Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Reserve Strap for Apple Watch stops working after watchOS update


Looks like Apple has decided to put an end to the Reserve Strap, the Apple Watch bracelet that could prolong it's battery life using the hidden diagnostics port.

If you bought a Reserve Strap and were happily used to wearing your Apple Watch without battery concerns (it can add up to 150% battery life to your watch) I've got bad news for you. Should you update your Apple Watch to watchOS 2.0.1, you'll find your Reserve Strap no longer works as Apple has changed the way it verifies devices connected to the diagnostics port, just as it does on the lightning port.

In fact, the same happened with lightning accessories. When the market got flooded with cheaper non-official lightning cables, Apple released iOS7 which caused most of them to stop working. However, it didn't take long for non-official cable to get back on track with newer "fake" validation chips that seem to bypass the new protection. In any case this is the sort of risk people will face whenever buying non-certified accessories for their Apple devices.

Reserve Strap hopes Apple will launch such a certification program for the Apple Watch, and urges fans to send this request to Apple, but we all know Apple is not know for being kind on companies using their devices on non-approved ways. So, even if it does so in the future (and it likely will, as there are some patent requests with such smart straps) it should at least take their time and let things cool down (and ruin Reserve Strap's business in the process.)

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Amazon Store