Cellular Apple Watch Is Misleadingly Incapable

[dave006]

Thanks. I hope its that simple - where does 'wifi calling over icloud' come in? My operator doesn't support that specific feature but they do have wifi calling.

They are 2 different things.

Carrier Wi-Fi calling is for devices that have an active SIM (eSIM / nanoSIM, etc..) & Wi-Fi calling for Other devices is an Apple feature that allows you to have your Apple ecosystem devices share your iPhone's cellular connection when these devices are connected to the same Wi-Fi network as your iPhone.

Note:

If your carrier supports Wi-Fi Calling on iCloud-connected devices, you can also make and receive Wi-Fi calls on other devices. You can use Wi-Fi Calling on these devices, even if your iPhone isn't on the same Wi-Fi Network or turned on.

Dave

 

[menace3]

I have had Cellular on my AW3 for about a year now in the UK on EE.

If I go out without my phone (it is on) - I can make/receive calls/iMessage/text/mail
If I go out without my phone (it is off) - I can receive make/calls/iMessage/mail (SMS doesn't work)
if I go out without phone (it is off) and my AW picks up a known WiFi - I can make/receive calls/iMessage/mail (SMS doesn't work)

Not sure where all the issues are here, but the above work for me.

Same for me. Leave phone at home and go for a run, get all my messages. Leave it in the car at the gym, get all my messages and even mail notifications.


I will note that I had an issue similar and I called AT&T and some setting was off and viola.

 

[iamasmith]

Thanks. I hope its that simple - where does 'wifi calling over icloud' come in? My operator doesn't support that specific feature but they do have wifi calling.

Since watchOS 2.0 the watch has had the ability to contact the iPhone over the internet if both were connected to a router that was open enough to allow a stream to be setup. Apple mentioned it briefly when discussing watchOS 2.0 but I can't remember if it was at the WWDC or at a product launch.

In watchOS 2.0 they also introduced WIFI calling if your provider supported it giving even greater autonomy if the phone was off and they also introduced Facetime Audio support so you could be reached by that if you only had the watch, the phone was off and somebody tried you on that.

It was only with Series 3.0 Cellular and watchOS 4.0 that the totally independent cellular features came in. That being said, and I think what's confusing here, is that S3 Cellular and current watchOS will support all of those feature from watchOS 2 and I think that's what's caused some confusion in this thread.

 

[Renjo2007]

i have a cell phone plan that includes also apple watch.

tonight at the gym i'll try to check if cell on AW is on in any case
[doublepost=1539678689][/doublepost]UPDATE:

just tried in the office: cellular works perfectly also with iphone offline. you just have to turn off wi fi.
can't figure out why it didn't work while in the gym.. i'll try again asap because i'm still missing something

My apple watch s4 can’t receive phone calls and imessage or regular sms when my iphone is turned off. How did you do it? I’m on T-Mobile US.
[doublepost=1539981318][/doublepost]

Phone calls absolutely work if your iPhone is dead - SMS is the only thing that requires it to be turned on because it relays it in a similar fashion to how it handles notifications.

In actual use this is never a problem for me because I’m leaving my phone at home connected to a charger when I leave the house.

I’m on T-Mobile US and when my iPhone is turned off, I can’t make or receive phone calls and can’t use iMessage in my watch S4.

 

[ipaddaro]

My apple watch s4 can’t receive phone calls and imessage or regular sms when my iphone is turned off. How did you do it? I’m on T-Mobile US.
[doublepost=1539981318][/doublepost]
I’m on T-Mobile US and when my iPhone is turned off, I can’t make or receive phone calls and can’t use iMessage in my watch S4.

try disabling wi fi and turning off than on the lte antenna...

i have vodafone with a DEDICATED contract for AW virtual sim in any case, don’t know how it work for t mobile.

 

[tromboneaholic]

My apple watch s4 can’t receive phone calls and imessage or regular sms when my iphone is turned off. How did you do it? I’m on T-Mobile US.
[doublepost=1539981318][/doublepost]
I’m on T-Mobile US and when my iPhone is turned off, I can’t make or receive phone calls and can’t use iMessage in my watch S4.

T-Mobile supports Wifi Calling and Wifi calling on iCloud devices.

Even with Wifi on, your Watch should work to make and receive calls with your Phone off.

I haven't tested it, but I believe a wifi-only Watch should be able to make calls using wifi calling on T-Mobile without the phone.

You might need to contact T-Mobile support.

 

[musicpenguy]

Yea I’m on T-Mobile and this is not an issue both WiFi and LTE calls with iPhone turned off work great.

