Accessory makers plan to tap Apple Watch's hidden port for battery straps, faster charging
One of the first companies to announce plans to make a battery strap for Apple Watch— allowing you to charge the device while on the go while continuing to wear it— has confirmed plans to tap …
Context & Ripple Effects
The day after accessory makers announced plans to wire the Apple Watch's hidden diagnostic port for on-wrist charging, Apple drew a line around it: the "Made for Apple Watch" program certifies third-party bands but explicitly bars use of the port and its charging capability. That puts battery-strap makers in direct tension with the certification regime they need to sell at scale.
The market they're chasing is already real — Nomad's $60 Pod ships in June as an external battery pack — but a strap that charges while worn solves the problem the Pod can't: the Watch must come off the wrist to charge, and it needs skin contact plus a 10%+ charge to deliver notifications.
First-order effects
- Battery-strap vendors gain a differentiated product — charging without removing the watch — that uncertified status may keep out of mainstream retail channels, while Nomad's Pod-style pack makers see their value proposition undercut by wear-through-the-charge alternatives.
- Buyers get faster charging than the magnetic puck path if the port delivers it, but only from accessories Apple has not sanctioned.
Second-order effects
- Apple controls both sides of the equation — the port and the MFi program — so it can starve unofficial straps of legitimacy while later opening sanctioned paths, as it signaled in July when it moved to let manufacturers integrate Apple Watch charging pads into accessories.
- Competing wearable platforms face pressure to offer comparable on-wrist charging or risk the battery-life gap becoming a spec-sheet differentiator against the Watch.
Third-order effects
- The episode is an early instance of Apple absorbing accessory categories it initially leaves open: six years later the same play reappears with reports of Apple building its own magnetically attached wireless battery pack for iPhone 12, suggesting first-party hardware eventually crowds out third-party fixes.
- If gatekeeping of physical ports hardens, accessory innovation migrates toward whatever interface Apple certifies — making the MFi program, not the hardware hack, the real market entry point.
The trend: Apple's accessory ecosystem is converging on a pattern where third-party workarounds flourish briefly around undocumented ports, then get displaced once Apple certifies or builds the category itself.