No, MLB Hasn’t Banned The Apple Watch From The Dugout

Did Major League Baseball ban the Apple Watch? Not quite.

Despite claims from some earlier reports, the MLB has not banned players and managers from wearing Apple’s smartwatch on the field or in the dugout. The concerns surrounding the watch arose after Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost was spotted wearing an Apple Watch during a game against the Los Angeles Angels Sunday.

The MLB later contacted Yost to inquire if he was using the watch to access data. Yost explained to them that was not the case, according to several tweets from Kansas City Star reporter Andy McCullough.

Oddly enough, the MLB’s inquiry centered on a watch that it gave to Yost for managing the MLB All Star Game in July. They were concerned as to whether or not he had the ability to access data -- the league's exact concerns were not immediately clear -- through the watch. But since the Apple Watch doesn’t have access to mobile networks independently of an iPhone, it only functions as a watch and fitness tracker when a paired iPhone is not nearby.

However, it’s something that the MLB may have to revisit when Apple launches WatchOS 2.0. The next version of the Apple Watch operating system will bring a number of new features, such as support for third-party apps that run directly on the watch and the ability to connect to a known Wi-Fi network even when an iPhone is not nearby, according to Apple.

It’s not the first time a new piece of tech has drawn some confusion from the public. When Google launched its Google Glass headset in 2013, some venues such as restaurants and movie theaters banned the device due to its built-in camera, which was criticized as invasive. But the Glass wasn’t exactly the best device for taking secret photos and videos, since a user has to speak commands to get it to do just that.