Why trust Greenbot
One of the complaints users have with Samsung’s smartwatches such as the Gear Fit is that they’re not compatible with non-Samsung Android devices. But it seems like the company has recently, and secretly, added support to a certain extent for other Android handsets.
A new video has revealed how the smartwatch can pair quite easily with the HTC One (M8), with the help of the Gear Fit Manager apk which can be sideloaded onto any Android device running at least Android 4.3 or above. Users willing to track fitness with the Gear Fit will have to download the Fitness with Gear apk as well.
So it’s as simple as sideloading these two apps onto your Android device and pairing it with the Gear Fit. It could well be an inadvertent omission from Samsung, so don’t be surprised if it’s fixed with a future update.
As far as functionality is concerned, almost every feature on the Fit is reportedly working smoothly except for ‘Quick Reply’ which allows users to quickly compose a response to a specific message. The alarm feature is said to be non-functional at the moment as well. So basically any features which require communication with Samsung’s own servers are not working.
While we won’t suggest you get the Gear Fit if you don’t own a compatible Samsung device, make sure you give this a try with a spare Android 4.3+ non-Samsung device if you have one.
[9to5Google via SamMobile]
