Does the 911 feature require iPhone?

This for me doesn't seem to be obvious from the product reveal or from Apple's webpage.

Does anyone know if the watch can call 911 independently when it's not connected to the iPhone that it was originally paired with?

I don't want to try it to find out

 

Ah, you are right. I was confused as this feature got a special mention during the reveal when you can call any number when it's connected to the phone via "Hey Siri" or whatever..maybe because how quickly you can make this call.

Anyways, thanks.

 

That's a great idea! Especially using the attacker's phone to call 911!

I don't know if the watch needs full blown cell phone circuitry to just call 911 (think it does need to for making any calls), but it'd be great to have this feature w/o any Phone/Wi-Fi. To me, the watch sudddenly becomes so much more useful if this happens. But yes, if they need to go all the way out to do this, then they might as well use it to make regular calls.

Sigh..hopefully series 3 where w/o a SIM card (and hence no n/w fees/subscription), just like a cell phone, it can make independent emergency calls.