Apple Watch SE and Series 6 Include 'Family Setup' for Pairing Multiple Watches to a Single iPhone

[G5isAlive]

It is THE sneakiest way to sell more watches - and finally make a lot of people ditch their old watches, they gave to their parents/children, because they were still "good enough" - now they lack the most interesting new feature.
Good move - yet - no Tim, it is a bit too obvious....

Why does every single change/innovation has to come with someone sneering that it is greed motivated?

What would you have them do, never change?

This is great for families... and if Apple sells more watches... good for them!

 

[palebluedot]

What about pairing an Apple Watch with a corporate and personal iPhone. Granularity of privacy controls on the work pairing. That would be brave.

 

[frankly]

Dumb that Apple Watch Series 3 is not supported!

Where are you seeing this, aside from the incorrect headline of this article?

It is THE sneakiest way to sell more watches - and finally make a lot of people ditch their old watches, they gave to their parents/children, because they were still "good enough" - now they lack the most interesting new feature.
Good move - yet - no Tim, it is a bit too obvious....

**
EDIT: Ok, apparently it is series 4 and up - this is fine then. I WILL test this...

Where are you seeing that it is 4 and up? This is a watchOS 7 feature. watchOS 7 works with Series 3 and up. I don't see anything on Apple's site that limits this feature to certain models.

Too bad Apple is too greedy to allow older watches to be paired to parents' iPhones.
I would buy a used Apple Watch 3 with LTE for my 10-year-old son to have access to a phone feature and so that I could track his whereabouts. No way I'm buying him a new Apple Watch SE with LTE for it.

There is no hardware limitation for Apple Watch 3 to support this feature. Shame on Apple. They would have done themselves a favor if they allowed the Apple Watch 3 and 4 and 5 to be paired to the parents' iPhones. This would allow parents to give their older watches to the kids and buy new watches for themselves.

What Greed!

I think this article is wrong.

Apple no longer selling series 3 with cellular - so maybe that is the reason. I wonder if it will still work with an existing Series 3 that has cellular....

Where are you seeing that this only works with Cellular models? It is possible but I can't find that on Apple's website.

I don't see why this couldn't be a feature of WatchOS7 instead of JUST the new AW7/SE ???
Isn't this strictly software? Nothing is hardware-limited to just set up multiple watches on a single iPhone...

I don't think it is limited to the new watches.

It's supported by the cellular series 4 too. The question is only will it work with the cellular series 3.

Where are you seeing cellular is a requirement? I haven't been able to find that on Apple's site.

 

[aaroncon]

Where are you seeing this, aside from the incorrect headline of this article?



Where are you seeing that it is 4 and up? This is a watchOS 7 feature. watchOS 7 works with Series 3 and up. I don't see anything on Apple's site that limits this feature to certain models.



I think this article is wrong.



Where are you seeing that this only works with Cellular models? It is possible but I can't find that on Apple's website.



I don't think it is limited to the new watches.



Where are you seeing cellular is a requirement? I haven't been able to find that on Apple's site.

Family Setup lets you use your iPhone to pair watches for family members who don’t have their own iPhone. Only available with GPS + Cellular. Learn more

From Learn More link:
Compatibility
Family Setup is only available with GPS + Cellular models for Apple Watch SE and Apple Watch Series 4 or later.

 

[jimmysalg]

Apple Watch Cellular Plans for Your Family

Connect your family with My Truphone for Apple Watch. Get cellular plan for your loved one either via the Apple watch app or your iPhone.

www.truphone.com

This company seems to be offering plans for $10/month. Standalone...

 

[LotusLord]

Apple Watch Cellular Plans for Your Family

Connect your family with My Truphone for Apple Watch. Get cellular plan for your loved one either via the Apple watch app or your iPhone.

www.truphone.com

This company seems to be offering plans for $10/month. Standalone...

I believe that's the going rate for the watch plans. I am curious if you need to have the family shared watches on the same carrier as the phone. That has been the requirement for as long as cellular watches have existed.

 

[sirozha]

Family Setup lets you use your iPhone to pair watches for family members who don’t have their own iPhone. Only available with GPS + Cellular. Learn more

From Learn More link:
Compatibility
Family Setup is only available with GPS + Cellular models for Apple Watch SE and Apple Watch Series 4 or later.

Why not Series 3? Dumb move. Apple lost two Apple Watch customers this year in this family.

 

[J___o___h___n]

So you need a Watch with Cellular? Ok, but why’s it so difficult to get a network plan?

Is it the same in the US? Here in the UK not all networks support it, and those that do, it’s restricted to Contract Plans and is linked to the iPhone Plan. What happens if this is your for younger kids without a phone? Do they get their own number? Do they share yours?

I don’t know who it isn’t easier? Let us just use any SIM but have it link to a eSIM-style setup and let us have the freedom to choose.

 

[jimmysalg]

I believe that's the going rate for the watch plans. I am curious if you need to have the family shared watches on the same carrier as the phone. That has been the requirement for as long as cellular watches have existed.

Look them up on youtube....they advertise that they don't.

 

[LotusLord]

So you need a Watch with Cellular? Ok, but why’s it so difficult to get a network plan?

Is it the same in the US? Here in the UK not all networks support it, and those that do, it’s restricted to Contract Plans and is linked to the iPhone Plan. What happens if this is your for younger kids without a phone? Do they get their own number? Do they share yours?

I don’t know who it isn’t easier? Let us just use any SIM but have it link to a eSIM-style setup and let us have the freedom to choose.

All Major US carriers support them. I don't know about the smaller (but very popular in Wisconsin) US Cellular, but AT&T, TMobile and Verizon (and formerly Sprint) all support the watch. According to Apple in the keynote they would get their own number. We won't know all the details for a few days I imagine.

 

[harriska2]

If you get the AW Series 6 with cellular, use your hubby’s iphone/family linked account, but have your own Apple Account with a mac and ipad will it use your cloud info to store your workouts, health data?

 

[hypersonics]

Wish those family members (the elderly) do not have to be in the same country for this to work. A limitation that currently exists with the family icloud sharing.

 

[shapesinaframe]

Finally there’s a model (SE) with a feature set that aligns with what you actually get if you’re living in a country where Apple still hasn’t enabled the ECG features of Series 4, 5 and 6. I really don’t see the point in buying the higher priced models if you’re not able to use all the features you paying for.