Apple Watch On Wifi

darkarw · Apr 25, 2015

Maybe I misunderstood something at the last keynote, but I thought that they clearly said that if your watch and phone were both on wifi you could still get notifications and make phone calls, even if you were outside the range of bluetooth. I have tried playing around with this to no avail, and last night I even got on the phone with Apple support to ask them about this and they told me two different things. First, the watch only uses wifi to help communicate calls between the phone and the watch. Everything else is actually all done with bluetooth (ie. notifications, digital touch, etc.) and that the watch doesn't actually connect to a wifi network. Has anyone else played around with this and what are your thoughts. I was a little disappointed because I was hoping I wouldn't have to carry my phone around the house to receive notifications.

lightmyway · Apr 25, 2015

I would also like to know this. My phone lost connection a couple of rooms away this morning, where wifi should have been fine.

darkarw · Apr 25, 2015

Here is what apple support said about it.

darkarw · Apr 25, 2015

continued...

darkarw · Apr 25, 2015

Anyone else under the same impression?

DynaFXD · Apr 25, 2015

darkarw said:
Anyone else under the same impression?

TL;DR Mind boiling that wall of text down into a sentence or two?

darkarw · Apr 25, 2015

Pretty much stated that the watch does not actually use Wifi at all and that all notifications and calls are only forwarded when within bluetooth range.

Rayban · Apr 25, 2015

I've found that it was a RUMOR reported on this website that is completely false. I think this is where it all stems from: https://www.macrumors.com/2015/04/09/apple-watch-limited-functions-iphone/
Yahoo! Tech is to blame for the confusion not Apple.

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I stand corrected:
from the Watch user guide:

Apple Watch uses Bluetooth® wireless technology to connect to its paired iPhone and uses the
iPhone for many wireless functions. Apple Watch can’t configure new Wi-Fi networks on its own,
but it can connect to Wi-Fi networks you’ve set up on the paired iPhone.
If your Apple Watch and iPhone are on the same network but aren’t connected by Bluetooth, you
can also do the following on Apple Watch without iPhone:
• Send and receive messages using iMessage
• Send and receive Digital Touch messages
• Use Siri

No mention of phone calls though.

darkarw · Apr 25, 2015

Well I didn't think it could actually do anything if the phone wasn't present like stated in that article, I just thought that as long as I was at home and both my phone and watch were on wifi, that I didn't have to be within bluetooth range to make or receive calls.

I could be wrong but I thought Kevin (I think that is his name) stated this in the last launch Keynote for the apple watch.

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can you send me a link to that guide?

rsxmachine · Apr 25, 2015

I'm pretty sure keynote stated if watch and phone are on same wifi network you can access certain features such as phone calls even if phone not in same room.

darkarw · Apr 25, 2015

rsxmachine said:
I'm pretty sure keynote stated if watch and phone are on same wifi network you can access certain features such as phone calls even if phone not in same room.

That is exactly what I was asking of the apple support person, last night on the phone and again tonight via chat. Both told me this was not the case at all.

rsxmachine · Apr 25, 2015

darkarw said:
That is exactly what I was asking of the apple support person, last night on the phone and again tonight via chat. Both told me this was not the case at all.

other people on the forums said it worked for them.

PhiLLoW · Apr 25, 2015

My iphone is off right now and I can still use Siri, create reminders, start & use apps etc.

Only notification and phone doesn't work.

Edit:
Stuff seems to happen offline and is cached till the iphone has a connection again. The watch itself is not using my local WiFi. There is only an adhoc connection between phone & watch

DynaFXD · Apr 25, 2015

darkarw said:
Pretty much stated that the watch does not actually use Wifi at all and that all notifications and calls are only forwarded when within bluetooth range.

Awesome, thank you for the summary of your conversation!
I don't believe them. But I have no proof other than feeling completely mislead by marketing materials. I'll look forward to hearing more about this.
Cheers

joshcls · Apr 25, 2015

Do you have wifi calling on? If so, turn it off and try again. Continuity only works if wifi calling is turned off.

mitchleeh · Apr 25, 2015

darkarw said:
That is exactly what I was asking of the apple support person, last night on the phone and again tonight via chat. Both told me this was not the case at all.

I remember hearing the same thing FWIW. Maybe it's not there yet, and will come with an update? At least I really hope.

DynaFXD · Apr 25, 2015

rsxmachine said:
I'm pretty sure keynote stated if watch and phone are on same wifi network you can access certain features such as phone calls even if phone not in same room.

I heard that too. But isn't that a bit of a stretch? Suppose I am at the gym on their wifi. My two devices communicate across that wifi? So each device has to get an address, and share that address with each other and create an ad-hoc peer to peer?. But isn't that a router's job to control communications between attached devices on a public access point? Or otherwise, isn't exposing your address for open peer to peer communications a on a public wifi bad thing? I just don't understand the nuances of networking well enough. But it sounds fishy. On a home network where I can leave it wide open seems more plausible than a public access point.

edit: edited for clarity

darkarw · Apr 25, 2015

PhiLLoW said:
My iphone is off right now and I can still use Siri, create reminders, start & use apps etc.

