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phillyman

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 17, 2008
209
122
HI All,

I'm helping girlfriends parents with some family sharing and apple watch issues. I'm pretty sure we know the answers but maybe you have some insight.
They are both older (late seventies) and can use basic tech features. The mother is more savvy. She has an iPad and MacBook plus "runs" the tech. She likes her flip phone.
He is not into tech but has an iMac and the critical iPhone (mostly for audible while walking).

She got herself an apple watch because she sometimes falls at home and likes the idea of tracking her fitness while taking long walks (alone). She got an apple watch SE with the goal of using it with cell service for fall protection and some other features. We are having trouble setting it up. Does she have to cede her Apple ID to child to make this work? She currently is the "admin", she switched him to parent from adult. When they enter their apple ID credentials it just pops back to the Apple ID screen. No error message, no explanation.

Certainly family sharing was geared to parents/children but is there anyway for adults to familyshare with standalone watch? I couldn't figure it out and it seems like a huge missed opportunity . I can think of many adult children that would love this for their parents? I would get one for my dad in a heartbeat. Even just among an elderly couple that shares one iPhone . Most 70+ I know, share one line since they are more or less together and if one goes out alone they take the phone.

Any outside the box thinking? They can't register the watch to his iPhone since they do have separate messaging accounts etc. I guess getting her an iphone (probably apple's goal all along) would be the only option. Have we heard anything that they might expand family sharing or apple watch independence ? I don't quite understand why an apple watch needs an iPhone anyway. I get the "offloading" argument but why limit basic functionality for certain people?

I assume one cannot setup an apple watch and then go into settings afterwards and manually change apple IDs after the fact? So setup with his ID (with his phone) and then switch to hers afterwards (seems to obvious).

Thanks for indulging my rant and maybe having workarounds that you have used.

Philly
 
I had considered the same thing. I don't have an answer and haven't looked into it in detail, but I'm sure you and I cannot be the only ones who have given some thought to this.

So no answers from me, sorry, but I'm interested to hear how this works out.

It does seem like a slam-dunk use case.
 
This is a one-to-one system. If she wants all the features she’s gonna need her own iPhone. In this case she does. The family sharing is limited for old people because I don’t think it was ever truly meant for the wearer. It’s meant for the adult children of the wearer. At least that’s my take because otherwise there’s no reason to hamstring it so much.
 
Thank you for your replies. Yes Howard it does seem counter intuitive. I guess my issue is if you have decided that the watch can run on its own (wifi, cell, bluetooth enabled) IF you have an iPhone, it feels wrong to cripple it without an iPhone. Friend went on a hiking trip last fall and was worried about his new iPhone. He left the phone 1000 miles away and the watch did all he needed.

Jbaby, the target demo for me, is Parents with preteens would be my guess. Give them a bit of apple eco system without the full access an iPhone has. I'm convinced that Apple is trying to stop the watch becoming an iPhone "lite".

but again thanks for the feedback,

Philly
 
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