What Merge delivers on iPhone
Wear OS was designed for Android. Merge is what opens it up to iPhone. Install Merge on your iPhone and your Wear OS watch, complete the pairing, and the watch connects to your iPhone. From that point, notifications from every app on your iPhone arrive on your wrist in real time. You control which apps send alerts and which notification types come through per app.
Health data syncs from the watch to Apple Health: workouts, heart rate, steps, distance, floors climbed, and calories all transfer automatically. Music playing on your iPhone is controllable from your wrist. Camera control lets you trigger your iPhone camera from the watch. Contacts sync for caller ID on incoming calls.
The one-time Android step
Wear OS watches require an Android phone for their initial activation. This is a Google requirement that applies to every Wear OS watch — it's how the watch gets its software configured, apps installed, and account linked. You only need the Android phone once, for about 10-15 minutes. Borrow one if you don't own one. After that, it's not needed again.
- Search for Merge Watch on the App Store and install it on your iPhone.
- On your Wear OS watch, open the Play Store and install Merge Watch.
Once activated, open both apps and pair through Merge. Find the step-by-step guide for your specific model in the Merge guides portal.
Which Wear OS watches work
Merge supports a wide range of Wear OS watches from major manufacturers - Samsung Galaxy Watch, Google Pixel Watch, Fossil Gen 6, TicWatch Pro, OnePlus Watch, Xiaomi Watch, OPPO Watch X, and others. If your watch runs Wear OS and is a recent model, it almost certainly works.
The features available through Merge are consistent across supported Wear OS watches. Samsung Galaxy Watch models additionally support phone calls through Merge - calls from your iPhone ring on the watch and can be answered from your wrist.
How the connection works
Merge connects your Wear OS watch to your iPhone over Bluetooth. The watch and iPhone need to be within Bluetooth range for notifications to arrive. When the devices move apart, the connection pauses and resumes when they're close again.
Once paired, the connection runs in the background. Open both apps, approve Bluetooth permissions on each, and follow the pairing steps — after that, no manual steps are needed.
