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Confusion about wifi functionality of the Apple Watch
- Thread starter Macwick
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Best way I have found to ensure I get the wifi connection I need so I can be "iPhone free" at home is to switch off Bluetooth on the iPhone while the Watch is in range. Then I load an app (CNN). It sometimes takes a couple of tries but then the Watch finds the iPhone over wifi and I am good to go for the rest of the evening.
I actually find the apps load faster over wifi.
I actually find the apps load faster over wifi.
My router is 2.4 and 5ghz and has two SSID's to reflect this.
The way I got my watch to connect was via disconnecting the 5ghz SSID on the phone, forcing a connection to the 2.4, and entering the password.
Now the watch connects over wifi regardless of the iPhones own SSID.
The way I got my watch to connect was via disconnecting the 5ghz SSID on the phone, forcing a connection to the 2.4, and entering the password.
Now the watch connects over wifi regardless of the iPhones own SSID.
Do you have any idea how I could troubleshoot this? My Apple Watch doesn't work reliably around the house and it is driving me crazy.
No. I just do it to ensure I have got connectivity before I walk away from my iPhone.
I personally will follow this steps to troubleshoot the problem.
1) Make sure the Wi-Fi is using the 2.4GHz band, not the 5GHz band.
2) Use WPA2 ONLY (not enterprise), and not super long password (e.g. more than 32 characters)
3) Make sure you have GOOD Wi-Fi coverage. For testing purpose, may be better to stay right next to the router, in order to eliminate the signal strength issue.
4) Forget the network on your iPhone, and then re-join it.
Does the watch need to be 100% out of BT range or is it smart enough to switch over when the wifi signal is stronger than Bluetooth?
Must be outside the BT range. BT has priority regardless the Wi-Fi signal strength because it use less power than Wi-Fi.
For trouble shooting purpose, you can simply switch off the iPhone's BT to simulate outside BT range.
Well that is dumb. For some reason I still get Bluetooth two stories down from my room, although the connection is worthless. I actually use MORE battery because I have to stare a the watch for two minutes before it does anything. Do you think this is the kind of thing they would fix in an update?
Can I just turn off Bluetooth for when I am moving around the house then? Are there any side effects besides worse battery life?
Nope, if you switch off BT and ensure you have a wifi connection you'll be good to go.
I always switch off BT at home to ensure it doesn't flip back and forth.
Note that it can be temperamental on first deciding to connect through wifi - I usually have to make a couple of attempts before it decides to try wifi and finds my iPhone that way.
Hopefully improved in 1.1.
You can do that. The watch should work exactly the same as it has the BT connection.
The only thing to remember is if the watch can't find the phone. The very first thing to do will become switch the BT back on. Once the watch login to the phone, then you can then turn the BT back off again.
The biggest side effect I can think of is that you will need to turn on BT everytime you go out, and turn it off every time you back home. Little bit annoying.
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These first two weeks with the Watch have been miserable for me because of this mystery, but I think your note about the watch taking a while to switch over to wifi may be the missing piece. I had turned off wifi before and it often lead to improvements but also didn't display immediate results, which lead me to question whether turning Bluetooth off was actually helping. Regardless, last day of school is tomorrow so I will have plenty of time to test it out.
Since the phone displays similar behavior in that it hangs on too tightly to wifi vs cellular, I wouldn't hold my breath. What I think is more likely is we get a way to check which connection is being used and to turn off wifi and Bluetooth individually. At the very least though there should be a knowledge base article describing this and stating something to the effect of "if the watch is having trouble connecting over wifi at home, turning off BT on the phone may help, but can also lead to reduced battery life due to wifi usage."
AFAIK, yes. My home network consist 2 TC and 2 AE. As long as my watch can get the signal from any one of them, it will be connected to the phone.
Do you have strong signal when walking downstairs?
The attenna inside the watch is not as good as your phone. If there is only one bar on your phone, most likely you watch can't receive anything.
This is the reason why I have a TC and a AE each floor in my place to make sure there is good signal strength everywhere. Before I use the watch, only one TC each floor is good enough, but now, I need to add a AE on each floor to serve as a Wi-Fi extender.
Apparently Dad took one of the WAPs down while the middle floor was being rebuilt, but the phone still gets 3 bars so maybe I just have to make sure the watch is connected before I leave the phone.
Speaking of…
I just thought of a more efficient way to test the connection-- use the ping tool in the control center glance!
I have the same issue of wifi not picking up. I have disconnected Bluetooth. Did the "Forget this network" and chose my non-5G band. I am sitting right next to the router and the watch isn't connected to wifi. I turned the watch off and back on and still not connected. When you say WPA2 .. what is that? And is there anything I did or didn't do to cause it still to not work? Many thanks!!! EDIT: I think it is working ... I turned Bluetooth back on and then off and the watch was able to ping the phone through Wifi ... I'm still curious what WPA2 is!
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