Do you really use the cellular functionality on your  Watch?

[Nell]

There seem to be loads of posts here at the moment by people convinced LTE on the watch needs to phone to be on. It’s baffling!

For me the whole point of having it was peace of mind when I forget my phone or when the battery dies (I’ve upgraded my phone now but when I got my S3 I was on a 6s so the battery died a lot!).

Cellular works perfectly for calls and iMessages. Okay so texts won’t come through but I can live with that.

 

[akash.nu]

Cellular works perfectly for calls and iMessages. Okay so texts won’t come through but I can live with that.

Why do you think calls work but texts don’t?

 

[musicpenguy]

Why do you think calls work but texts don’t?

SMS works in a similar way to notifications - it needs it relayed from the iPhone where the iPhone acts as a little server of sorts.

 

[tromboneaholic]

Why do you think calls work but texts don’t?

It seems to be a limitation of how standard SMS/MMS texting works. iMessage uses data, so it works fine. It's just the green bubble texts that are affected. This is pretty much the only feature affected by having the phone off.

 

[akash.nu]

It seems to be a limitation of how standard SMS/MMS texting works. iMessage uses data, so it works fine. It's just the green bubble texts that are affected. This is pretty much the only feature affected by having the phone off.

I’d think normal calls will have the same issue if sms doesn’t work though. That’s what confuses me.

 

[musicpenguy]

I’d think normal calls will have the same issue if sms doesn’t work though. That’s what confuses me.

Must have something to do with the way using the same phone number across multiple devices works for voice versus SMS which would be a different technology.

 

[tromboneaholic]

I’d think normal calls will have the same issue if sms doesn’t work though. That’s what confuses me.

SMS/MMS does not work the same way as a call. It's a networking issue.

A few years ago when wireless providers were still charging a fee per text messages, I read an article that explained how texts messages don't cost the carrier anything. They use empty space in the signal between the phone and the tower. That's why they are limited in size.

Edit: found it https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/business/28digi.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss

 

[smallnshort247]

I used it for maybe a month or two on my S3 and then cancelled the service. Now that I have the S4 & iPhone XS Max, I'm considering activating cellular again. Leaving my phone in my bag while working & going for runs without my XS Max are probably the biggest reasons I'm considering it. Also, since the speaker has been improved for call quality, it may be more ideal to answer when I'm in a not so quiet place.

 

[BillGates1969]

I’d think normal calls will have the same issue if sms doesn’t work though. That’s what confuses me.

Calls work 100% even if phone turned off.

They work to and from ANY device/phone android/Apple/landline etc.

The only thing that doesn’t is SMS. Some apps also may have notification issues IF it the app relies on the iPhone.

I will say it again for the millionth time across many threads.


Calls will work on a LTE Apple Watch if LTE is activated even if the phone is off.

I am not sure how over a year into cellular apple watches this is still being debated/confused