Can I be completely autonomous/self-sufficient (w/o a tethered phone) with the cellular version + AirPods ? Any limitations?

[Yoms]

Hi,

So basically, I don't like phones 😆.

At home, I'm happier using my MBP and desktop apps to answer text messages (Signal) and do everything else. Thanks to hand-off, I almost never touch the phone.

I'm trying to figure out if I can also do away with the phone while being outside. My idea is to use my old iPhone SE 1st Gen to set the cellular Watch + AirPods up and then forget about the iPhone SE.

Is that possible? Or are there things I won't be able to do?

I'm already aware that I won't be able to take pictures and texting will not be easy (or using Siri with the AirPods?). But that's ok. Anything else that I'm missing?

Thanks for your input.

 

[Madmic23]

As long as you keep your iPhone SE on a plan as well, you should be fine. I just bought an Apple Watch SE for my son and set it up with Family Setup. With my carrier, it costs an extra $10 / month, but he has his own phone number on the watch from which he can make calls and send text messages. He doesn't have an iPhone, just an iPad, which he can also use to send iMessages from. It's been working great so far.

You can even pair the watch to your car stereo via bluetooth if you want to listen to music or take calls in the car.

As long as you only intend to use the watch as a phone / text / music player, you'll be just fine. You won't be able to look stuff up very easily while you're out, but it sounds like you're aware of the limitations already.

 

[BenGoren]

I wouldn’t say that I don’t like phones, but I certainly don’t like carrying one around.

So my iPhone XS mostly stays in my backpack with the laptop and iPad. I only pull it out to use as a small tablet for e-books or the Web. I only carry it around with me if I’m going to use the camera. If I’m out running errands, I probably don’t have the phone with me.

For other things that most people use their phones for, I’m using my Ultra.

If you gave me an iPhone 14 Pro, even the Pro Max, I’d take it. But I’m not spending my own money on a new phone any time soon; I’m in no rush to have a new phone; and I doubt I’d have a new phone in my hand any more than my current one.

b&

 

[shakopeemn]

Remember - Tiny battery factor with AW.

The IDLE watch connected via cellular (when your phone isn't nearby) will use more battery. In addition, activities will draw the AW down faster as well, ie calling and playing any media.

 

[Analog Kid]

I can't tell if you have a watch already or not, but I've been running experiments by basically leaving my phone powered off but keeping it with me to see how much I can do. I can almost get by. There's a few apps that are still relying on the phone for processing that basically only use the watch for UI that mean I still need my phone in certain cases. One is my work 2 factor authentication tool, which seems like the watch should be able to handle just fine on its own, but it doesn't. Another is travel apps for airlines and such. There may be some things like that that you're using. I'd have no problem going to dinner or out with friends with just my watch though.

 

[mk313]

I think as alluded to earlier, it depends on what you plan to do with it. You could certainly get by with just a watch, and leaving the phone at home in a drawer. Some apps require the phone to be active to work (like getting SMS messages).

There are some real downsides to the AW only approach though, but it depends on what you're looking for.

Email comes to mind as a disappointment. Every now & then my watch stops updating emails, and it will stay that way for days or weeks, then suddenly work again. Also, replying is kind of tedious & you can't do anything with emails in your inbox, other than delete them.

Viewing attachments is also difficult.

Battery life is the biggest thing, and cellular coverage. The watch gets less robust cellular coverage than my phone for sure. This may be a T Mobile thing as the watch doesn't support Band 71, while my phone does, so I sometimes don't get a signal where I would with the phone.

Texting can be awkward when you are around others. Although with the series 7 & up, I think you can do a swipe keyboard which would help with that. Otherwise it's weird to talk through your text replies in public (or at least it is for me). And the other thing with using Siri is that while it's been very good in my experience, it still gets some things wrong. It's not as big of a deal on the phone, as I can stop & edit the message, but on the watch, you need to cancel the reply, and start over. That can get old if you have a few odd words or people or place names in the conversation.

Another downside is with trying to move around calendar events. You can't really do that on the watch. So if you have an appt set for 3 pm, and it gets moved to 4, you can't just move it. You could create a new one, and delete the old one, but that doens't work if you have notes or addresses or have invited attendees to the meeting.

All that being said, the Apple Watch is amazing & you can definitely get by with it for most uses (I have no idea about Signal, so you'd want to look into that specifically before you commit). It works well for me to limit how often I use my phone & to allow me to go out without my phone. I love it for exercising, and for running into the store or whatever. But I don't think I could use it full time yet.

 

[Yoms]

Remember - Tiny battery factor with AW.

The IDLE watch connected via cellular (when your phone isn't nearby) will use more battery. In addition, activities will draw the AW down faster as well, ie calling and playing any media.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention

 

[Yoms]

I think as alluded to earlier, it depends on what you plan to do with it. You could certainly get by with just a watch, and leaving the phone at home in a drawer. Some apps require the phone to be active to work (like getting SMS messages).

There are some real downsides to the AW only approach though, but it depends on what you're looking for.

Email comes to mind as a disappointment. Every now & then my watch stops updating emails, and it will stay that way for days or weeks, then suddenly work again. Also, replying is kind of tedious & you can't do anything with emails in your inbox, other than delete them.

Viewing attachments is also difficult.

