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Door staff@engadget.com (Adnan Ahmed) - 26 Sep 2026
Although you are trusting a third-party app with access to fairly sensitive information and health data, Merge Watch's privacy policy claims that most of the data stays on your devices, and when notifications are sent through an internet relay, they're end-to-end encrypted. The harsher pill to swallow is its subscription model. There are two tiers to choose from, but to unlock all the app's features, you'll need to shell out $6 a month.
I tested the experience with my iPhone switched off to see if I could really daily drive my Apple Watch with an Android device. The results were a bit mixed. Merge Watch doesn't require your Apple Watch to be connected to the internet. It delivers notifications primarily through Bluetooth. However, there are instances where the app simply doesn't nudge me on my wrist. It takes manually launching the app on the Apple Watch to get things working again. This sometimes results in my watch pinging me a dozen times at once when the app does eventually wake from sleep.
I did notice slightly higher power consumption on my Apple Watch, which makes sense given the app is running continuously in the background fetching notifications all day. I ran this setup on watchOS 27 on an Apple Watch Series 10 connected to my OnePlus 15 running Android 16. OxygenOS does have a reputation for aggressively pausing background activities in favor of endurance, and even with battery optimization disabled for Merge Watch, I couldn't eliminate occasional notification delays.
Overall, Merge Watch is a decently reliable service if you want to pair an Apple Watch with your Android device. While I would have much preferred a one-time payment over a monthly fee, it's hard to complain when there are barely any other working solutions.
I tested the experience with my iPhone switched off to see if I could really daily drive my Apple Watch with an Android device. The results were a bit mixed. Merge Watch doesn't require your Apple Watch to be connected to the internet. It delivers notifications primarily through Bluetooth. However, there are instances where the app simply doesn't nudge me on my wrist. It takes manually launching the app on the Apple Watch to get things working again. This sometimes results in my watch pinging me a dozen times at once when the app does eventually wake from sleep.
I did notice slightly higher power consumption on my Apple Watch, which makes sense given the app is running continuously in the background fetching notifications all day. I ran this setup on watchOS 27 on an Apple Watch Series 10 connected to my OnePlus 15 running Android 16. OxygenOS does have a reputation for aggressively pausing background activities in favor of endurance, and even with battery optimization disabled for Merge Watch, I couldn't eliminate occasional notification delays.
Overall, Merge Watch is a decently reliable service if you want to pair an Apple Watch with your Android device. While I would have much preferred a one-time payment over a monthly fee, it's hard to complain when there are barely any other working solutions.