Only notification and phone doesn't work.

Edit:
Stuff seems to happen offline and is cached till the iphone has a connection again. The watch itself is not using my local WiFi. There is only an adhoc connection between phone & watch

So what all are you able to do with siri when the phone is not around?

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joshcls said:
Do you have wifi calling on? If so, turn it off and try again. Continuity only works if wifi calling is turned off.

no, I have AT&T, wifi calling isn't even an option for me.

sjinsjca · Apr 25, 2015

It makes sense that Bluetooth is the main channel between the Watch and an iPhone, for the simple reason that many WiFi networks have logins, accept-these-terms buttons, etc.

My understanding is that the Watch pulls WiFi SSIDs and passwords from the iPhone (via Bluetooth), so a method of achieving basic connectivity and password entry isn't needed. There's definitely a WiFi chip and antenna in the Watch.

But it's still a separate device as far as the network is concerned. So it might "connect" to the WiFi but essentially stuck in the user-authentication state without access beyond the router. Without a browser of its own for entering user credentials (for example, hotel-room number and last-name, in the case of most Marriott-family hotels in the US), there's no way to get past this.

And some hotels, airplane WiFi and commercial hotspots only allow one device to be connected at a time for a given login. Your other devices are kicked off... but will still show connection to the access point.

darkarw · Apr 25, 2015

sjinsjca said:
It makes sense that Bluetooth is the main channel between the Watch and an iPhone, for the simple reason that many WiFi networks have logins, accept-these-terms buttons, etc.

My understanding is that the Watch pulls WiFi SSIDs and passwords from the iPhone (via Bluetooth), so a method of achieving basic connectivity and password entry isn't needed. There's definitely a WiFi chip and antenna in the Watch.

But it's still a separate device as far as the network is concerned. So it might "connect" to the WiFi but essentially stuck in the user-authentication state without access beyond the router. Without a browser of its own for entering user credentials (for example, hotel-room number and last-name, in the case of most Marriott-family hotels in the US), there's no way to get past this.

And some hotels, airplane WiFi and commercial hotspots only allow one device to be connected at a time for a given login. Your other devices are kicked off... but will still show connection to the access point.

Yeah I completely agree with this, but me and my wife are both trying this out on our home wifi to no avail.

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Ok I stand corrected my wife was just able to send an imessage after the watch disconnected from her phone. Still not able to receive any other notifications from her phone though and can't take calls.

DynaFXD · Apr 25, 2015

sjinsjca said:
But it's still a separate device as far as the network is concerned. So it might "connect" to the WiFi but essentially stuck in the user-authentication state without access beyond the router.

Going out on a limb here.....If the watch is paired to a phone, then essentially, it is an extension of that phone, no? One device. So, the watch can clone/spoof/what-have-you the phones MAC address and BE the same device on the host network. Then, instead of sending the data to the phone directly, it adds a prefix/suffix and sends that data to a remote server. That server echos it back. The listening device either acts or ignores based on the prefix or suffix, and you are working two devices on the same network seat. Doable? I have no clue.

jjd · Apr 25, 2015

darkarw said:
Yeah I completely agree with this, but me and my wife are both trying this out on our home wifi to no avail.

I am really happy with the Watch, but I am pretty bummed that the wifi handoff doesn't work as widely reported. The use case described of answering a call on your watch when you have left the phone on the other side of the house is pretty compelling. I thought Tim Cook had been quoted as saying that this functionality existed...

Could a firmware or software update address this? If not then I guess in the Gen 2 model.

pethead · Apr 25, 2015

I've noticed that the watch doesn't always connect to wifi when its available

As an example i just got home and my phone indeed connected, but the watch did not....I can tell looking at the router and the DHCP addresses in use....I waited about 5 mins and still no wifi connection from the watch even tho i was using the device.....I turned Airplane mode on and off and then it connected to wifi (grabbing an IP)

I'd rather the Watch be using wifi then BT I'd think that range would be better on WIFI and power usage should be less then when on BT

macgeek01 · Apr 25, 2015

This has been discussed on other threads. Some people have had success using the Apple Watch to make calls out of BlueTooth range on WiFi and some not. I tested and was able to do it myself. I was definitely outside of Bluetooth range and even turned it off on the phone. The iPhone doesn't seem to make any type of ad hoc connection like Air Drop and you can see the watch is connected to your network if you check wireless clients from your router.

sjinsjca · Apr 25, 2015

DynaFXD said:
Going out on a limb here.....If the watch is paired to a phone, then essentially, it is an extension of that phone, no?

The WiFi access point sees a separate device with its own MAC identifier. So, no.

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