Anyone know why Phonak hasn't come out with an Apple Watch app?

Yes great tip. I don’t use that feature much because the right and left controls are separate rather than combined requiring twice the clicks to make changes.

Any idea how to combine them into one control like the HA phone apps?

I agree, that’s the reason I don’t use it and I have not figured out how to combine them. If you do, please share the tip

And talking about Apple, why do they now have to announce that “this call is being transcribed” when you use the Accessibility Live Captions. I now have to explain to everyone I talk to that I am hard of hearing and need to use the transcription.

Thank you, it works with Philips HearLink 2!

I wanted to share an interesting exchange I had with Phonak tech support recently. It seems like Phonak didn’t understand WHY an Apple Watch app would be useful. I explained that it would be great to be able to change programs without having to take out my iPhone. Changing programs with my HA button isn’t optimal, since I often have to cycle through several programs to reach the program that I want. In particular, I often want to enter or exit the TV connection program quickly. Does anyone else have the same interest in a Phonak Apple Watch app, or a different one?

Count me in/interested. I have phonak i90 sphere HAs and would love to have an Apple watch app to control them quickly and efficiently. I previously trialed Resound Nexia HAs and liked having this feature.

I’ll try to explain why in a (hopefully) simple way:

MFi (Made for iPhone) HAs utilize Apple’s Accessibility API (Application Programming Interface). These HAs connect (pair) to iOS, and the HA app manages the aids through the operating system (there are a few exceptions where the app sends information directly to the aids, such as firmware updates). iOS and WatchOS are closely integrated. MFi aids don’t need the HAs app to manage most functions.

What does this mean:

Most apps on WatchOS are just “remote controls” of the apps on the iPhone. Very few apps are full apps. THis is done to maximize battery. This is very tightly controlled by Apple.

This also means the WatchOS HAs app does not control the aids directly. If your iPhone is off (or far away), the WatchOS HA app won’t work. If you increase the HA volume from your watch, that instruction is sent to IOS and IOS sends the signal to your phone.

What happens when the HA is not MFi: It cannot use Apple’s API. In this case (Phonak’s), there is a bluetooth connection and the app manages the aids directly, not through IOS and the Watch is not automatically receiving HA data. This is why you cannot manage Phonak aids from the IOS Accessability settings menu.

The only way for Phonak to have a WatchOS app:

(1)They aids have to be connected via BT classic to the watch.
(2) Phonak has to write a full app, just like the one on the iPhone, to manage the HAs.
(3) The WatchOS <=> HA BT connection and the IOS <=> HA BT connection is separate, I don’t know if phonak allows two devices to control the aids at the same time.

Since the Phonak full app has to run on the Watch, this consumes significant amounts of battery and it is unlikely that Apple would allow this.

Apple and Phonak are working on LE Audio. Once both platforms enable that, Phonak’s should be able to use Apple’s API and the WatchOS app can be added without much work.

I’m not an Apple developer but I have worked with APIs before (many moons ago).

The Apple Watch doesn’t have to talk to the HAs directly. It just has to talk to the phone and let the Phonak app on the phone handle the rest.

Phonak does have a hardware remote controller8

It supports only the most often used control functions, but it may cut your phone use down to only 1/10 or so

Any opinions?

@wtolkien said:

As an example, say someone starts playing music to their regular Bluetooth headset via the music app on the iPhone. Then they control the volume on their Apple Watch.

That’s because the volume can be managed from the music app. You can control the volume of the Phonak HAs when streaming music just like any headphone. Are you suggesting Phonaks can’t do this today? (may I misunderstood).

@wtolkien said:

It won’t talk to the headset directly.

That is not correct.
You can connect Phonak’s HAs directly to your Apple Watch, turn your phone off and and stream music (Apple Music, Spotify) to your aids without your phone. I do this at the gym all the time. See pics below that show (1) Phonak connected to my Watch (2) Music program shows direct connect to the HA.

@wtolkien said:

The same is true for all existing Apple Watch apps from other hearing aid manufacturers. They never connect directly to the hearing aids. Everything goes through the phone

Isn’t that what I said regarding MFi HAs? (Pretty much all HAs that have BLE).
Phonaks and Signia BCT can connect directly to the Watch because they use BT classic (unlike the other HA aids from major brands), they don’t have to be managed via the phone as you claim.

@wtolkien said:

There is no reason why Phonak couldn’t do that as well.

(1) Why invest money on that when BLEA is arriving soon (as I explained)?
(2) Phonak uses bluetooth classic for “external connections” but the app manages the aids functions using bluetooth LE. Apple requires that BT LE is managed via IOS, not directly from the app. A watch app would need to send BLE functions via the OS and I am sure that Apple will need to approve that. Too much hassle when a new better solution is coming.

Why do I see three Phonak hearing aids in my Bluetooth phone list?1

Three hearing aids in the Bluetooth phone list

It seems you misunderstood many of the things I wrote.

My point is simply that there are no compelling technical reasons why Phonak can’t provide a watch app.
Phonak provides an iPhone app, and I’m sure Apple provides a mature API for a Watch app to communicate with the corresponding iPhone app. This has nothing to do with MFI or BLEA or Bluetooth classic.

My music example was probably more confusing rather than helpful, because the music app does indeed allow direct connectivity from the Watch to a Bluetooth audio device.

I think you also confuse how the iPhone OS treats BLE, which can be handled directly by apps. The user just needs to allow the app to use Bluetooth.

No warranty when buying via eBay. But you are correct in that you can find lower prices, along with buyer-beware risk.

@wtolkien said:

I think you also confuse how the iPhone OS treats BLE, which can be handled directly by apps. The user just needs to allow the app to use Bluetooth.

I am not confused at all. Apps don’t have control over BLE routing at all as you say. It is not my opinion, it’s what Apple mandates.

Source from Apple:

bluetoothLE | Apple Developer Documentation3

An output to a Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) device.

This is not the place to have a technical SWdev discussion and I don’t want to disrupt the thread. If you want, we can open a separate thread.

@Baileyhere said:

No warranty when buying via eBay

Yes there’s warranty available from eBay,it’s a extra cost plus if you pay by PayPal you get that as well, obviously when you buy something this cheap hardly worth bothering about, just throw it away and get another.