> Interesting, I've had 2 Garmin Smart Watches and never felt like Apple was restricting them.

Apple block Garmin watches from replying to text messages as they do on Android for example.

Only Apple Watches are allowed to do that.

I also note that iOS regularly tries to nag me into blocking Garmin Connect from sending notifications to my watch.

Ostensibly that’s to preserve battery life but they don’t do that for their own watches either.