Do I need an Android phone?

No. A Galaxy Watch is the one case where an Android phone is not needed at any point, including first-time setup.

Is the Antioxidant Index available on an iPhone?

The reading is taken by the watch, so the sensor works. Where you see long-term trends depends on which app is storing them, and Samsung Health's phone app is Android only.

Which Wear OS version does it need to run for Lynio?

Lynio needs Wear OS 3.0 or later. The Watch 8 runs Wear OS 6 with One UI 8 Watch as of September 2026, well clear of that.

Will Samsung Pay or Samsung Health's phone app work with iPhone?

No. Both need Samsung's own phone-side software, which does not exist on iOS. The watch's own sensors still work through Lynio.

Optimized

How to Connect Galaxy Watch 8 to Your iPhone.

Yes. The Galaxy Watch 8 works with iPhone. Pair it with the Lynio app and you get calls, notifications, contacts and health sync in about 3 minutes. See how

Samsung's thinnest watch: an 8.6mm cushion case, a 3,000 nit display and the 3nm Exynos W1000, with sapphire crystal on both sizes.

About the Galaxy Watch 8

Released July 2025 from $349.99, and the generation where Samsung reshaped the whole line. The Watch 8 takes the cushion case that used to be exclusive to the Ultra, so the standard model is no longer round. At 8.6mm it is 11% thinner than the Watch 7 while keeping a brighter 3,000 nit screen and sapphire crystal.

The sensor stack is where the money went. Alongside ECG and body composition it adds an Antioxidant Index, a carotenoid reading taken from the skin, and it carries Samsung's sleep apnea detection. Samsung's commitment is four years of software updates, and as of September 2026 it is running Wear OS 6 with One UI 8 Watch, with the Wear OS 7 beta already on it.

	40mm	44mm
Case	42.7 x 40.4 x 8.6mm, 30g	46 x 43.7 x 8.6mm, 34g
Material	Armor Aluminum 2, sapphire front	Same
Display	1.34in, 438 x 438, 3,000 nits	1.47in, 480 x 480, 3,000 nits
Chip	Exynos W1000, 3nm, penta-core	Same
Memory	2GB RAM, 32GB storage	Same
Battery	325mAh, up to 40h with display off	435mAh, up to 40h with display off
Durability	5ATM, IP68, MIL-STD-810H	Same
Cellular	LTE optional, $50 more	LTE optional, $50 more
Bluetooth	5.3	5.3
GPS	Dual-frequency L1 and L5	Same
Sensors	ECG, body composition, Antioxidant Index, SpO2, infrared temperature, barometer	Same
Software support	Four years, to around 2029	Same

Connect in 3 Steps

Download Lynio on your iPhone

Scan the QR code with your iPhone camera, or tap the App Store button.

On a laptop? Scan to download on your iPhone.

Install Lynio Watch on your Galaxy Watch 8

From the Play Store on the watch. If Google sign-in will not work there, Lynio sends the app across as a signed bundle over Wi-Fi instead.

Follow the in-app pairing guide

Keep both on the same Wi-Fi, Bluetooth on, and leave the app open until pairing finishes.

What You Get After Pairing

Works	Does not carry over
Notifications from your iPhone	Samsung Pay and Samsung Wallet
Calls, made and answered from the wrist	Samsung Health's phone app
Contacts synced from the iPhone	Bixby
Music playback control	Samsung Find
Workouts and health data written to Apple Health
Every on-watch sensor, including the Antioxidant Index reading

The newer sensors read on the watch itself, so the hardware you paid extra for still works. What stays behind is Samsung's phone-side apps, which have never run on iOS.