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Two Phones, One Smartwatch: Is It Possible?

Smartwatches are growing in popularity, and many people actively use some kind of smartwatch these days. Smartphones have been around for many years, but it’s also come to the point where many people habitually carry two or more smartphones, one for business and one for personal use. But what if you want to connect your smartwatch to two phones instead of one? Can you?

It is impossible to connect a smartwatch to two phones. Manufacturers limit it because the data is actively synchronized between smartwatches and phones. If you want to connect your smartwatch to a second phone, you must unpair it from the first. But you can connect multiple watches to one phone.

It can be frustrating for those of us with multiple phones only to have our smartwatch connected to one phone at a time, but there are good reasons why manufacturers don’t allow it. Let’s look at a few popular smartwatches and the reasons why we can’t connect them to multiple phones.

Can Smartwatches Connect To Two Or More Phones?

There are many different smartwatch brands on the market, some more popular than others. There are even some off-brand models that are pretty popular in specific markets. However, at the moment, there are no ways to connect a smartwatch to multiple phones. At the very least, you will have to unpair the watch from one phone before pairing it with another.

Can Apple Watch Connect To Two Phones?

The Apple Watch is an interesting device since it syncs with your Apple ID. This means that any information your Apple Watch gathers will sync across to all your other Apple devices. However, the Apple Watch itself still only connects to one iPhone at a time. It will sync its data and display only notifications from that one phone.

The Apple ecosystem works in such a way that the data will then sync through your iCloud to all other devices, including other iPhones, that have your Apple ID linked to them, but that happens even though the Apple Watch isn’t connected to those devices.

Disconnecting the first phone is the only way to connect your Apple Watch to another phone.

Can Samsung Galaxy Watch Connect To Two Phones?

The same rule applies to Samsung’s Galaxy Watch. Connecting it to more than one phone at a time is impossible. Though some of your health information may still sync with other Samsung devices, the watch itself can only connect to one phone at a time.

When you want to connect your Samsung Galaxy Watch to another phone, you have to unpair the watch using the Galaxy Wearable app and then connect it to the new phone. This will turn off its connection to the old phone entirely.

Huawei Watch And Multiple Phones

Huawei offers two types of smartwatches: the Huawei Watch, which is a full smartwatch with standard smartwatch capabilities, and the Huawei Band, which is more of a fitness tracker with some smartwatch features.

The Huawei Watch is like other smartwatches in the sense that it can only connect to one phone at a time. Connecting it to another phone requires unpairing it from the previous one first.

The Huawei Band is slightly different. You can technically connect it to two phones using Huawei’s Dual Phone Pairing system, but there’s a catch. One phone will connect through the Huawei Health app, while the other will connect using the standard Bluetooth settings.

According to Huawei, this will let you make calls and listen to music from both phones, though data and notifications will only sync with the phone that’s connected via the Huawei Health app.

Garmin And Multiple Phones

Though Garmin’s watches are technically fitness trackers rather than smartwatches, some have plenty of smartwatch features built into them.

Though connecting one Garmin watch with multiple phones is technically possible using the Garmin Connect app, Garmin strongly advises against doing this. Connecting the watch to multiple phones could cause connection and syncing problems, so Garmin recommends unpairing your watch from all phones except your primary device.

Fitbit And Multiple Phones

Fitbit is also more of a fitness tracker but has several smartwatch capabilities. However, unlike Garmin, there’s no workaround that allows you to connect one Fitbit with two or more phones. The only way to use another phone with your Fitbit is to disconnect it from one phone before connecting it to another.

Why Can’t Smartwatches Connect To Two Phones?

There are a few technical and practical reasons why connecting a smartwatch with more than one phone is impossible.

  1. Smartwatches usually connect to smartphones using Bluetooth. Bluetooth was designed to establish a one-to-one connection with another device, not multiple devices. Unlike Wi-Fi, which can connect multiple devices to each other, Bluetooth does not support this feature by default.
  2. Because of Bluetooth’s one-to-one connection standard, if you manage to connect your smartwatch to more than one smartphone (like with Garmin), you will probably face connection issues and instability.
  3. Because smartwatches synchronize data like notifications with the smartphone it’s connected to, having multiple phones connected would lead to various synchronization problems since the watch will then have to manage two sets of data. It could lead to missed notifications or duplicated data.
  4. Smartwatches are often developed to work with specific operating systems or apps. For example, the Apple Watch works best when paired with an iPhone. The software on both devices is designed to work together seamlessly with only one connection. Forcing a second connection could cause various problems since the software wasn’t designed to work that way.
  5. A significant portion of a smartwatch’s battery life already goes to maintaining a Bluetooth connection with one phone. Adding a second connection would negatively impact the smartwatch’s performance and battery life, especially since these devices already have small processors and batteries to make them fit into such a small package.
  6. There is a slight security and privacy concern. Since smartwatches often store personal information such as health data and contact details, manufacturers are really helping to keep your data private by only allowing one connection at a time. This means someone else can’t connect to your smartwatch while it’s connected to your phone.

Can Multiple Smartwatches Connect To One Phone?

Though it’s not generally possible (or advisable) to connect a smartwatch to two or more phones, you can do it the other way around. If you have two smartwatches, you can connect both to one phone.

But there are some limitations, depending on the brand. For example, Fitbit won’t allow multiple watches to access the app store simultaneously. Also, the one-to-one connection rule still applies, so you might be unable to sync both simultaneously.

However, this makes it possible for parents to set up smartwatches for their kids, even if the kids don’t have their own iPhones. For example, iOS allows you to add multiple watches to your account, especially for family members.

Conclusion

It’s not possible to connect a smartwatch to two phones. Even if it were possible, it would not be advisable with the way technology currently works. This might slightly inconvenience anyone who uses two phones but doesn’t always want to carry both around with them. In that case, it’s best to get a smartwatch with cellular so you can use it even when you don’t have your phone with you.