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Apple Watch cellular: E-Mail with iPhone disconnected
- Thread starter GuMo
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I don’t think what Apple told you is correct. If the Watch has a network connection (WiFi or cellular) it should be able to both send and receive.
When you say “the phone is disconnected” exactly what do you mean? I just did some tests with my cellular watch and my outlook.com email account. If the phone was completely turned off or in airplane mode then the watch was not able to access my email account. However, if the phone was turned on, but not connected to the watch. (WiFi and Bluetooth turned off on the phone and Wifi turned off on the watch) then the watch was able to access the email account.
So it would appear that your phone does need to be turned on and connected to the internet in order for email to work on your watch, but your watch doesn’t necessarily need a Bluetooth or wifi connection to your phone.
So it would appear that your phone does need to be turned on and connected to the internet in order for email to work on your watch, but your watch doesn’t necessarily need a Bluetooth or wifi connection to your phone.
Define "disconnected".
Many apps have limited capability if the phone cannot relay on behalf of the watch as may be expected for accessing third party email servers.
So long as the watch as Internet access via wifi or cellular and the phone has internet access via wifi or cellular, they will remain "connected" for purposes of things like emails and so forth. Even if they're miles away from one another.
Hello! Thank you, that's very interesting, receiving E-Mails works! But, unfortunately, sending E-Mails (and reply) does not work.
Could you please check this?
Thank You!
Regards
Guido
It looks like you are correct. When I tested before I just verified that I could receive an email, but I didn’t try to send one. So I tried again and the message failed to send.
I know this is an older thread, but it describes my situation perfectly.
Does anyone have a definitive answer as to whether all email accounts should work over cellular when away from the phone. If I turn my phone off, iCloud and GMail accounts work just fine, but my standard IMAP accounts connected to my personal domains don't. They work just fine when the phone is turned on and nearby though.
Does anyone have a definitive answer as to whether all email accounts should work over cellular when away from the phone. If I turn my phone off, iCloud and GMail accounts work just fine, but my standard IMAP accounts connected to my personal domains don't. They work just fine when the phone is turned on and nearby though.
@ventmore - Any update on this issue?
I am using an Apple Watch 8 cellular and I can get iCloud.com email to work fine w/o the iPhone in BlueTooth range but nothing else seems to work at all. I am getting nothing but wishy washy responses from Apple.
I'd prefer not to use iCloud email as Apple still has a habit of deleting emails w/o letting me nor the sender know and its unreliable for solid email at this point. I have not found any override to bypass this silent dumping of email.
If GMAIL works, I could consider that but I really hate anything Google..
I am using an Apple Watch 8 cellular and I can get iCloud.com email to work fine w/o the iPhone in BlueTooth range but nothing else seems to work at all. I am getting nothing but wishy washy responses from Apple.
I'd prefer not to use iCloud email as Apple still has a habit of deleting emails w/o letting me nor the sender know and its unreliable for solid email at this point. I have not found any override to bypass this silent dumping of email.
If GMAIL works, I could consider that but I really hate anything Google..
Unfortunately not......it seems that's just the way it is...or at least was. I haven't looked into since, as I returned the watch within the 14 day window.
I hope you find a solution that works for you.
My email (Yahoo, Gmail, Work- Exchange) works on my AWU if my iPhone is powered on and connected to cellular or WiFi but my iPhone does not need to be near me connected to Bluetooth…so iPhone could be on the other side of planet for that matter.
Oddly enough though I did notice just now that my Gmail account only still does work if my iPhone is totally powered off… my other accounts though do not work if iPhone is powered totally off. I thought I had tested Gmail in the past and this was not the case.
Oddly enough though I did notice just now that my Gmail account only still does work if my iPhone is totally powered off… my other accounts though do not work if iPhone is powered totally off. I thought I had tested Gmail in the past and this was not the case.
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I have tried many providers, lastly was Fastmail. The watch will check and can send email as long as it's within the iPhone via BT. But when I go away and leave the house with the iPhone there, regardless of the iPhone status be it wifi or cell, I am unable to check or send ANY email via Fastmail. The watch says "No connection available" despite having 4 bars and the ability to use other data apps on the watch.
However, with iCloud as my email provider, the watch works 100% independent of anything. The iPhone can be turned off and it still works.
What I don't get is what anything has to do with anything here. If the AW8 is cellular then ANY email provider that supports IMAP should just work - yet it doesn't. Apple's final comment on the matter is that email is NOT supposed to work w/o the phone in bt range.
Thats just pathetic, so I can't get any support and just use iCloud for email as it 'works'.
Apple support article below states email should work even if your iPhone isn't with you. I am not sure if that's dependent on the email provider or the transport method, I can only confirm the Yahoo and Gmail do work using the native Apple email client.
Use your Apple Watch without your iPhone nearby - Apple Support
Learn what you can do with your Apple Watch when your iPhone isn't with you.
