Samsung may go platform agnostic in 2016 with new iOS apps

By David Curry Published January 25, 2016

Samsung might be following in the footsteps of Google and Microsoft with a platform agnostic approach to 2016. A new report from SamMobile claims the South Korean manufacturer will bring most (if not all) of its apps over to iOS and it will update its current iOS apps to make them more modern.

Samsung has supported iOS in the past, but some of its main apps are not currently available on iPhones or iPads. That might change soon, however. Samsung previously said it would bring the Gear Manager app to iOS, so that iPhone users have the option of buying Gear smartwatches like the gorgeous, round Gear S2. To complement the Gear Manager app, Samsung is also reportedly launching S Health for iOS. The app could be a major competitor to Apple’s own Health app, if SamMobile’s report proves true.

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Moving from wearables to tablets, Samsung will supposedly launch an app to support the 18.4-inch Galaxy View on iOS. The Remote Control and Family Square apps would allow iPhone users to remotely control and stream content directly to the tablet from their iOS devices.

Samsung’s audio devices might also receive support, with a new Level app for iOS. The app should give Level Box Mini and headphone owners the ability to add effects, control the volume of the speakers, and turn them off with their iPhones.

On top of the new apps, the Smart Camera app for iOS will supposedly receive a much needed update, though the report doesn’t mention what changes the update will bring. The app is not well liked on iOS, with a one star rating for the current version and one and a half stars for all versions combined.

Samsung has released 39 apps in total for iOS since the App Store launched, though quite a few haven’t seen updates in more than a year. Most of the apps have relatively poor reviews, so we can only hope if Samsung does bring these new apps to iOS, it puts a bit more effort into designing them to be user friendly.

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