Apple may be working on new functionality that would expand what third-party smartwatches are able to do when connected to an iPhone. As noted by Macworld, iOS 26.1 code mentions a Notification Forwarding feature that could be designed for third-party watches.
"Choose Which apps can send notifications to your accessory," reads one line. "Notifications can be forwarded to one accessory at a time. Notifications will not appear on Apple Watch while Notification Forwarding is turned on," reads another line.
There are also references to new accessory pairing features, such as an AccessoryExtension framework for pairing a third-party device with an iPhone.
The wording is ambiguous so there's no guarantee that it's applicable to third-party smartwatches, but the European Union's Digital Markets Act requires Apple to provide third-party smartwatches and other devices with access to notifications and other features that are normally reserved for the Apple Watch.
Apple's limited support for devices that compete with the Apple Watch is also one of the U.S. Department of Justice's key arguments in the Apple vs. DoJ antitrust case. The Department of Justice claims that Apple prevents third-party smartwatches from offering Apple Watch-like functionality by denying them the cellular connectivity options the Apple Watch has and restricting them from acting on incoming notifications.
What the DoJ has to say about smartwatch functionality is of interest because Apple has been addressing the claims in the DoJ's lawsuit in the year and a half since it was filed. The DoJ's claim that Apple suppresses cloud streaming games is no longer relevant, for example, because Apple added support for cloud streaming and apps offering mini games in iOS 17.4. The DoJ targeted Apple's delayed support for RCS, but with iOS 18, Apple implemented RCS support for better cross-platform messaging. The DoJ also took issue with Apple's refusal to allow digital payment providers to access the iPhone's NFC chip, and Apple opened up access to NFC in iOS 18.1.
If Notification Forwarding is indeed related to third-party smartwatches, it could be an EU-only function aimed at addressing the Digital Markets Act requirements in the EU, but it could also be a change that Apple plans to implement worldwide.
