With every new watchOS version, the Apple Watch became more and more iPhone independent. Originally all third-party Apple Watch apps, were run as companion apps.
In 2015, apps were running on the iPhone, and streaming content to the Apple Watch. This was inefficient, as data streaming would take long, making some apps unusable.
Since recent updates, much data can be stored locally on the Apple Watch. For example, you can pre-load complete Spotify playlists, or podcast episodes, and listen to them while you’re on a run without your iPhone.
Watching videos on an Apple Watch might sound like an exotic use case. Maybe it is. But there is a neat workaround to watch videos on an Apple Watch locally with sound, without being connected to the internet, once it’s downloaded.
All you have to do, is send a video on iMessage to yourself, which can then be played back inside the iMessage app. Watch the video below to see how exactly it’s done:
Have you ever watched a video on your Apple Watch? Let us know in the comments if this is a cool hack or a gimmick.