Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Cellular Use Cases

M

macphoto861

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 20, 2021
496
444
Through the years I've owned several cellular Apple Watches, but I've never activated the service... if it were $5/month, I'd probably do it without giving it much thought, but at $10/month I feel like I have to have a more compelling need for it. At the root of my case for not paying extra for this is the fact that I never leave the house without my phone. If I were a jogger, I could see not bringing my phone, but I go biking instead, and it's not an encumbrance to have my phone on my belt (I don't wear cycling-specific clothing).

I think the only times I've ever found myself thinking "gee, I wish I had cellular service on my watch" are when I'm standing in line at Universal Orlando, where there are metal detectors at the big roller coasters and you have to put your stuff in a locker (including your phone). Similarly, I wouldn't mind having it when at a water park. But both of these instances occur only maybe once every two years or so.

Beyond that, the only other justification I can come up with is for emergencies... being able to still get in touch with people if my phone is lost or stolen, or dies.

Is there any other scenario that I may be missing in which a cellular-activated watch would be useful?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Brad7
For me, it would be more than a $10 bump, since I'm on AT&T and would need to move from Prepaid to Postpaid to get Apple Watch support. (plus my current Apple watch isn't a cellular model, but we're talking hypothetically here). Like you, I can't think of a compelling use case for cellular, and like you, $5/month is approximately the price point where I'd opt for it despite the limited use I'd have for it.
 
Last edited:
I use it so I can leave my phone and wallet at home

Great if you’re active and spend time outside of the house, great for nav while hiking or biking, text voice and email without having to pack a delicate phone around, no need for a wallet as long as people can take Apple pay, I also keep photos of my IDs and other documents on it

So I’m the other way around, without cellular I wouldn’t own a Apple Watch
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: rmw49 and autrefois
macphoto861 said:
Through the years I've owned several cellular Apple Watches, but I've never activated the service... if it were $5/month, I'd probably do it without giving it much thought, but at $10/month I feel like I have to have a more compelling need for it. At the root of my case for not paying extra for this is the fact that I never leave the house without my phone. If I were a jogger, I could see not bringing my phone, but I go biking instead, and it's not an encumbrance to have my phone on my belt (I don't wear cycling-specific clothing).

I think the only times I've ever found myself thinking "gee, I wish I had cellular service on my watch" are when I'm standing in line at Universal Orlando, where there are metal detectors at the big roller coasters and you have to put your stuff in a locker (including your phone). Similarly, I wouldn't mind having it when at a water park. But both of these instances occur only maybe once every two years or so.

Beyond that, the only other justification I can come up with is for emergencies... being able to still get in touch with people if my phone is lost or stolen, or dies.

Is there any other scenario that I may be missing in which a cellular-activated watch would be useful?
Click to expand...
had cellular since I got my S4 SBSS so almost 5 years now and never activated it for the same reasons, always have my iPhone with me when leaving the house.
I have yet to come up with a usage scenario for me ...
and the good news for those in the US (don't remember all the other countries this applies) - you can dial 911 on an unactivated cellular device.
 
jz0309 said:
had cellular since I got my S4 SBSS so almost 5 years now and never activated it for the same reasons, always have my iPhone with me when leaving the house.
I have yet to come up with a usage scenario for me ...
and the good news for those in the US (don't remember all the other countries this applies) - you can dial 911 on an unactivated cellular device.
Click to expand...

Living out in the country 911 doesn’t really amount to much lol

Self rescue
 
  • Wow
Reactions: Brad7
I'm the same. I tried it for a couple months and never really used it. For me my watch is more as a notification device while keeping my phone silent or when in the house
 
I pay for cellular mainly for when I exercise. It's great for running & hiking & somewhat less so for cycling. If I didn't exercise outdoors, I likely wouldn't pay for the cellular, but since I do, I find that I use it all the time. It's nice to be phone free sometimes but still know that you will get your texts and calls. I like it for when I'm out with friends, as I find myself much less fidgety when I don't have my phone with me.

I was recently at my nephew's baseball game sans phone & noticed how much many of the other spectators were on their phones. I'm 100% certain that if I had mine I would be on it too. It's just so convenient. But with my watch, I know I'm still reachable, but find myself more 'in the present' than I would be otherwise.

Not saying that applies to everyone, but it's certainly the case for me.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Saturn007, BillGates1969, autrefois and 2 others
macphoto861 said:
Through the years I've owned several cellular Apple Watches, but I've never activated the service... if it were $5/month, I'd probably do it without giving it much thought, but at $10/month I feel like I have to have a more compelling need for it. At the root of my case for not paying extra for this is the fact that I never leave the house without my phone. If I were a jogger, I could see not bringing my phone, but I go biking instead, and it's not an encumbrance to have my phone on my belt (I don't wear cycling-specific clothing).

I think the only times I've ever found myself thinking "gee, I wish I had cellular service on my watch" are when I'm standing in line at Universal Orlando, where there are metal detectors at the big roller coasters and you have to put your stuff in a locker (including your phone). Similarly, I wouldn't mind having it when at a water park. But both of these instances occur only maybe once every two years or so.

Beyond that, the only other justification I can come up with is for emergencies... being able to still get in touch with people if my phone is lost or stolen, or dies.

Is there any other scenario that I may be missing in which a cellular-activated watch would be useful?
Click to expand...
I had cell service on my watch and rarely used it BUT I discovered that if I did not have my phone with me I can always rely on Wifi calling such as if I were at Winn Dixy, Publix, Panera, McDonalds, Wendy's, along with many places that offer free Wifi I am all set...so basically its a waste of money.
 
