A growing number of consumer complaints point to a serious Android Wear pairing problem with the iPhone 7 and there are two ways in which the issue is currently being approached in the tech world. One is that Android Wear is not updated to pair with Apple's latest device while the other involves the possibility that the iPhone 7 is simply ignoring the Android wearables.
A recent Google statement seems to reinforce the second position. The company's Android Wear team attributed the "serious pairing issue" to the iPhone 7, noting that Android smartwatches work fine with all of iPhone's older iterations. Google said that it has already called Apple's attention to the issue while stressing that its team is also actively working to develop their own fix.
Based on reports, the affected Android Wear devices include the TAG Heuer Connected, Moto 360 v2, the ASUS ZenWatch and the Fossil-made Michael Kors Access. The list is bound to expand further since Google's forum began receiving complaints that older wearable devices such as the original LG G Watch and Moto 360 are also affected.
Google has not specifically identified whether the pairing problem is caused by software or hardware incompatibility. The mystery has, therefore, driven more speculations. Those arguing that it is a hardware issue point to the fact that the problem seems to affect the iPhone 7 alone.
However, one post at Google's forum indicates that it could also be caused by a software glitch since an iPhone 6 came to be affected as well.
"I've got a TAG Heuer Connected that was working fine with my iPhone 6 even after I upgraded to iOS 10, but then since I unpaired to connect to my new iPhone 7 I haven't been able to pass the pairing screen," Google forum user Tiago Cleto Machado said.
It appears that forcing to pair an Android smartwatch with the iPhone 7 could also lead to pairing problems when it is paired back to an iPhone 6. It could even lead to bricking the wearable device. If this is indeed an iPhone problem, then it adds to several other glitches that have emerged since the device rolled out.
Whatever the problem is, consumers who own an iPhone 7 and an Android Wear smartwatch are increasingly becoming restive because this means that the problem has been going on since the iPhone's release more than two weeks ago. Google could only encourage users so far to report feedback by clicking the Android Wear app's Gear icon.
