Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Watch Can Use Known Wi-Fi Networks for Limited Functions Even When iPhone Is Off

thefredelement said:
Now if I could just cover my town with my own wifi...
Click to expand...
On Long Island, CableVision (Optimum Online) has blanketed the whole area with thousands of WiFi stations on light poles and such. You can hook into it free for Optimum customers. My iPhone can hook in to it while driving or at the mall, for example. So, that is a known net to my phone. If it is also considered known to my watch, I'm on WiFi virtually anywhere on the island!

----------
therayj said:
Does this mean I can get other notifications as well, mainly the Mail app?

I want to go to the gym with my watch but leave my phone at home and still get mail app notifications -- will that work?
Click to expand...
He didn't mention that, but he did mention you can receive but not create or reply to Email, which I think is a glaring omission. You can reply to texts though.

I sense a version 2 feature. I believe our watches will get frequent software updates, and I'm all for it!
 
[/COLOR]
He didn't mention that, but he did mention you can receive but not create or reply to Email, which I think is a glaring omission. You can reply to texts though.

I sense a version 2 feature. I believe our watches will get frequent software updates, and I'm all for it!
Click to expand...

Did he say it could receive email? I saw texts but not email: "It can query Siri, for example, send and receive texts, and send/receive drawings and tap patterns to other watch owners."

My worry is that other apps like email need to be pushed from the phone for the notifications, so if I'm at the gym and my phone is at home I might not get Mail app notifications. I really wish someone could confirm this since it's make-or-break for my preorder...
 
newdeal said:
Nope it wasn't an iMessage it was green, and I know the recipient has a Blackberry and it worked even though my phone was at home and I was at the office on a different network about 20 minute drive away. I know it worked because he responded to the SMS while I was still at the office. My phone was on 8.1.2 and computer on 10.10.2 at the time
Click to expand...

You can't send a 'green' SMS from your Mac if you don't have your iPhone in range to route the SMS through, so I think you may be mistaken in your recollection of what happened.
 
k1121j said:
Umm yes apple has said previously have you seen the keynote. They say in the keynote it can use wifi and the phone can communicate width the watch on the same local wifi as well
Click to expand...

Exactly, Tim Cook said something to the affect of don't worry if it is out of Bluetooth range when you are at home the :apple:Watch can use WiFi (this implies same local WiFi network) to communicate with your iPhone so you don't miss any notifications.

For those saying that it doesn't have the ability to log into a network are sort of right in that it may not have the GUI for it but if it is tied to an iPhone and if the iPhone knows the network information it can send that to the :apple:Watch for later use.
 
Daalseth said:
This is the kind of stuff they should have been talking about months ago. For a lot of the doubters, myself included, one of the biggest weaknesses was that it only could do most functions tethered to the phone. Only NOW are we finding out, and not from Apple, that it has independent abilities. The Apple Watch has a lot of capabilities without the phone and that is huge. Marketing was so fixated on style and appearance, and getting on the cover of Vogue and what it could do through the iPhone, that they have been not mentioning huge features like this. This is a huge screw up by marketing.
Click to expand...

Or it could be intentional. May as well sell some fools some iPhones before launch.
 
MrXiro said:
I don't recall the iPad being called as polarizing as the Watch. I think this is a great device that is over priced. The iPad was a full blown device. The Apple Watch is more of an accessory... for now.

I still want one. I just think it's $100 more expensive that it should be for the base models.
Click to expand...

I'm sure I remember people wondering about the usefulness of iPad as it couldn't replace either the phone or your laptop. No multitasking, no Flash, no Microsoft Office were the criticisms. "No better than a netbook, which costs less." Plus, until iOS 5 it required plugging into iTunes to setup / sync content. It all seems laughable looking back, in a way.

I agree with you regarding Apple Watch price: If the black Sport version was £250 not £350, I'd probably buy one.
 
Kissaragi said:
Seems pretty complex to know what it can do with or without a phone.
Click to expand...

Which is probably exactly why they aren't advertising it, and instead leaving it to feel like a little extra magic when stuff unexpectedly DOES work.

As for SMS, it seems clear that it's going to act just like a Mac - uses iMessage, and uses the phone as an SMS relay.
 
Rocketman said:
Given T-mobile and Sprint recently announced enabling wi-fi phone calls, relying on data usage for revenue rather than metered voice phone usage, it appears about 8 years after the release of the iPhone, we may see what was possible all along. IP phone calls on any IP channel, cellular, bluetooth, wifi, wired.

Rocketman
Click to expand...

The main reason for not doing 8 years ago was that VOIP sucked (well, it still often suck) when you didn't have a guarantee of service, proper latency.

The only issue in public hotspots is passwords/accepting Terms of use (like at McD), not sure how you could do that from your watch. If you could set up connection once with your Iphone and then the watch remembered the parameters next time you went there (and didn't need to log on again), that would be the best.

