Buying an Apple Watch in the US or Canada.

[maka344]

I’m from the U.K. and heading to Toronto tomorrow then onto DC.

I am thinking of potentially buying the Natural TI in Toronto or Virginia with Apple Care for a total of £815 inc tax (in Virginia).

My questions are:

1: Will the cellular version work back in the UK on EE?
2: Is the Apple Care global?
3: If the watch was replaced by Apple Care back home, would they replace with a U.K. model?

 

[akash.nu]

Apple watches are locked to specific countries for cellular connection.

 

[maka344]

Apple watches are locked to specific countries for cellular connection.

I remember reading somewhere that the US Apple Watch will work only on EE in the UK which would work for me because I happen to be on EE.

I am also wondering whether that’s the same for the Canadian AW potentially?

 

[mk313]

Readht through this thread for info on how the cellular bands work in different countries. Very good info posted by user Itada. It seems that you can use the watches overseas, but you need to verify the bands that will work.

Apple Watch international carrier band compatibility

I am overseas and want to buy the ceramic S5. Problem is all the watches are sold as cellular versions now. Next year if I want to sell my watch in North America I might be stuck with the watch because the watch's cellular won't work in North America. Is the restriction due to cellular type...

forums.macrumors.com

I have no idea on the apple care piece though.

 

[NoBoMac]

Some web searching, and appears that the Americas version of the watch is missing LTE band 20, which is one of the three EE uses. Note, that was based on info on a couple of sites and EE's discussion board around AW3 models.

Might have some connection issues with the missing band, but totally unaware on how EE is using their spectrum and where.

And Canada watch is same models as US.

Apple Watch - Carriers

Apple Watch with cellular. Go with just your watch — make calls, get messages, stream music. See if Apple Watch works with networks in your country.

www.apple.com

 

[maka344]

Some web searching, and appears that the Americas version of the watch is missing LTE band 20, which is one of the three EE uses. Note, that was based on info on a couple of sites and EE's discussion board around AW3 models.

Might have some connection issues with the missing band, but totally unaware on how EE is using their spectrum and where.

And Canada watch is same models as US.

Apple Watch - Carriers

Apple Watch with cellular. Go with just your watch — make calls, get messages, stream music. See if Apple Watch works with networks in your country.

www.apple.com

Thank you.

 

[Strangedream]

Apple watches are locked to specific countries for cellular connection.

That's not entirely true, AW support different bands in different regions (not countries). As of S5 there are only 2 regions: North America and rest of the world. You can still use any AW anywhere with any carriers. However your signal might be weaker and more unstable if you're not using a local set.

Yes AC is global. Apple will likely replace with an AW from the same region you bought it because Apple replaces on a model-for-model basis, and model numbers vary across regions. Same goes for iPhones.

 

[akash.nu]

That's not entirely true, AW support different bands in different regions (not countries). As of S5 there are only 2 regions: North America and rest of the world. You can still use any AW anywhere with any carriers. However your signal might be weaker and more unstable if you're not using a local set.

Are you sure about this? Because we can’t use Apple Watch on cellular network in other countries throughout Europe, even though it’s possible on our phones.

 

[supertomtom]

Are you sure about this? Because we can’t use Apple Watch on cellular network in other countries throughout Europe, even though it’s possible on our phones.

I’m pretty sure that’s right. If you look at Apple’s website North American countries use the same model whereas the rest of the world another.

https://www.apple.com/watch/cellular/#table-series-5

Your limitation is probably due to the carrier. My carrier also does not allow the watch’s e-sim to be usable when overseas no matter which country you go to.

 

[akash.nu]

I’m pretty sure that’s right. If you look at Apple’s website North American countries use the same model whereas the rest of the world another.

https://www.apple.com/watch/cellular/#table-series-5

Your limitation is probably due to the carrier. My carrier also does not allow the watch’s e-sim to be usable when overseas no matter which country you go to.

Thanks for the link. I wonder why the carriers won’t support it because eSim is being used in the phone as well.. interesting

 

[supertomtom]

Thanks for the link. I wonder why the carriers won’t support it because eSim is being used in the phone as well.. interesting

yeah it is annoying, especially when you’re already paying for the service. 🤷🏻‍♂️

As for the other poster’s claim about being able to use any AW in any country just with weaker signal if not listed as compatible, that I don’t know, I don’t have experience with that.

 

[Itada]

I think a lot of the confusion comes from the fact that the Apple Watch doesn't support network roaming. That's the only restriction though, aside from the model needing to support bands that your carrier is using.

What's roaming? Here's an example: let's say you live in Germany and you have a Vodafone Germany SIM in your iPhone and you activate your Apple Watch eSIM. Your Apple Watch will now talk with the Vodafone Germany network, but it doesn't support roaming between networks, so if you now travel to Italy, while your iPhone can roam on to Vodafone Italy's network, your Apple Watch can't - it's still looking for the Vodafone Germany network only, so it won't connect.

There is no network locking though, so you could then delete your Apple Watch eSIM plan, remove the Vodafone Germany SIM from your iPhone, insert a local Vodafone Italy SIM into your iPhone and activate your Apple Watch eSIM on the Vodafone Italy network and it'll work there.

And that Apple Watch could have been bought in Australia - it'll still work in Germany or Italy, etc, as long as the model supports the bands that your carrier uses. (my Apple Watch is a Japanese Series 4 and I use it with local carrier plans in Australia and Taiwan, for example)

 

[akash.nu]

I think a lot of the confusion comes from the fact that the Apple Watch doesn't support network roaming. That's the only restriction though, aside from the model needing to support bands that your carrier is using.

What's roaming? Here's an example: let's say you live in Germany and you have a Vodafone Germany SIM in your iPhone and you activate your Apple Watch eSIM. Your Apple Watch will now talk with the Vodafone Germany network, but it doesn't support roaming between networks, so if you now travel to Italy, while your iPhone can roam on to Vodafone Italy's network, your Apple Watch can't - it's still looking for the Vodafone Germany network only, so it won't connect.

There is no network locking though, so you could then delete your Apple Watch eSIM plan, remove the Vodafone Germany SIM from your iPhone, insert a local Vodafone Italy SIM into your iPhone and activate your Apple Watch eSIM on the Vodafone Italy network and it'll work there.

And that Apple Watch could have been bought in Australia - it'll still work in Germany or Italy, etc, as long as the model supports the bands that your carrier uses. (my Apple Watch is a Japanese Series 4 and I use it with local carrier plans in Australia and Taiwan, for example)

Thanks for the explanation. That makes sense. However since  watch gets its own number I assumed the carriers will be able to detect that the device is roaming with a valid plan associated.

 

[maxchile]

hi all, is there a way to make works an apple watch american model (a1976) in other country like Chile , south america?? some trick ? thanks

 

[akash.nu]

hi all, is there a way to make works an apple watch american model (a1976) in other country like Chile , south america?? some trick ? thanks

Nope there’s no tricks if it doesn’t work in general. Having said that. The watch will still work, just won’t connect to cellular networks.

 

[maxchile]

Nope there’s no tricks if it doesn’t work in general. Having said that. The watch will still work, just won’t connect to cellular networks.

100% sufre? Maybe if i use VPN or something like that? Jailbraick the Apple watch? Thanks