Currently using the iPhone Air and my Series 7 Apple Watch battery is getting tired. It is showing 68% battery capacity now and that it needs service. I'm not really interested in paying for a battery replacement so I ordered a refurbished Apple Watch Ultra 2. I do use the cellular feature of my current watch, so I'll transfer that over to the Ultra 2 when it arrives. I was thinking about keeping the old Series 7 (Apple says I could get $65 for it but I don't really shop at the Apple Store ever) to wear to bed since I really like tracking my sleep, and it should be a good bit smaller than the Ultra 2. Is it really as simple as putting it on and raising my wrist in order for the iPhone to detect that I'm wearing a different Apple Watch? That's what Apple says......
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How well does it work having 2 different Apple Watches w/ 1 iPhone?
- Thread starter treimche
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- apple watch series 7 ultra 2
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VictorKurgan
macrumors newbie
Well, if you're going to keep it, why not pay the $100 for a new battery so it'll last you longer. I just had my series 7 battery replaced a few months ago, it took about a week to get the replacement. Had no issues since and hope it'll last several more years.
No experience using 2 different watches but would also be curious to know if it works that easily.
No experience using 2 different watches but would also be curious to know if it works that easily.
jz0309
macrumors P6
yes, it is that simple, you can pair up to 5 watches to a single iphone
I have a S7 that I wear every other night for sleep tracking and my main watch is the Ultra 2 that I wear for ~ 38hrs straight incl sleep tracking. it's a matter of unlocking the watch for which I use faceid on my iPhone.
Pair another Apple Watch with your iPhone
You can pair more than one Apple Watch with your iPhone.
Switching between the two is easy! I recently bought an Ultra 3. Still have my Series 7 Ti -- would have gotten $60 on trade-in but still want to use it. FWIW, I'm not getting a battery replacement as within the next year or two it will likely not take the latest watchOS.
Howard2k
macrumors 604
I believe cellular is more complicated if you have it activated.
But no cellular, it's a doddle.
But no cellular, it's a doddle.
Since I have cellular on my Series 7 and use it, I'm thinking I'll only have it active on the Ultra 2 and just turn it off on the Series 7 since I'll mostly only be using it for tracking my sleep, or at home while the Ultra 2 is charging. Hopefully that will make it easy.
It wouldn't make sense to me to pay $100 for a new battery in my series 7 when it still lasts a full day most days, and I'll likely just use it for sleep tracking or maybe around home here and there.
BugeyeSTI
macrumors 604
Yes, that simple. I have an S6 and an Ultra2 and they switch automatically when you put the watch on your wrist and unlock it. Notifications, live activities and activity rings all update quickly as soon as the different watch connects to the iPhone..
throAU
macrumors G4
Its fine. The auto-switching works.
I used to do it, the only annoying thing is doing watch updates, because the watch needs to be actively connected to your iPhone to do updates.
So you'll need to manually selected/connect the other watch while its on the charger to update it, if you're wearing one on your wrist.
I used to do it, the only annoying thing is doing watch updates, because the watch needs to be actively connected to your iPhone to do updates.
So you'll need to manually selected/connect the other watch while its on the charger to update it, if you're wearing one on your wrist.
Tdude96
macrumors 6502a
I had a series 7 and got an Ultra 2 and switched between them, using the s7 solely for sleep tracking for a long time. The auto-switching does great most of the time, outside of updates as throAU mentioned. Those get annoying. I have had minor synching problems with activity rings, mostly noticeable on lost stand hours, but not often and the phone typically tracks it correctly even if it doesn't display properly on the watch.