----------
StarManta said:
Which is probably exactly why they aren't advertising it, and instead leaving it to feel like a little extra magic when stuff unexpectedly DOES work.

As for SMS, it seems clear that it's going to act just like a Mac - uses iMessage, and uses the phone as an SMS relay.
Click to expand...

In the article, there is no phone, so it is just Imessage, no SMS (though, for people that use the Iphone and have unlimited SMS in their plan, the point is moot).
 
phpmaven said:
They never said that anything about them "being on the same wifi network", all they said was that they communicated over wifi when out of Bluetooth range. The assumption was that it was using the iPhone's wifi to make the connection. Kinda like a hot spot. Many assumed that since the Watch can't login to a wifi network, that this was how it worked.
Click to expand...

At the second announce they had confirmed they both could communicate with each other when on the same WIFI network (not directly with each other); saw that on a few tech sites (it was commented on some threads here). Of course, for this to happen, you probably need to set up the watch from the Iphone to be able to connect to that network and then remember this setup (unless there is no password and it accepts any connection).

I'm guessing the reason Apple has not publicized it too much is that using the watch outside your own WIFI network when you don't have an Iphone close to set it up could be a pain, until your easily able to join this network from the watch (maybe a future software update will simplify this and they'll publicize it more).
 
bpeeps said:
Who, people keep mentioning this, but no one has any direct links or quotes so I can laugh.
Click to expand...

So,one quote would convince that this was a majority opinion? I doubt that.

Anyway, pre-second announce, and even after it for people not paying attention, people WERE saying this. If you have the immense patience of going to september-February watch threads and wading through those huge threads searching for WIFI, then you'll get your answer (you would need to be really interested and obviously much time on your hand to do that though)
 
My plan is to leave my iPhone on its charger at home 75% of the time and just rely on my watch around the house. Phone calls, texts, notifications will all come to me. No more carrying the phone around with me at home from room to room.

Also plan to do that in the office assuming the office wifi network doesn't give me port/subnet issues.

Only need to carry my phone when I leave the house or need to do something more complicated.

Assuming battery lasts :)
 
Can the Apple Watch make/receive phone calls over Wi-Fi only with no Bluetooth connectivity. Here's a use case to consider: one is working out in a gym with the Apple Watch on one's wrist and the iPhone in a locker in the locker room. Both are connected to the gym's Wi-Fi. If phone calls can be made/received from the Apple Watch as long as it can communicate with the iPhone over Wi-Fi, this would be one feature I would consider buying the Apple Watch for.
 
sirozha said:
If phone calls can be made/received from the Apple Watch as long as it can communicate with the iPhone over Wi-Fi, this would be one feature I would consider buying the Apple Watch for.
Click to expand...

Mavericks does this today using Continuity if you have your iPhone on the same wifi network - you can answer your iPhone from your Mac. I'm assuming Watch does the same thing.

https://www.apple.com/osx/continuity/
 
sirozha said:
Can the Apple Watch make/receive phone calls over Wi-Fi only with no Bluetooth connectivity. Here's a use case to consider: one is working out in a gym with the Apple Watch on one's wrist and the iPhone in a locker in the locker room. Both are connected to the gym's Wi-Fi. If phone calls can be made/received from the Apple Watch as long as it can communicate with the iPhone over Wi-Fi, this would be one feature I would consider buying the Apple Watch for.
Click to expand...

The Apple Watch can do what you just described. If I am at home on my Wi-Fi network my watch can see the phone using Wi-Fi and of course bluetooth up to xx feet.

Same for your description with both on the gym's Wi-Fi network. You can make and take calls from the watch with your phone in the locker on the same wi-fi network.

Someone correct me if I missed something in the question.
 
Last edited:
Keirasplace said:
At the second announce they had confirmed they both could communicate with each other when on the same WIFI network (not directly with each other); saw that on a few tech sites (it was commented on some threads here). Of course, for this to happen, you probably need to set up the watch from the Iphone to be able to connect to that network and then remember this setup (unless there is no password and it accepts any connection).

I'm guessing the reason Apple has not publicized it too much is that using the watch outside your own WIFI network when you don't have an Iphone close to set it up could be a pain, until your easily able to join this network from the watch (maybe a future software update will simplify this and they'll publicize it more).
Click to expand...

Well, maybe I missed it, but I don't remember them ever saying "same Wi-Fi network". No biggie.
 
Azzin said:
You can't send a 'green' SMS from your Mac if you don't have your iPhone in range to route the SMS through, so I think you may be mistaken in your recollection of what happened.
Click to expand...

It was like 2 days ago, I was surprised at the time that it worked also but it certainly did work, I just confirmed that I was correct which I am. My phone was at home, on my home network, which also has other Macs on it, and I sent the message, which went as SMS from my mac at work

----------
cmichaelb said:
iMessage most likely.
Click to expand...

nope
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back