Apple Watches in the US can't detect blood oxygen levels due to the ban.

Google didn't clone anything, and instead acquired a smaller company (Fitbit) that had the tech they wanted to put in their watches. So new Pixel Watches still have a working SpO2 sensor.

1: https://www.npr.org/2024/01/18/1225432506/apple-watch-blood-...

aoanevdus• 2 years ago

The killer app that Pixel is missing is the WorkOutDoors app for Apple Watch (gps tracking app with your path shown on offline cached vector maps). 80% of the time I bother wearing the watch is to use that app. And I will buy a Pixel watch for my Android-using partner if something equally good comes out for Pixel.

Abishek_Muthian13• 2 years ago

I should have made a better job of explaining that I have a de-googled android phone & even though I don't like Apple's business practices I would rather trust my data with Apple than Google.

Besides I bought the refurbished Apple Watch for third the price of Pixel Watch 3.

But I'm glad that Android users now have a good smart watch & there's competition in the space.

fsflover3• 2 years ago

If you dislike both Apple and Google, then I wonder, with your skills, why you didn't consider using and improving PineTime with a GNU/Linux phone (Pinephone or Librem 5).

lxgr2• 2 years ago

Interesting background: Apple was, for a while, planning on officially supporting Android as a "host phone OS", but axed the project out of ecosystem concerns: https://9to5mac.com/2024/03/22/apple-watch-compatible-androi...

Personally, this is actually how they got me – I used to use Android phones for many years, but found the Apple Watch so much more appealing than anything available from Google at the time that I made the switch.

CrazyStat• 2 years ago

Personally, this is actually how they got me – I used to use Android phones for many years, but found the Apple Watch so much more appealing than anything available from Google at the time that I made the switch.

Same. Maybe Android watches are better now—it’s been a few years since I looked at them—but at the time they were universally thicker and with worse battery life than the apple watch, which is already thicker than I like.

davidmurdoch2• 2 years ago

Their lock-in behavior is what has prevented me from buying anything from Apple.

jeroenhd• 2 years ago

If Apple was stupid enough to actually document this decision and the ecosystem concerns in written record, I wonder if they'll get dinged by the DMA for gatekeeping (again) over this.

lxgr2• 2 years ago

I'm not sure the Apple Watch has enough users, or is considered critical enough, to be covered by the DMA (iMessage, macOS, and iPad OS aren't either, for example).

In any case, this was all long before the DMA went into effect, so it would have to be a regular old antitrust case.

bhelkey• 2 years ago

From the US Department of Justice's lawsuit against Apple:

Apple recognizes that driving users to purchase an Apple Watch, rather than a third-party cross-platform smartwatch, helps drive iPhone sales and reinforce the moat around its smartphone monopoly. For example, in a 2019 email the Vice President of Product Marketing for Apple Watch acknowledged that Apple Watch "may help prevent iPhone customers from switching."...Apple also recognizes that making Apple Watch compatible with Android would “remove[an] iPhone differentiator.”[1]

The lawsuit also alleges that Apple degrades APIs to hurt Third Party watch manufactures.

[1] https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24492020/doj-apple-an...

mkoryak2• 2 years ago

Tell me how to get a streaming music app on that watch without an iPhone and I'll buy you a beer

Abishek_Muthian13• 2 years ago

All major music streaming apps have an Apple Watch version of their app.

mkoryak2• 2 years ago

An iPhone is required to use them. The watch app is like a remote for the phone app. Some will only play if the watch and the phone are near, others don't have that limitation, but all of them require that you have an iphone

flipflopclop• 2 years ago

You can actually get real compatibility with android directly - https://troopers.de/troopers24/talks/h7mlua/

p0w3n3d• 2 years ago

thanks. quite interesting, must watch

Abishek_Muthian13• 2 years ago

Excellent, Once they get the bluetooth working then there would be no need for the Jailbroken iPhone, making Watch Witch a great choice for using Apple Watch with Android.

thanksgiving3• 2 years ago

I keep my iPhone at home, powered and connected to the Internet but don't use it as a daily driver.

I recently learned that the Google pixel 8 and 9 will soon get a feature that will allow these phones to remain plugged in and turned on without charging and discharging the battery (under certain circumstances).

I really wish this was widely available for all cell phones and tablets. I know new iPhones have a limit charging to 80% option (my iPhone se 2020 does not) but I think the next step is to add this? My main motivation is to do whatever we can to avoid spicy pillow problem in batteries.

Do you have any thoughts on this topic?

topato• 2 years ago

Confused by "spicy pillow problem", but I assume you're referring the classic Li-ion BULGE. Im not sure there is any way to protect it in a 24/7 uptime situation outside of a fully removable battery.... Which now has me wondering if the new pixels can run fully disconnected from their battery, like early LG android models.

thanksgiving3• 2 years ago

That's what I understood. I don't own a pixel so I am not sure.

Here is a reddit thread on this topic

https://old.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/1hcfv54/your_p...

dizhn2• 2 years ago

They can have circuitry that bypasses the battery.

fragmede• 2 years ago

chargie is one solution for platforms where support is available

https://chargie.org/

thanksgiving3• 2 years ago

I don't think charge can do what I'm asking which is to bypass the battery and run the phone directly off the wall. I am ok if the phone reboots when the power is disrupted. On a computer, we have this setting called last known state, right? Like if the phone was on when the power was disrupted, turn it on again without using the battery when power is restored.