I appreciate that page, as I have reviewed it many times. Each ticket I have opened with Apple I am told that email shouldn't work w/o the iPhone in BT range. So they won't troubleshoot something for me that according to them shouldn't work in the 1st place.
Im fine using iCloud - but Apple silently deletes email w/o notifying me nor the sender vs just tossing it into junk.
Thats the main reason I would like to use a provider that lets ME decide what's Spammy and what isnt.
Im fine using iCloud - but Apple silently deletes email w/o notifying me nor the sender vs just tossing it into junk.
Thats the main reason I would like to use a provider that lets ME decide what's Spammy and what isnt.
iCloud mail accounts can send email from a Watch even if the iPhone is totally disconnected and/or unreachable.
this is because apple knows (of course) the outgoing mail server's address and other info that is necessary in order to send email from an iCloud account.
it appears that in a similar situation non-iCloud email accounts info is only retained on the iPhone, so if the iPhone is unreachable, then the Watch does not have the info it needs (outgoing mail server info etc).
incoming mail use standard protocols to receive so incoming mail is not a problem.
if there is a Watch specific 3rd party mail app that allows server info to be input actually in the Watch app itself, then it would be no problem to send 3rd party mail directly from the Watch irrespective of the iPhone, as long as you have an internet connection.
the apple support page that is frequently cited is so poorly written that it borders on being fraudulent.
this is because apple knows (of course) the outgoing mail server's address and other info that is necessary in order to send email from an iCloud account.
it appears that in a similar situation non-iCloud email accounts info is only retained on the iPhone, so if the iPhone is unreachable, then the Watch does not have the info it needs (outgoing mail server info etc).
incoming mail use standard protocols to receive so incoming mail is not a problem.
if there is a Watch specific 3rd party mail app that allows server info to be input actually in the Watch app itself, then it would be no problem to send 3rd party mail directly from the Watch irrespective of the iPhone, as long as you have an internet connection.
the apple support page that is frequently cited is so poorly written that it borders on being fraudulent.
I sent most of today testing this situation out.
I worked with iCloud and Fastmail as well as MXRoute.
What I determined is that iCloud is 100% independent of anything with the iPhone and works for sending/receiving email just fine.
But for Fastmail/MXRoute, the iPhone must be powered on and either on WIFI or LTE/5G for email to work. I am unclear why as I do not need to be in Bluetooth range and can even have BT turned off on the iPhone and it will work.
So what is it doing and how....??
Once in awhile when trying to SEND email from the watch I receive a pop up saying NO OUTGOING SERVER configured but swiping the mail app away and relaunching it on the watch, allows me to then send and continue to send after the 1st initial failure when leaving home and the watch will work fine the rest of my outing.
So for me, using either MXRoute or Fastmail seems to work as of today with the AW on cell and out of BT range of the iPhone. This is good. Not perfect but acceptable for now..
I worked with iCloud and Fastmail as well as MXRoute.
What I determined is that iCloud is 100% independent of anything with the iPhone and works for sending/receiving email just fine.
But for Fastmail/MXRoute, the iPhone must be powered on and either on WIFI or LTE/5G for email to work. I am unclear why as I do not need to be in Bluetooth range and can even have BT turned off on the iPhone and it will work.
So what is it doing and how....??
Once in awhile when trying to SEND email from the watch I receive a pop up saying NO OUTGOING SERVER configured but swiping the mail app away and relaunching it on the watch, allows me to then send and continue to send after the 1st initial failure when leaving home and the watch will work fine the rest of my outing.
So for me, using either MXRoute or Fastmail seems to work as of today with the AW on cell and out of BT range of the iPhone. This is good. Not perfect but acceptable for now..
Well this was short lived. After 3 days or so, the watch became inconsistent with being able to check/send email using Fastmail/MXRoute. The watch would report back "No connection available" or "No servers configured".
A restart of the watch while running errands w/o the iPhone, seemed to fix it for the rest of the day.
However, once I reached out to my cell provider to discuss, they made some changes and then I couldn't make a call on the watch even with the iPhone present. I would just get the typical 3 beeps (Failure).
That was the final straw for my patience with this watch. So I returned it within the 14 day window (today was the last day ironically) and I will just live with the iPhone itself. At least it works fine in any respect.
Over $500 for a watch that can't seem to work correctly on cellular isn't cool.. Case Closed!
A restart of the watch while running errands w/o the iPhone, seemed to fix it for the rest of the day.
However, once I reached out to my cell provider to discuss, they made some changes and then I couldn't make a call on the watch even with the iPhone present. I would just get the typical 3 beeps (Failure).
That was the final straw for my patience with this watch. So I returned it within the 14 day window (today was the last day ironically) and I will just live with the iPhone itself. At least it works fine in any respect.
Over $500 for a watch that can't seem to work correctly on cellular isn't cool.. Case Closed!