I did have trouble switching cellular service from my old watch to my new watch, but that was because I had bought a new phone as well, switched to my new phone then went to switch my cellular plan to my new watch, and my idiot service provider decided to send confirmation text messages to my watch's number, which is just a stand-in, not a real reachable number so I couldn't get the security code. They did this because of the "recent device change" (my phone). Very annoying, but from what I understand a Verizon-specific problem. I had to wait over a week to get my watch's service switched. Customer service insisted I just had to wait it out - anywhere from 72 hours to 30 days - they weren't sure how long the lockout period was. "Just keep trying every day." 😣
I did have trouble switching cellular service from my old watch to my new watch, but that was because I had bought a new phone as well, switched to my new phone then went to switch my cellular plan to my new watch, and my idiot service provider decided to send confirmation text messages to my watch's number, which is just a stand-in, not a real reachable number so I couldn't get the security code. They did this because of the "recent device change" (my phone). Very annoying, but from what I understand a Verizon-specific problem. I had to wait over a week to get my watch's service switched. Customer service insisted I just had to wait it out - anywhere from 72 hours to 30 days - they weren't sure how long the lockout period was. "Just keep trying every day." 😣
throAU
macrumors G4
I had similar issues, but I think when you first switch to the watch it just takes some time to sync back up.
As in... several minutes - it's almost as if it has to replay everything back into your second watch from your iPhone; while the watch is not active it gets no sync at all. If it has been off your wrist for a while, this can take some time.
JulianStaples
macrumors member
I've been switching between two ever since my S7 went in for a battery replacement last year and I bought a beat-up old S6 from eBay to keep my Activity logging up while the S7 was in surgery. Never had an issue with it, though it can sometimes take a few minutes for the 'new' watch on my wrist to sync up with the latest data from Fitness.
Side note: The beat-up old S6 went for its own battery replacement last week, so now I have a shiny new watch. 😊 Sometimes think I should buy a new AW, but the only major functionality I'd want to upgrade to at the moment would be better battery life, and it seems like whenever battery tech improves, Apple just make the watch/battery thinner to keep battery life consistent. So, given that, I'd rather pay £95 for a 'new' S6 via the battery replacement rather than dropping £400+-500 on a new S11.
Side note: The beat-up old S6 went for its own battery replacement last week, so now I have a shiny new watch. 😊 Sometimes think I should buy a new AW, but the only major functionality I'd want to upgrade to at the moment would be better battery life, and it seems like whenever battery tech improves, Apple just make the watch/battery thinner to keep battery life consistent. So, given that, I'd rather pay £95 for a 'new' S6 via the battery replacement rather than dropping £400+-500 on a new S11.
Lately I have been having good luck manually running the update from the Settings app on the second watch itself while it sits on the charger and my main watch sits on my wrist. Unlock the watch, open settings, General, Software Update, and go through the steps.
So in my experience it doesn't need to be actively connected to do an update. That said, it's still harder than I wish it was - I wish I could run the update from the watch app even when it wasn't the active watch.
jz0309
macrumors P6
My S7 is still on 26.3 But I seem to recall that the last time I updated it was exactly that way, unlock watch, initiate update from the watch and it completed.
So l'll test that again for 26.4 and will give an update here
Haga
macrumors member
jz0309
macrumors P6
so I just went to run the update on the S7, it's been on the charger since last night and it is my sleep watch for later today. When I went to initiate the update, it immediately went to "Verify ..." and 20 sec or so later rebooted ...
I wore it Mon night and then Tue til ~ 10 am (different use case as I had an early medical procedure that I did not want to wear my U2 for). So I do not know when the actual update was downloaded, but it's been out for 1+ week. I did check BT settings an it was (obviously) not connected to my iPhone as I was wearing my U2 at that point in time.
I'll try to remember to check next time 😉
jz0309
macrumors P6
Going forward, when new updates are available, go to the watch, Settings, General, Software update and initiate it from there, once that starts, turn Bluetooth off, I turn it off on my phone but you can also turn it off on the watch.
jaysabol
macrumors member
jz0309
macrumors P6
I will say, that of all the various devices (Mac, iPhone, iPad) watchOS updates are the "slowest" as the watch has the least "powerful" processor. I haven't update my ATV 4k in a year or so but I'm pretty sure it is faster than the watch.