Basically, I want the phone to ignore that there is a battery until the battery charge drops to about 20 percent and then charge to to about 60 or 80 percent but don't use the battery at all. Only use the battery as a power source if the user switches off this dedicated mode or if the user powers on the device without external power present. Something like that.

Abishek_Muthian13• 2 years ago

I keep it switched ON, but not always powered because of the fear of spicy pillow; I used an iPad as seconday monitor and ended up with a spicy pillow & destroyed the device with my self-repair attempt.

When I faced a similar dilemma before the smartphones implemented 80% cut off, I was planning a automated smart power strip which cuts down power to charger when the battery reaches 80%; not sure if iOS battery api is accessible though.

Shout to AccA, which helped me limit the battery to 80% on Android before it was implemented within the OS.

[1] https://github.com/MatteCarra/AccA

fencepost• 2 years ago

Samsung at some point a few years ago added the ability to cap charging below the maximum (was 85% until an update this year dropped it to 80%). Settings, Battery, Battery Protection. I believe this roughly corresponded to their extension of providing OS or security updates for 5 years.

iPhones have this capability as demonstrated by their "Optimized battery charging" that caps at 80% overnight "then finishes charging before you normally pick up your phone" or some crap like that, BUT they only let you set an actual cap on the charge level on the 16 (and 15?) even though older models should have the same capability. Yes, this picture you can't see is me flipping Apple the bird while holding my 14 Pro that's down to 87% of original capacity because I can't cap the charge.

gruez• 2 years ago

I couldn't dismiss the thought that may be if they had worn a smart watch they could have had better chances of reaching out for help and perhaps even got alerted of some discrepancies in their vitals.

Does this actually work? Apple watch only can detect sudden falls and call 911, but AFAIK it can't auto call 911 if you get a heartattack or whatever.

I got the cellular working in the Apple Watch by using the same SIM from my Android phone in the iPhone, pairing with the Apple Watch and setting up the mobile data.
Receiving and making calls via Apple Watch (when Wifi/BT is disabled) works well, but since the SIM is in the Android phone, the SMS functionality doesn't work; with it SOS messages to emergency contacts(even if they're on iMessage ʅ₍ッ₎ʃ ); but SOS calls work.

There's no way this can work unless "calls" actually mean facetime audio rather than PSTN (ie. "regular") phone calls. If the sim isn't in the watch, then there's no way it can receive calls.

fastball• 2 years ago

Apple Watch now has irregular rhythm notifications[1] which can help alert you to signs that you will soon have a heart attack.

[1] https://support.apple.com/en-us/120276

Abishek_Muthian13• 2 years ago

Apple Watch cellular uses eSIM, so once I pair with iPhone with physical SIM the eSIM gets setup in the watch. You can then put the physical SIM in any device, Apple Watch's cellular is independent.

Apple Watch as AFib alerts, I've linked the health features in my blog.

prmoustache3• 2 years ago

Also dying in your sleep is pretty much the best way to die.

sircastor• 2 years ago

The Apple Watch was a big contributor to my decision to switch back to an iPhone after a decade. I can’t speak to the current smartwatch market, but for many many years, the Apple Watch has been unparalleled in its category.

I wish Apple was more flexible in their products. The watch is plenty capable on its own, and I feel confident the attachment to the iPhone is arbitrary.

bangaloredud• 2 years ago

I use an Android phone for 'watch' (time-telling) task, thanks. Before that: several other phones, don't need an analog / digital cufflink on my wrist.

saaaaaam• 2 years ago

“I decided not to give any more money to Apple so I bought two Apple devices…”

mrtedbear• 2 years ago

I think using the Quantified Scientist's YouTube reviews as reference for the quality of sensors is misleading.

He primarily tests the devices on just his own body type, and often doesn't test long enough for the device to adapt to him (some devices take a few weeks to "learn" your body).

He does make disclaimers about the above, but people seem to take the stats he presents as gospel.

Demiurge• 2 years ago

I actually much prefer Garmin watches, due to battery life, the workout app which has no analogues on iOS, in terms of how it tracks reps and sets, the readable screen, etc. However, its the iOS with it was just unusable. It worked great on Android, but I am used to be able to reply to texts, and I couldn't to pretty much anything on the Garmin watch with iOS, except see some notifications. I hope things get more interoperable, but it's been like this for a decade, so it probably won't get better.

mrbonner• 2 years ago

I used to wear AW until I got the Garmin Forerunner. One annoying thing about the new 965 is that the HR monitor is getting inaccurate for faster paces. When I have my recovery runs with HR below 150, the watch works perfectly fine. Once my HR goes over 165, it's a wild guess. I fee like I need to stop running and let the Forerunner"catches" up with its accuracy then it is working OK again. Happens in every intensive run.

invalidptr• 2 years ago

This is unfortunately very common for OHRMs. Once your heartbeat approaches your running cadence (~180 bpm), physical movement becomes confused with the color change of your blood that an OHRM relies on. Tightening your wrist strap can help, but if you want accurate heart rate data for workouts, a chest strap is the way to go. Garmin makes a very good and very inexpensive one.

danielscrubs3• 2 years ago

Garmins chest strap recorded that my table had a heartbeat. Your mileage may vary.

Apple Watch with Android

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