At first glance, Samsung’s new Galaxy Watch 7 may not look like a huge improvement over its predecessor, but under the hood it offers some significant improvements that could be a deciding factor for those considering picking up one of Samsung’s latest wearables.

The latest Galaxy Watch comes in a classy green finish as standard, but otherwise retains the same iconic rounded design with a bright and sharp display from edge to edge and compatibility with a wide range of watch straps. Inside, however, you’ll find a new five-core Exynos W1000 chip that promises three times the performance of the Galaxy Watch 6, improved health sensors, more accurate GPS, and the first Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved sleep apnea feature.

This is enough to make Apple fans take a closer look and think about what life might be like on the other side, but can you use a Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 if you have an iPhone with you?

Does the Galaxy Watch 7 work with the iPhone?

Despite everything the Galaxy Watch 7 has to offer, there’s no doubt that the Apple Watch is the best choice for most iPhone owners. That’s partly because it’s also the only smartwatch that’s fully compatible with the iPhone.

If you haven’t been keeping up with Samsung’s smartwatches for a few years, you might remember when the company offered a Galaxy Watch app for iOS that offered basic iPhone compatibility. This wasn’t nearly as tightly integrated as what iPhone users could do with an Apple Watch, and was limited to things like notifications and managing music playback. So it’s probably not surprising that Samsung abandoned this after 2020’s Galaxy Watch 3. As such, the Galaxy Watch 7 not works with the iPhone.

While some of the more platform-agnostic manufacturers like Garmin are offering as much iOS compatibility as possible (and fighting for Apple to give them more access), Samsung has essentially thrown in the towel. The Galaxy Watch has been an Android-only platform since 2021, and there’s no sign of that changing any time soon, even if it arguably mimics Apple in other ways.

As things stand, we don’t see this as a significant loss for smartwatch owners. Unless Apple is forced to change its ways and partner with Wear OS smartwatches, using anything other than an Apple Watch with an iPhone is going to be a frustrating experience. But even if Apple were to take the other side, modern smartwatches still work best as an extension of your smartphone, and it stands to reason that Wear OS will always work better with Android than iOS (and vice versa with watchOS).

Does the Galaxy Watch 7 work with any Android phone?

Using the Galaxy Watch 7 with a Samsung smartphone offers the best experience because Samsung controls the software on both sides, and that’s even more true this year with Samsung’s new AI features.

However, One UI is still just a layer on top of Android and Wear OS, and underneath is the same core operating system that you find on all other Android phone or smartwatch. This means that it is possible to use the Galaxy Watch 7 with any Android Smartphone, as long as it meets some basic requirements.

Your phone needs at least 1.5GB of storage, Android 11 or higher, and Google Mobile Services (GMS) installed. The first two aren’t too demanding requirements, but the GMS requirement leaves Huawei phones out.

You’ll also need the Samsung Health app. This comes pre-installed on every Samsung smartphone, but users of other Android platforms can easily download it from the Play Store. This will give you access to almost all of the Galaxy Watch 7’s health monitoring and coaching features on any compatible device. Android smartphones.

What about Samsung’s latest Samsung Health features – Energy Score and Wellness Tips? Thankfully, you don’t need a Samsung phone to use these. As long as you have an Android phone running Android 10 or higher and Samsung Health v6.27 or higher, Energy Score should work without any problems. The same applies to Wellness Tips, which is also available for all modern Android Phone with an updated Samsung Health app.

This means you Do You’ll need a Samsung phone to use the new Double Pinch Gestures, which let you control certain features on the Galaxy Watch 7 by pinching your fingers together. Whether that’s a loss or not is a matter of personal choice.

Finally, it should be noted that while the Galaxy Watch 7 works with almost every popular Android phone, there may be minor quirks and inconsistencies from time to time, especially with features that are part of One UI 6 rather than Android 14, as the One UI for Watch software has settings that only match One UI on the phone side. There are usually minor things, like your Do Not Disturb status not syncing between devices or not being able to shut out phone alarms from your watch, but they’re worth noting. As with the iPhone and Apple Watch, the Galaxy Watch 7 works best with a Samsung Galaxy phone, but at least with Samsung you have the option to use a different Android Phone.