Stand-alone Apple Watch app - CoreBluetooth

Question

Is it possible to create an Apple Watch application without a need of an iPhone app ? I want to create a simple app that uses the bluetooth framework of the Apple WAtch and search for near devices. (without having an iphone around). Thank you

Answer 1

In iOS 13 it's possible to create independent watchOS application. More information can be found here. You have to download Xcode 11 to be able to create independent watchOS application.

To create it simply go to File -> New -> Project and select watchOS -> App as it's shown on a screenshot:

Be aware that even though it's possible to create indepentent watchOS app (e.g. with CoreBluetooth) there will be some limitations with methods usage. For example it's not possible to call this method of CBMutableService:

- (instancetype)initWithType:(CBUUID *)UUID primary:(BOOL)isPrimary NS_DESIGNATED_INITIALIZER __TVOS_PROHIBITED __WATCHOS_PROHIBITED;

Answer 2

You cannot create a watchOS application without an iOS app. First of all, you can only add a Watch extension to an existing iOS project in Xcode. Secondly, even if you could create a standalone watchOS project in Xcode, you wouldn't be able to publish it to the AppStore, since each WatchKit app needs to have a functioning iOS counterpart to be accepted in the AppStore, so you cannot just create a dummy iOS app.