iPhone and these 3 Android Wear watches are now compatible

Google Android Wear, iPhone and iOS are compatible starting today
Google Android Wear, iPhone and iOS are compatible starting today

Google's enviable line of Android Wear smartwatches finally work with Apple's iPhone, the search engine giant officially announced today.

It's about time. There's a lot more variety here compared to the Apple Watch, with round faces and GPS-enabled smartwatches, and many iOS loyalists have wanted to try them out.

There are some hoops to jump through, though. To your iPhone notifications beamed to your Android Wear watch, compatibility requires iOS 8.2 or newer and an Apple phone from the last three years.

Chances are, you probably have the iPhone 5, iPhone 5S, iPhone 6, or iPhone 6S Plus, or you're soon upgrading to the iPhone 6S or iPhone 6S Plus.

The real problem is you also need one of the latest Android Wear watches, two of which aren't even out yet.

iPhone and Android Wear are now iOS compatible

The LG Watch Urbane is among the few watches compatible with iOS

Compatibility limited to three watches

Sadly, of all the Android Wear smartwatches, only the newer LG Watch Urbane works with the iPhone, along with two more forthcoming Google-powered watches to come.

The Huawei Watch and ASUS ZenWatch 2 are also set to be compatible with iOS when they launch, too. And with IFA 2015 starting on September 4, we hope to have a release date for both soon.

We've been able to connect our Moto 360 in the office but all the functionality is very limited - there's no maps, no phone calls and no messaging either.

Google has also said future Moto 360 models will be compatible with the iPhone and we've got our fingers crossed for the second edition when it launches soon.

Matt Swider