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Anyone actually using cellular?
- Thread starter ricktat
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I think they only show up when the LTE is on; i.e. you're away from phone and known wifi.
So do i understand right that the watch will not work by itself on cellular if the phone is not on? (I understand it doesn’t have to be nearby) part of my reasoning for it was to have back up for the times when the phone dies etc... I guess I misunderstood what they meant by it could work on its own....
Some stuff works, I think calling and imessage will, other things depend on the phone to relay the content such as SMS (green bubble) messaging. I'm not clear on specifically what does and doesn't. Generally though I'd look at the watch LTE capability as preserving the watch to phone connection over much greater distances, allowing you to leave the phone behind for a while such as when going out for a run or to the gym or even when going to the neighborhood grocery store.
The watch will only activate cellular to conserve battery when it is off WiFi and away from the iPhone. You will see green digs then.
The watch shows a red x and says disconnected if her (wife’s) phone is dead... i chatted with apple for awhile, and the person didn’t know (????)... and then another guy there said he thought that the watch didn’t work (calls texts whatever) if the phone was not on and connected... connected as in on line be it cell or wifi... if the phone is off or dead there is no relay anymore for the watch is what i am gathering, something along those lines
I already consider the LTE Watch part of my emergency preparedness plan, regardless of how often I'll use LTE during my regular activities.
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Just tested mine.
Switched phone off, turned off WiFi on watch (running WatchOS 4.1) and forced LTE.
Got 4 bars after 30 seconds and made a phone call - all good.
Got wife to call me - all good
Sent iMessage - all good
Received iMessage - all good
Couldn’t check text as don’t know anyone without iPhone lol
Refreshed weather - all good
Sent email - all good
Received email - all good
This is on EE in the UK.
Seems it does work, though as others have said, my usual use is to leave the phone behind when I am walking the dogs, at the gym or nipping to the shops.
I got 6 months free watch data with EE, I think I’ll keep it after for £5/mth as it is quite liberating to walk the dogs with AirPods and no phone and still be contactable but not tied to an 8+
Edit: just retried an email and neither sending nor receiving worked. Weather (native and carrot) worked though. Weird.
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Interesting... also interesting that apple support was wishy washy on it too i might add (i was like, ah you don’t know?!)... so is the watch still working as you said? Calls and iMessages? Thanks so much for the response!
Calls and iMessages are good as is the weather. Email should work according to below but doesn’t:
It takes from 30 to 50 seconds for the Watch to switch to Cellular once out of range of Bluetooth and or Wi-Fi.
In the situation you mentioned, is it possible that Cellular is disabled on the Watch?
In the Control Center on the Watch, there is button for the LTE. White indicates that LTE is enabled and in standby mode. Green indicates that the Watch is actively connected to LTE, this also means that Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are not available. If the Icon is Grayed out then LTE is disabled.
If you Tap the Cellular Button, top left Button in the Watch's Control Panel, the next screen is where you enable / disable Cellular.
Dave
Cellular is toggled on... wonder if we have a lemon or something... they had some software issues prior to release, did they fix it? I wonder if the watch is grabbing random wifi or something and maybe that’s the problem? I’ll have to go check it again... thanks again for your help
Yes there was a fix released as watchOS 4.0.1 to address the sticking on bad Wi-Fi connections that was confirmed before watches shipped. The beta for watchOS 4.1 adds a button to the Control Panel to toggle Wi-Fi on/off and also adds the SSID of the Wi-Fi network that is connected. So keep an eye out for the next update.
Dave
Consistently have been docking my Apple Watch at night with 50% battery life.
I think you will see an upward spike of cellular usage once 4.1 is released. The ability to stream music is going to be huge.
It’s handy, but not essential to be able to nip down to the village shop without needing to carry my phone if I need to post a letter. My children are old enough to be on their own but they can still ring me if they need to.
I would think this will also drain people’s batteries a lot faster too.
I’ll stick with the music loaded on my watch.
I’ll stick with the music loaded on my watch.
Well I for one am looking forward to being able to stream all of the music in my library during a run/workout. I'll just drop the watch on the charger when I am done for a bit if I feel it is running low.
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Used cellular, again, today on a run. Received two important emails at lunch time while running, one of which I had to pause and reply to. Having an iPhone 7+ bouncing around in my running shorts is just not a good alternative.
Just wanted to update: it magically fixed itself and is now working. No software update (it was already on the latest), no setting changes, it just works now... so if anyone has the issue just sit tight I guess! Thanks for your help here!
Thanks for the update. Also watchOS 4.1 is now available, it adds the Wi-Fi Toggle to the Control Center and also adds the Wi-FI SSID of the current Wi-Fi network. Also Music stream has finally been added for Apple Music, as well as the iTunes Match service. It also allows users to access songs from their iCloud Music Library, which includes iTunes Store purchases.
Dave
Dave
I had them. You do realize they only show when you are using cellular, once you are on wifi or connected to your iPhone they go away. Best way to test is to put your iPhone in Airplane mode, and turn off your modem (so it does not connect to wifi) and it will take them a little bit but they will pop up. Do that and reply with what happens.
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4.1 update was a game changer for me. Now without my phone at the gym I have access to my entire iTunes library and Apple Music/Radio.