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How To Get The Watch On WiFi

bothfly737 said:
Here is more info.
So it seems that when the watch is connected to the phone via BT it takes a while for it to get on WiFi when out of BT range.
For example I walked outside and tried to make a call from the watch to the house phone I was holding. The call failed.
So I went back to the iPhone and turned OFF BT. Tested a call to the watch and again it rang, so I knew it was now on WiFi.
Then walked outside again and called the house, this time it went right through.
Did a Text message to myself and it went out and came right back to the watch.
Sooo
I think if you get this working and your going to be home in your WiFi network then I would turn OFF BT while your in WiFi that way your watch will stay on WiFi and not keep switching back to BT.
You will just need to remember to turn BT back on when you leave.
But this seems to work great and extend the range of the watch.
Click to expand...
While all valid, I've fortunately not found this to be necessary. So far, it "just works."

Then again, I'm using two Apple Airport devices to cover my property with wifi and I've got both 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks set to have the same name, so devices will just connect to whichever is currently offering better throughput (which may be the 2.4GHz network at the outer aspects of the range, even versus the 5GHz ac network).
 
My phone is on 5ghz I have the AirPort Extreme
I turn Bluetooth off & wait a few minutes , the watch doesn't connect to wifi

I don't see it in my AirPort Extreme connections

I do have 5GHZ HIDDEN , could that be the problem ?
 
Lennyvalentin said:
You should have different names for your 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks. Otherwise you can't tell them apart at a glance, and the only way you'll know which is which is if your 2.4GHz network gives you cruddy performance (for example due to neighbors using wifi, or microwave oven interference and so on.) :p
Click to expand...

Wrong. Same names is the way to go. iPhone will pick the one with the best signal automatically this way.
 
Che Castro said:
My phone is on 5ghz I have the AirPort Extreme
I turn Bluetooth off & wait a few minutes , the watch doesn't connect to wifi

I don't see it in my AirPort Extreme connections

I do have 5GHZ HIDDEN , could that be the problem ?
Click to expand...

Try not hiding it and make sure they all have the same names for 2.4 and 5ghz.
 
I have different names for my 2.4 and 5 networks and can see the watch (and the watch works) on both. I used Fing to locate the watch.

So having different names is not the problem. Having the phone on the 5g is not the problem.

BUT having the phone switch networks while not connected to the watch could be an issue.
 
Sodner said:
Wrong. Same names is the way to go. iPhone will pick the one with the best signal automatically this way.
Click to expand...

Which is a very bad thing in a WiFi-noisy environment. Devices tend to pick the network with the lowest RSSI without taking signal noise or tx rates in to account.
 
I'm sure there is more to all of this but I can see my network list in Airport Utility and when the watch is near the iPhone it is not listed, but when I turn off BT on the phone it takes about 20-30 seconds and the watch appears on the client wifi list. Same when I turn BT back on, about 30 seconds later the watch disappears from the wifi list.
 
bothfly737 said:
I'm sure there is more to all of this but I can see my network list in Airport Utility and when the watch is near the iPhone it is not listed, but when I turn off BT on the phone it takes about 20-30 seconds and the watch appears on the client wifi list. Same when I turn BT back on, about 30 seconds later the watch disappears from the wifi list.
Click to expand...

Yeah the watch only uses wifi when it can't use BT.
 
There seems to be conflicting info about 5ghz wifi and apple watch. I thought it only supports 2.4. If so, how are some using it with their phone connected to 5???
 
does anybody have there wifi hidden and the watch can pair with the phone/wifi?
and bluetooth is off
 
mario-64 said:
There seems to be conflicting info about 5ghz wifi and apple watch. I thought it only supports 2.4. If so, how are some using it with their phone connected to 5???
Click to expand...

We know the watch only uses 2.4 ghz.
Some how by naming both bands the same name the watch joins the network even if the phone is on 5ghz. I'm no expert in this but thats what has worked for me today
 
Jesus Christ. It shouldn't be this difficult. This sounds like the days of using piece of dick Windows machines and Androids. I'm sure update 1.1 will take care of this issue.
 
kovey said:
Jesus Christ. It shouldn't be this difficult. This sounds like the days of using piece of dick Windows machines and Androids. I'm sure update 1.1 will take care of this issue.
Click to expand...

Wasn't difficult for me. I didn't have to change a thing. Just worked (TM).
 
Works fine for me too. Just turned Bluetooth off on phone and it's still connected over wifi. What I don't get is why when I pair the bt headphones to the watch, won't it pull the podcast/pandora over the wifi? When I start/stop on the watch, it controls it on the phone but doesn't play through the bluetooth connected headphones. Anyone else trying to get this to work?
 
I'm on a 5ghz only AirPort Extreme network so I'm assuming that my Watch won't ever connect to my wifi (I live in a pretty small apartment however, so losing Bluetooth connectivity is not an issue). I wonder though if I get better battery life on my Watch if it never connects to wifi on its own?

Tuck
 
Last edited:
Actually, I just tried turning off my iPhone and sending an iMessage and it worked... so I guess my Watch is somehow on wifi even though I don't connect to my 2.4Ghz network on my phone.
 
Chaztrip said:
How are you guys doing this? I have an Apple Extreme and I don't see the options for this??
Click to expand...

Open airport utility app on the Mac

Click the airport icon & edit

Go to wireless tab

You will see wireless network name : ******

Now on the bottom click on more wireless options ,

You see the a box for the 5GHZ name

Apple support told me just to leave this box unchecked , the iPhone will choose the best ghz on its own
But I have it named the same , is just grayed out the box is not checked

Is this true about iPad or iPhone will choose 5ghz even with that box unchecked ?
 
The Apple Watch definitely doesn't support 5Ghz but your phone can be on 5Ghz on a dual band network and still communicate with the watch that is on 2.4Ghz. The only problem I can think of with having your phone on 5Ghz is if you have poor signal or if it doesn't hand off to 2.4Ghz properly when signal is weak when you have a dual band network with the same name. Having a dual band network with the same really shouldn't be a problem however.

If you have a 5Ghz only network that will be a problem or a dual band with a separate name it will be a problem if your phone has never joined the 2.4Ghz band. In that case then just have the phone join the 2.4Ghz network and you should be good because the watch gets network credentials from the phone. I'm using a AC model Time Capsule with an older Airport Express set up as a roaming access point hard wired to the Time Calsule and have had no issues and both my phone and watch will hand off between both access points fine based on signal.

I also tested with using the Express to extend the network and had the same results. Maybe Apple routers play nicer with the watch but am not sure why it would make a difference but obviously must be some reason WiFi on the watch doesn't work at all or doesn't work well for some.
 
I can't get mine to connect either. What about those without Apple Aiport Express/Extreme's? Corporate wifi here, not sure of ghz.
 
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