Here in Italy the cellular is €5/month, I find it worth the money (upper end). I use it mainly while running. I would like also to be able to make an emergency call while open water swimming, did some trial test but had some issue with water lock and couldn’t activate SIRI, need to try again.
 
  • Like
Reactions: stanza.richi
I had two absolute needs Apple had to provide for before I opted in for the Apple Watch; cellular and AOD, so the S5 was my first AW. Cellular service in Sweden is about €6 and that’s really fair I think.

I use the cellular service every day on my Watch. Running, going to the beach, going for a walk, I leave my phone at home quite often, I don’t really need it when I’m not working. I have music, iMessage and calls on my wrist. What about the camera I hear you ask, well, I discovered long ago that I don’t need or want a million photos of everything all the time.

The Apple Watch is one of my favourite personal devices ever, and cellular is a major part of that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BillGates1969, InvertedGoldfish, NoelWalker and 1 other person
chiefs1968 said:
I had cell service on my watch and rarely used it BUT I discovered that if I did not have my phone with me I can always rely on Wifi calling such as if I were at Winn Dixy, Publix, Panera, McDonalds, Wendy's, along with many places that offer free Wifi I am all set...so basically its a waste of money.
Click to expand...
Wow, it never occurred to me that this would be the case.
 
chiefs1968 said:
I had cell service on my watch and rarely used it BUT I discovered that if I did not have my phone with me I can always rely on Wifi calling such as if I were at Winn Dixy, Publix, Panera, McDonalds, Wendy's, along with many places that offer free Wifi I am all set...so basically its a waste of money.
Click to expand...
I... suppose. Of course, you'd need to have joined those Wi-Fi networks with your iPhone previously, in order to get the SSID to the watch so that IT can join them. I don't tend to do that myself; my mobile data works fine.

As long as you understand that yes, your watch will work ASSUMING you're in a place where you've connected to Wi-Fi before, I guess you're safe!
 
In the U.S., T-mobile postpaid plans have a $5 Watch plan for something like 500 MB of data a month. (This goes up to $10 if the Watch would put you over the number-of-lines limit for the autopay discount, though.)

As others have said, I use it while jogging so I don't have to bring my dense, prone-to-bouncing iPhone: stream audio to AirPods, Apple Pay for something as I pass the store, wheeze out texts to friends complaining about this godforsaken exercise, etc. I'm happier as a swimmer, so I often pick up notifications while my phone is out of range in the locker room—granted, this doesn't help my lap times one bit—or in the lake. Basically, the cellular plan lets the Watch serve as a very waterproof, nigh-un-losable, stripped-down iPhone for environments where the real thing would be at high risk and probably hard to use anyway.
 
I use Visible Mobile by Verizon and it’s only $5 per month for the Apple Watch cellular plan. I regularly use cellular at that gym, hiking, and shopping as I usually don’t bring my phone with me during those activities. Some of the things I do while on cellular: stream music, talk, text, email, Find Friends, lock/unlock vehicle, IM, use grocery list shared with my wife, control my Home accessories, check Weather, and directions.
 
I also have Visible where my phone and Watch are both unlimited for $30/month total. The few times my phone has died or I accidentally left it in the car, the watch was there to receive/send important calls or messages/emails.

I agree with the OP though. For $10/month I would be much more hesitant to use it.
 
I had a cellular S5 and paid £5/month for the (unlimited) data plan on O2 in the UK. In my experience I just found I never used the cellular as I always had my phone on me. The only exception was when running. It was cool to be ‘phone free’ but I found the signal patchy when I ran so reverted to downloaded music/podcasts. On the odd occasions when I did successfully stream over cellular it seriously drained the battery down below 40%, such that I didn’t have enough to last the rest of the day (my runs are in the morning before work!). Granted those problems were specific to my use case (and the fast charging on S7 or above may solve the charging issue) but now I just stick my iPhone in a running belt and have a AW S7 GPS and have almost exactly the same experience as when I had a cellular watch but for £5 less per month. As always, others may have a more justifiable use case, just thought it may help!
 
  • Like
Reactions: BillGates1969
Howard2k said:
You don't need cell service for Apple Pay. I've seen that mentioned a few times. Will work without.
Click to expand...
This is true. The card is is stored on the watch and the transaction is NFC. This is also the reason you don’t need cellular on your physical credit card either when making a contactless transaction.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Howard2k
My provider in Hong Kong gives me cellular on my watch for free, so it’s a no brainer! I use it reasonably often going running/swimming, or if I’m just ducking out to the shop and can’t be bothered taking my phone.
 
Can you not just add it for a month at a time and cancel it for those few times a year you need it ! Does your provider allow that or it’s it a fixed contract ?
 
I had a cellular connection on my watch, when I first got it.

I got into walking every day (I don't do it anymore, so I cancelled the connection) and it was nice to listen to radio through my AirPods Pro, connected to my Apple Watch, with no heavy 14 Pro Max in my shorts pocket.

It's only £5 per month, which really is nothing for such a great feature, but as I said, I stopped going for walks so it was just throwing money away as I wasn't using the service anymore.

I'm thinking of buying a mountain bike, and getting into biking to get/keep me trim, and if I do, I'll most definitely reconnect the cellular data plan on my watch.

£5 per month is the sweet spot, but if you're not using it, there' really no point in having it.
 
AdamHarbour said:
Can you not just add it for a month at a time and cancel it for those few times a year you need it ! Does your provider allow that or it’s it a fixed contract ?
Click to expand...
I considered that, but I believe there is an activation fee, which presumably would be added for each of those activate/cancel cycles.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back