I got my first Apple Watch some eight years ago as an adjunct to my iPhone, and about the only thing the watch could do without the iPhone was tell the date and time. Over the years, the Apple Watch has taken on a unique feature suite of its own, including the ability to make and receive phone calls and messages without the help of an iPhone in Bluetooth range, but the iPhone has remained essential to setting up, configuring, and updating the Apple Watch. I am not sure when this happened but this morning I received notice of a WatchOS update,
on my watch.
This was new, previous WatchOS update notices had always appeared on my iPhone and handled through the Watch App on the iPhone and required the Apple Watch to be on the charger to complete the installation. I launched the Settings app (which is itself relatively new) on the Apple Watch keyed in my passcode, and went about my business. Several minutes later I felt the familiar haptic on my wrist and looked down to see a notification the watch had been updated to WatchOS RC (Release Candidate) 9.4.
Does this mean the Apple Watch could be used without an iPhone? I don't yet know the limitations other than the screen size, but for communications and some navigation tasks yes.
Does this mean the Apple Watch could fully replace an iPhone? Not really, the screen size alone would rule out a lot of iPhone uses, the lack of a camera function alone would eliminate a significant group of users.
Does this mean the Apple Watch could replace an iPhone for
some users? Apple already dominates the
wearable device (a.k.a. smartwatch) market and this could easily open up an entire new segment of that market.
