Find My not updated from Apple Watch

[NME42]

Whenever I leave my iPhone at home and go for a walk, my family is reporting that my location is not being updated and Find my is reporting that I am at home.

Checked all settings on iPhone and Apple Watch Ultra (cellular enabled). Location Sharing is enabled on both devices and Find My on iPhone says that I am sharing location from iPhone and Apple Watch.

Any ideas? Is this scenario working for anybody as it should be?

Versions are both 26.5. iPhone 17 Pro Max and AWU3.

 

[FSMBP]

I imagine Find My (from friends/family) would default to your Phone regardless if you have an Apple Watch (w/ cellular). If your phone and watch were in two different locations, how would it know which one to pull for Find My?

Did it work before?

 

[NME42]

I imagine Find My (from friends/family) would default to your Phone regardless if you have an Apple Watch (w/ cellular). If your phone and watch were in two different locations, how would it know which one to pull for Find My?

This should not be hard to detect: I am starting a workout on the Watch and I am moving. Also, my Watch is out of range, cellular is activated.

I also thought that’s why the setting is stating: „Sharing from iPhone and Apple Watch (cellular)“.

Did it work before?

Trying it for the first time.
Did it work for you?

 

[kissfan]

How to Share Location from Apple Watch Instead of iPhone

Wondering how to share location from Apple Watch instead of iPhone? Discover easy steps to enable location sharing without needing your iPhone.

www.airdroid.com

 

[BigBlur]

I imagine Find My (from friends/family) would default to your Phone regardless if you have an Apple Watch (w/ cellular). If your phone and watch were in two different locations, how would it know which one to pull for Find My?

It's easy to determine their location. If the phone and watch are separated, and the watch is being worn, it's highly likely that the watch will be their location (people usually don't let other people wear their watch); otherwise, use the phone's location if both are close or the watch isn't being worn.

...and that's exactly what Apple's documentation states:

If you share your location from an iPhone that’s paired with Apple Watch (GPS + Cellular models), your location is shared from your Apple Watch when you’re out of range of your iPhone and Apple Watch is on your wrist.

I don't have a cellular watch so cannot comment on experience, but I have seen other threads of people having the same issue in the past.

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[NME42]

...and that's exactly what Apple's documentation states:

Thanks! Seems this is not working as it should. I filed a bug report at Apple.

 

[FSMBP]

I would try/confirm if it worked on mine if I was smart enough to buy a cellular Apple Watch (still kicking myself on not getting one).

 

[BigMcGuire]

I know this has worked in the past because I had my wife test it when I went jogging with just my watch (and had a cellular plan on my watch) - it updated my location on Find My without my wife having to do anything special.

But that was a few years ago. :/

 

[NME42]

Workaround is to check the location of my Apple Watch in the devices section. But this is updated slower than my personal location.
Clearly a bug.

 

[iOZZY]

To test this I left my iPhone at home whilst I popped to the office 3 miles away wearing my Apple Watch cellular.

It kind of works, I asked my friend who I share location with to check my location and it correctly located me at the office. No real time tracking like iPhone but rather updated at regular intervals.

He reported my location had a habit of flip flopping between the iPhone location and cellular watch location.

This is on watchos26.5

 

[NME42]

He reported my location had a habit of flip flopping between the iPhone location and cellular watch location.

Thanks for your test. Strange result.

Did another test too this friday. Location stayed consistently at home while my Apple Watch was moving with me.
Read some posts that said it is working as expected when you switch off your iPhone (most probably also when you switch it offline), but this is a very bad workaround as then no notifications will be sent to the Apple Watch in the meantime. Which is frankly also a bad design.

Maybe some of you report a bug also, would be nice.

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