[NewsPoster]

Google is expanding the reach of Android Wear from Android smartphones, by allowing some owners of its smartwatches to connect to iOS devices, confirming earlier rumors. Rolling out today, Android Wear for iOS will allow the LG Watch Urbane to pair with an iPhone 5 or newer running iOS 8.2 or later, though it appears the majority of Android Wear users won't be able to connect their older smartwatches to iOS at all.

The official announcement from Google advises that only the Urbane will work, with all future Android Wear devices from Huawei, Asus, and Motorola all supporting iOS. It is unclear if older Android Wear smartwatches will be made to work with iOS, but according to The Verge, Google is limiting support because it wants to "guarantee a good experience" out of the box for new users.

Much like the Android version, Android Wear for iOS will allow users to receive notifications for calls, messages, and alerts from apps, Google Now cards for traffic, flight status, and other useful information, and fitness tracking via Google Fit. It is noted that users won't get the entire Android Wear experience due to Google working within the iOS developer guidelines.

Since Apple forbids app stores to be installed on iOS devices, Google has to instead offer third-party watch apps via the Android Wear app, limiting the usability to an app list Google itself curates. It is a similar situation for third-party watch faces, with Google deciding which to offer to users within the app.

The Android Wear app does at least enable the Google-related functionality without requiring other Google apps to be installed on the host smartphone, such as all the functionality of Google Now and Google Voice Search. It does not have the ability to interact with other apps installed on the iPhone, so it can't be used to request songs or playlists.

Despite being a slightly incomplete experience compared to what users would get with an Android smartphone, the introduction of Android Wear for iOS gives iPhone owners more choice in what smartwatch they can buy and use.