 

[Momof2.1107]

Yea I’m on T-Mobile and this is not an issue both WiFi and LTE calls with iPhone turned off work great.

No issues for me neither on T-Mobile.

 

[dave006]

My apple watch s4 can’t receive phone calls and imessage or regular sms when my iphone is turned off. How did you do it? I’m on T-Mobile US.
[doublepost=1539981318][/doublepost]
I’m on T-Mobile US and when my iPhone is turned off, I can’t make or receive phone calls and can’t use iMessage in my watch S4.

It sounds like your Digits number is not correctly setup on T-Mobile since everything but SMS/MMS (send / receive) and 3rd party notifications should work just fine with your iPhone off or in Airplane mode and your watch has a Wi-Fi connection of LTE connection active.

Dave

 

[Zigman]

My apple watch s4 can’t receive phone calls and imessage or regular sms when my iphone is turned off. How did you do it? I’m on T-Mobile US.
[doublepost=1539981318][/doublepost]
I’m on T-Mobile US and when my iPhone is turned off, I can’t make or receive phone calls and can’t use iMessage in my watch S4.

Same thing happened to me the first time I set up the watch. First put the iPhone in airplane mode. On the Apple Watch swipe up on the watch face, turn off WiFi. Make sure the cellular radio icon is white. You will now see “disconnected” in red up top. Wait a bit until you see green dots pop up on the upper left. Now try it. It is possible cellular needs to be used once at least before everything starts working.

 

[Renjo2007]

It sounds like your Digits number is not correctly setup on T-Mobile since everything but SMS/MMS (send / receive) and 3rd party notifications should work just fine with your iPhone off or in Airplane mode and your watch has a Wi-Fi connection of LTE connection active.

Dave

You mean I can send/receive regular sms on my watch 4 lte even if my iphone is off?

 

[Deguello]

You mean I can send/receive regular sms on my watch 4 lte even if my iphone is off?

Everything but SMS...

 

[Renjo2007]

Same thing happened to me the first time I set up the watch. First put the iPhone in airplane mode. On the Apple Watch swipe up on the watch face, turn off WiFi. Make sure the cellular radio icon is white. You will now see “disconnected” in red up top. Wait a bit until you see green dots pop up on the upper left. Now try it. It is possible cellular needs to be used once at least before everything starts working.

Thanks will try it
[doublepost=1540009252][/doublepost]

Everything but SMS...

Ok will check my settings thanks

Everything but SMS...

imessage and phone calls should work with my watch lte even if my iPhone is off or in airplane mode right? And regular sms will not work if my iPhone is offline right?

 

[Deguello]

Thanks will try it
[doublepost=1540009252][/doublepost]
Ok will check my settings thanks

imessage and phone calls should work with my watch lte even if my iPhone is off or in airplane mode right? And regular sms will not work if my iPhone is offline right?

Yes, iMessages and phone calls should work even with the phone off.

Regular SMS will not work with the phone off.

 

[Renjo2007]

Yes, iMessages and phone calls should work even with the phone off.

Regular SMS will not work with the phone off.

Ok just what i thought. Is this for T-Mobile only or all networks?

 

[Deguello]

Ok just what i thought. Is this for T-Mobile only or all networks?

It’s how the phone and watch function together. I’d presume it’s all networks, but I can’t say for sure.

It’s not just T-Mobile. AT&T works that way.

 

[dave006]

It is the same for all carriers. The restriction on support of SMS/MMS txt messages is due to how Apple designed the system to work between the watch and the iPhone since the LTE watch only uses voice and data, no native support for SMS/MMS txts.

The cellular watch does not support native SMS/MMS txt capablity. Inbound SMS/MMS txts are received by the paired iPhone and forwarded to the watch as "data". For SMS/MMS txt messages that you "send" from your watch, these messages are sent as "data" and go to the paired iPhone and are then sent out as true SMS/MMS txt messages.

Note: You don't have to have your iPhone with you but your paired iPhone must be on and connected to your carrier's network via a cellular connection or via the carrier's Wi-Fi calling feature for SMS/MMS txt messages and for third party notifications to work correctly.

Dave

 

[WhiteHawk]

I do use the cellular function on my watch and I agree it's crap that the Sim card in the watch isn't a standalone Sim card so that you could just have a watch and not attached to a phone. I also think it's crap that, at least in the United States, you have to be on one of the four big companies and can't go to any of the smaller ones for your phone service and still be able to use the watch. But that is how it is right now

You think that’s bad, in the UK there was only one until recently, that is EE, now we have a massive two with Vodafone also now available, but Vodafone uses EE’s network so not really. If it was available on my network I would have probably gotten the cellular version.