Uber quietly ended assist for Apple Watch late final 12 months, forcing customers to as a substitute attain for his or her cellphone to hail a experience.
Regardless of Monday’s report by MacRumors—confirmed by Uber’s Assist web page—the wearable platform (as of press time) stays out there for obtain from the App Retailer, however solely shows a message encouraging of us to “change to the cellular app.”
“Please change to the Uber cellular app. We not [support] the Apple Watch app. Sorry for the inconvenience,” the notification stated, adopted by a sad-but-relieved emoji. Uber didn’t instantly reply to PCMag’s request for remark. In response to Ars Technica, the corporate up to date its Assist web page on Tuesday to mirror the change.
Among the many first Apple Watch App Retailer listings in 2015, Uber’s barebones app allowed customers to request a automobile immediately from their wrist—with the added bonus that in case your wearable has a mobile connection, you possibly can depart your iPhone at residence and nonetheless catch a experience.
However the app lacked the identical bells and whistles of its smartphone sibling, like entry to uberPOOL, fare splitting, ETA sharing, and driver communication, which doubtless led to its eventual demise. Rival Lyft in 2018 dropped Apple Watch in a equally silent transfer. The ride-hailing agency supplied no clarification, however joined a number of different main firms like Twitter, Amazon, eBay, and Instagram in pulling their watchOS app. Uber additionally ended assist for Google’s WearOS platform in 2019, The Verge famous.
