Skip to main content

Hyundai Blue Link app now available for Apple Watch

Hyundai drivers can now control their cars using an Apple Watch version of the Blue Link smartwatch app unveiled earlier this year. It’s the latest in a growing number of automotive apps for wearable devices.

The Blue Link app was first shown at CES back in January for Android, but is available as a free download in the Apple App Store as of today.

Recommended Videos

The app’s features are unchanged, and include remote engine start/stop, remote door lock/unlock, the ability to flash the lights or honk the horn, a car finder, and a status feature that includes maintenance reminders.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Most of these features can be accessed using voice control. After tapping the microphone icon, the driver can use somewhat colloquial commands like “start my car,” “lock my car,” or “find my car” to activate specific functions.

Like the previously seen Android version, the Apple Watch version of the app works with both generations of Hyundai’s Blue Link system, which uses a cloud-based platform to back both smartphone and smartwatch apps, as well as in-car infotainment systems.

The first generation of Blue Link launched on the 2012 Sonata and was rolled out on most other Hyundai models beginning in 2013. The second-generation system was unveiled last year, and is currently available on the 2015 Genesis, Sonata, and Azera sedans.

Other carmakers, such as BMW and Porsche, are also marketing smartwatch apps, but Hyundai is offering one on mainstream models priced below expensive luxury cars.

As carmakers continue to explore connectivity as a way to attract device-obsessed customers and appear a part of the technological zeitgeist, smartwatches appear to be the next big thing.

There are already a wealth of connectivity options for smartphones, from car-specific apps to systems that project smartphone functions onto a car’s built-in displays and controls. Adapting all of that to smartwatches seems like the next logical step.

Stephen Edelstein
Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…
High blood pressure monitoring may finally come to the Apple Watch in 2025
The Apple Watch Ultra 2 on someone's wrist.

The Apple Watch is no longer just a smart wearable that doubles as a status symbol. The wrist-based powerhouse is capable of saving lives thanks to a bevy of different features, but there's one area — blood pressure readings — that Apple has never been able to crack. Now, a new rumor hints that the necessary sensors could come to the Apple Watch Series 11 and the Apple Watch Ultra 3.

It's a technology that Apple has tried to crack for a while now, but Mark Gurman said in his Power On! newsletter that we might see blood pressure sensors in the next iteration of the Apple Watch. Based on these early reports, the Apple Watch Series 11 and Ultra 3 will be able to alert users when their blood pressure is too high.

Read more
Apple Watch SE might embrace a new look this year
Apple Watch SE with Nomad Aluminum Band

Apple embarked on a design refresh trajectory for its smartwatch line last year, starting with the Apple Watch Series 10. Now, the company is reportedly eyeing a similar treatment for the Apple Watch SE refresh that arrives later this year.

In the latest edition of his PowerOn newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman mentions a design makeover for the entry-level smartwatch. “A fresh version of the lower-end SE model will sport a new look,” says the report.

Read more
Zuckerberg vents at Apple over iPhone but forgets Facebook’s flops
Mark Zucvkerberg speaking to Joe Rogan on a podcast appearance.

Mark Zuckerberg appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast earlier this week, and he had a lot of words to say about Apple. In particular, the Meta chief targeted the company’s innovative streak and the cumbersome ecosystem weaved around it.

“They haven’t invented anything great in a while. It’s like Steve Jobs invented the iPhone, and now they’re just kind of sitting on it 20 years later,” Zuckerberg told Rogan.

Read more