AW7 and wifi if phone not around/on

[deckard666]

So in the mornings my phone is on airplane mode or switched off whilst I am in bed overnight. My apple watch is on my wrist to wake me up and sleep track but I notice that if I ask it send a message whilst I am in bed it cant till I pair it with my phone.

I thought if the AW was on my home WIFI it wouldn't need the phone.......

 

[StumpyBloke]

Depends on what kind of message I would have thought. It will not be able to send a text message (SMS) because it needs the phone to go through that. What kind of messages are you trying to send?

 

[ZebraDude]

So in the mornings my phone is on airplane mode or switched off whilst I am in bed overnight. My apple watch is on my wrist to wake me up and sleep track but I notice that if I ask it send a message whilst I am in bed it cant till I pair it with my phone.

I thought if the AW was on my home WIFI it wouldn't need the phone.......

Any reason why you have your iPhone off or in airplane mode? If it is a true SMS and not iMessage you are trying to send it might need the phone on to act as the SMS server.

 

[deckard666]

To be honest its anything - like it wont get the weather either and I sure I read somewhere as long as the phone has been on a wifi network the watch can use it completely autonomously.

Actually apple says it can do all the above

Use your Apple Watch when your iPhone is not nearby – Apple Support (UK)

Find out what you can do with your Apple Watch when you don’t have your iPhone with you.

support.apple.com

 

[Howard2k]

To be honest its anything - like it wont get the weather either and I sure I read somewhere as long as the phone has been on a wifi network the watch can use it completely autonomously.

Actually apple says it can do all the above

Use your Apple Watch when your iPhone is not nearby – Apple Support (UK)

Find out what you can do with your Apple Watch when you don’t have your iPhone with you.

support.apple.com

1. To receive SMS, MMS or push notifications from third-party apps on your cellular Apple Watch, your paired iPhone must be turned on and connected to a Wi-Fi or mobile network, but it doesn't need to be nearby. You also need to be signed in to iMessage on your iPhone.

If my phone is in range but in airplane mode it still stays connected to the watch. That seems odd. And while it's connected to the watch it won't send either iMessage or SMS, because the phone is not talking to the network.

But if my phone is turned off it will send iMessage.

Check your phone connection status here:

 

[andyw715]

Just a note, many of the settings can be configured to mirror the phone, so putting the phone in Airplane mode might also put the watch in Airplane mode.

 

[deckard666]

So this is weird - my watch is configured to not mirror the phone so the moment you put the phone in airplane mode it tuns off wifi but leaves BT on (which itself is odd) but then my watch still wont connect to wifi - if i turn BT off manually so its greyed out in Control Centre it still wont but if I turn the phone off it immediately does....bizarre.

 

[andyw715]

the moment you put the phone in airplane mode it tuns off wifi but leaves BT on (which itself is odd)

Not really. That is what airplane mode is supposed to do...turn off cellular and wifi....BT is low power and short range....and I'm sure airlines don't want to have to be tech support for a bunch of people on the plane that don't know how to reconnect their headphones

 

[Night Spring]

Not really. That is what airplane mode is supposed to do...turn off cellular and wifi....BT is low power and short range....and I'm sure airlines don't want to have to be tech support for a bunch of people on the plane that don't know how to reconnect their headphones

Do we really need to turn off wifi and cellular? Like Toby said on the West Wing, "you're telling me I can still flummox this thing with something I bought at Radio Shack?”

 

[andyw715]

Do we really need to turn off wifi and cellular? Like Toby said on the West Wing, "you're telling me I can still flummox this thing with something I bought at Radio Shack?”

That I don't know.....Airplane mode might just be a legacy relic.

I've always heard that it isn't really an aircraft avionics thing; that is was requested by the cellular carriers because at flight altitudes and speed a phone could ping dozens of towers at the same time and their system would be confused re: billing....again a legacy relic when there wasn't nationwide unlimited calling....etc.
Could be bunk though...