Help with Exchange and Gmail on Cellular only

[momo123456789]

I have the Apple Watch series 10 with Gps and cellular and enjoying it, one thing I noticed which is strange is that, when my phone is not with me, I can only access my iCloud email.

my exchange (work) or gmail email does not come up. Even if my phone is on at home or left in the car, and Im in a store or the gym, it won't pull the email up on the watch for those two accounts.

Iin fact, the error message I get is super weird and attached..

I've called apple and they keep saying it should work and have no idea why it's not working. I can't imagine it just won't work is that answer.

Other people must have this issue. The forums are kinda quiet on this.

Any help is most appreciated!

 

[G35flyer]

Same here. I reported this to Apple on the first Dev beta of WatchOS 11 and uploaded many sysdiagnose logs but they never would respond. I am now on WatchOS 11.3 and it’s still broken. My AWU2 gets a similar error as you for Yahoo, Comcast, and Exchange on cellular or a WiFi network that iPhone is not connect to. I was able to get Gmail to work on cellular by enabling: On iPhone Watch App>Mail>Email Notifications When not connect to iPhone>Gmail

I regularly leave my iPhone at home going for a run or at gym and not having access to my work email is the most frustrating part…at least I have Teams!

 

[momo123456789]

where do you see Gmail as an option for checking when it near iPhone I only see icloud as an option.

Did I set something up wrong?

 

[xraydoc]

Pretty sure the watch only support standard IMAP for email when acting as a stand-alone device. Exchange (Outlook) and Gmail's proprietary system require the phone to be present.

You can set up a Gmail account as IMAP (or at least at one point you could), which should work fine on the Apple Watch (in theory), but you do lose some Gmail-specific features. I've not used a Gmail account like that in years, however, so I'm not sure what the state of IMAP support is any longer. I have my Gmail inbox automatically forwarded to my iCloud mail account.

As for Exchange, some accounts are supported by the Outlook app for the Apple Watch, though a lot is dependent on how your personal or workplace accounts are set up.

 

[G35flyer]

where do you see Gmail as an option for checking when it near iPhone I only see icloud as an option.

Did I set something up wrong?

My Gmail account showed below in the Watch iPhone App and gave the option to sign in to the account. Since doing so mine has worked when iPhone not present….though just Gmail and not my other accounts.

 

[G35flyer]

Pretty sure the watch only support standard IMAP for email when acting as a stand-alone device. Exchange (Outlook) and Gmail's proprietary system require the phone to be present.

You can set up a Gmail account as IMAP (or at least at one point you could), which should work fine on the Apple Watch (in theory), but you do lose some Gmail-specific features. I've not used a Gmail account like that in years, however, so I'm not sure what the state of IMAP support is any longer. I have my Gmail inbox automatically forwarded to my iCloud mail account.

As for Exchange, some accounts are supported by the Outlook app for the Apple Watch, though a lot is dependent on how your personal or workplace accounts are set up.

Email on Apple Watch has always worked when iPhone is not present as long as the iPhone is powered on and connected to the Internet either via cellular or Wi-Fi. I’ve had a cellular Apple Watch since the series 3 and have never had any issues until WatchOS 11.

In regards to Exchange, the MS Outlook app for Apple Watch only works when the iPhone is present and connected via Bluetooth. Hence, I’ve always used the native Apple email app so to be able to use email when iPhone is not present.

 

[tcuprof]

In regards to Exchange, the MS Outlook app for Apple Watch only works when the iPhone is present and connected via Bluetooth. Hence, I’ve always used the native Apple email app so to be able to use email when iPhone is not present.

Hmmm. I just put my iPhone in Airplane mode and turned off Bluetooth. Then I opened Outlook on my Ultra and I can see my emails just fine.

 

[G35flyer]

Hmmm. I just put my iPhone in Airplane mode and turned off Bluetooth. Then I opened Outlook on my Ultra and I can see my emails just fine.

I’ve tried the Outlook App many times in the past and never could get it to work without iPhone present. …but it has been a while since I last tried. So I just installed Outlook again on both AWU and iPhone 16. On my AWU, I turned off Bluetooth and WiFi, verified LTE connectivity. I can see old Exchange emails via Outlook App but cannot receive any new emails nor replying to existing emails do not send from the AWU. Also forgot the Outlook watch app does not have the ability to send new emails….unlike the native email app. I then turned back on Bluetooth and WiFi on the AWU and I started to receive new emails and the replies I sent from AWU were delivered. So Outlook App seems still to be not working work for me….but we are still on Exchange on premise and have not made the jump yet to M365…so that could be a factor why Outlook App does not work for me at least.

I would be curious, if anyone can test the same method by turning off Bluetooth and WiFi on you your Apple Watch so the sole connectivity is only LTE (leave your iPhone powered on with WiFi and/or cellular) and then see if you can send and receive Exchange emails via the native email app and/or the Outlook App while just on LTE.

 

[makingmark]

I had this problem with Gmail in January 2025, AW9 cellular on watchOS 11.2. Restarting watch & phone did nothing. I deleted my Gmail account from my iPhone & added it back; problem solved without goofing anything else up (so far...)

 

[ptr__]

Ive gone through the flow of deleting and removing accounts which makes the AW mail app work for a while but after a few days it goes back to same error again. So frustrating.

 

[paul9154]

Pretty sure the watch only support standard IMAP for email when acting as a stand-alone device. Exchange (Outlook) and Gmail's proprietary system require the phone to be present.

You can set up a Gmail account as IMAP (or at least at one point you could), which should work fine on the Apple Watch (in theory), but you do lose some Gmail-specific features. I've not used a Gmail account like that in years, however, so I'm not sure what the state of IMAP support is any longer. I have my Gmail inbox automatically forwarded to my iCloud mail account.

As for Exchange, some accounts are supported by the Outlook app for the Apple Watch, though a lot is dependent on how your personal or workplace accounts are set up.

I wonder how that works then for a Samsung or Google watch