Battery life is the biggest thing, and cellular coverage. The watch gets less robust cellular coverage than my phone for sure. This may be a T Mobile thing as the watch doesn't support Band 71, while my phone does, so I sometimes don't get a signal where I would with the phone.

Texting can be awkward when you are around others. Although with the series 7 & up, I think you can do a swipe keyboard which would help with that. Otherwise it's weird to talk through your text replies in public (or at least it is for me). And the other thing with using Siri is that while it's been very good in my experience, it still gets some things wrong. It's not as big of a deal on the phone, as I can stop & edit the message, but on the watch, you need to cancel the reply, and start over. That can get old if you have a few odd words or people or place names in the conversation.

Another downside is with trying to move around calendar events. You can't really do that on the watch. So if you have an appt set for 3 pm, and it gets moved to 4, you can't just move it. You could create a new one, and delete the old one, but that doens't work if you have notes or addresses or have invited attendees to the meeting.

All that being said, the Apple Watch is amazing & you can definitely get by with it for most uses (I have no idea about Signal, so you'd want to look into that specifically before you commit). It works well for me to limit how often I use my phone & to allow me to go out without my phone. I love it for exercising, and for running into the store or whatever. But I don't think I could use it full time yet.

Thanks for this. Pretty thorough, I appreciate it. Didn't think about the calendar thing. I use it a lot on my MBP, so yeah if I to modify an event while away from my MBP, I'd rather have it working completely.

I hoped that with the cellular model you could receive SMS even if the phone is turned off.

 

[msackey]

Hi,

So basically, I don't like phones 😆.

At home, I'm happier using my MBP and desktop apps to answer text messages (Signal) and do everything else. Thanks to hand-off, I almost never touch the phone.

I'm trying to figure out if I can also do away with the phone while being outside. My idea is to use my old iPhone SE 1st Gen to set the cellular Watch + AirPods up and then forget about the iPhone SE.

Is that possible? Or are there things I won't be able to do?

I'm already aware that I won't be able to take pictures and texting will not be easy (or using Siri with the AirPods?). But that's ok. Anything else that I'm missing?

Thanks for your input.

It depends on what you want your Watch to do, since that would be your personal definition of autonomous.

Without having an iPhone near you, you will be able to:
- make and receive calls
- make and send text
- read and send email (although probably not search through your history of mail and respond to really old emails)
- watch YouTube on your watch (yes, there is a free app for that! Incroyable! It's called WatchTube. LOL)
- (you won't exactly be able to browse the web although there are some hacks)
- yes you can listen to downloaded podcasts and music
- if you have a Spotify plan, you can stream music and I believe podcasts too
- See you calendar (but I don't think you can create calendar entries...but I don't recall since I never exactly tried), but not see entries that are too old or too far in advance

By the way, I have not had trouble with email not updating, unlike what others have noted.

Indeed, cellular will drain your battery faster. There is a workaround with some disadvantage: if you don't expect to receive many calls or be available much, you can turn off cell and only turn it on when you want to check messages or make calls. I think you could also turn on Low Power mode which will reduce background checking activity, etc., although I don't know how Low Power mode affects cellular.

 

[Yoms]

I can't tell if you have a watch already or not, but I've been running experiments by basically leaving my phone powered off but keeping it with me to see how much I can do. I can almost get by. There's a few apps that are still relying on the phone for processing that basically only use the watch for UI that mean I still need my phone in certain cases. One is my work 2 factor authentication tool, which seems like the watch should be able to handle just fine on its own, but it doesn't. Another is travel apps for airlines and such. There may be some things like that that you're using. I'd have no problem going to dinner or out with friends with just my watch though.

Yeah, I think Signal is one of those apps. It has no Watch app meaning that I need to leave the phone turned ON at all time and forward notification on the watch. But I guess I cannot answer a message like this.

 

[Yoms]

It depends on what you want your Watch to do, since that would be your personal definition of autonomous.

Without having an iPhone near you, you will be able to:
- make and receive calls
- make and send text
- read and send email (although probably not search through your history of mail and respond to really old emails)
- watch YouTube on your watch (yes, there is a free app for that! Incroyable! It's called WatchTube. LOL)
- (you won't exactly be able to browse the web although there are some hacks)
- yes you can listen to downloaded podcasts and music
- if you have a Spotify plan, you can stream music and I believe podcasts too
- See you calendar (but I don't think you can create calendar entries...but I don't recall since I never exactly tried), but not see entries that are too old or too far in advance

By the way, I have not had trouble with email not updating, unlike what others have noted.

Indeed, cellular will drain your battery faster. There is a workaround with some disadvantage: if you don't expect to receive many calls or be available much, you can turn off cell and only turn it on when you want to check messages or make calls. I think you could also turn on Low Power mode which will reduce background checking activity, etc., although I don't know how Low Power mode affects cellular.

The 3 first bullets, definitely. But as a Signal user, I may face issues here.

I also use the stock Note.app a lot so would be nice to have it, but I don't think it's on WatchOS.

 

[R_Allonce]

Just like some other users have stated battery will be a huge huge factor. I had the S6 AW with cellular service and while it was nice to leave the house without my phone. Spending a whole day with just the watch was near impossible. On days where I had a lot of calls and text messages, oh boy that battery reached about 40% midday. Not good. And even in standby it drains more too so keep that in mind.