Late to the thread, but, ditto others: easy-peasy.
I keep my old SE around for situations where I don't want to harm my daily 10 driver (read: canyoneering or other situations where I'll be banging on things [killed my 3 doing this, hence upgrade at the time to SE]) and have not run into problems.
I keep my old SE around for situations where I don't want to harm my daily 10 driver (read: canyoneering or other situations where I'll be banging on things [killed my 3 doing this, hence upgrade at the time to SE]) and have not run into problems.
Well I'll be waiting another week or so until actually using 2 watches. I ordered a "Renewed Premium" Apple Watch Ultra 2 from Amazon, and immediately returned it. It was nowhere near "Premium" quality based on their own wording in the Amazon Renewed description:
There were visible scuffs on the titanium casing and the Digital Crown. I could feel and see dings on the edges of the titanium around the screen and on the Digital Crown. The watch was very dirty. There was gunk built up within the screw heads on the underside of the watch, along with crud on the underside. There was a scuff on the screen that was barely visible, but it was there. The band wasn't installed correctly and when I removed the band, the little spring loaded part that locks it into the watch casing broke apart in 2 pieces. Battery Health showed Maximum Capacity of 89%, which didn't meet their specification.
This was definitely NOT "Premium" in any way. I didn't expect a brand new watch, but I expected to get what they're claiming to sell. It will be alright though as I re-ordered from Woot that was actually $30 cheaper for the exact same thing, and if it sucks again, I'll return it and probably go with one of the refurb sellers with a good reputation on Ebay.
Refurbished - Premium
Cosmetic Condition: Premium- Screen: No scratches
- Body: No signs of cosmetic damage (scratches, dents, and other) are visible when the product is held 12 inches away.
- Battery: >90% of original battery life
- Accessories: Generic or original equipment manufacturer accessories and packaging provided.
There were visible scuffs on the titanium casing and the Digital Crown. I could feel and see dings on the edges of the titanium around the screen and on the Digital Crown. The watch was very dirty. There was gunk built up within the screw heads on the underside of the watch, along with crud on the underside. There was a scuff on the screen that was barely visible, but it was there. The band wasn't installed correctly and when I removed the band, the little spring loaded part that locks it into the watch casing broke apart in 2 pieces. Battery Health showed Maximum Capacity of 89%, which didn't meet their specification.
This was definitely NOT "Premium" in any way. I didn't expect a brand new watch, but I expected to get what they're claiming to sell. It will be alright though as I re-ordered from Woot that was actually $30 cheaper for the exact same thing, and if it sucks again, I'll return it and probably go with one of the refurb sellers with a good reputation on Ebay.
For those of you who switched from an old Apple Watch to a newer (or different) and had to move your cellular plan from old watch to new watch, how did you do it? I received my Apple Watch Ultra 2 from Woot that is in absolutely fantastic condition, even with 100% battery health, for $370 so I'm definitely keeping this one. I want to deactivate the cellular from my old series 7 watch and activate it on the Ultra 2 watch, hopefully without having to unpair/re-pair/etc all that crap again. I'll keep the Series 7 working and updated just without the cellular on it.
Howard2k
macrumors 604
It might depend on your provider but my number just moved across when I activated the new watch. I think it asked me if I wanted to move the number. I was expecting to have to contact my carrier and provide new details but I just followed the prompts and it moved over. Very surprising and easy.
I do this so infrequently I can't remember. The last time I upgraded from Ultra to Ultra 3, and was trading in the Ultra as part of the process, so it was a clear move the pairing from one watch to the other. When I bought the Ultra I had kept my old Series 5 and moved the cellular plan from it, but I don't remember exactly how I did that 3.5 years ago. I seem to remember it was very simple.
I'm pretty sure I did what it said here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/119601
I'm on Verizon, for what it's worth.
I'm pretty sure I did what it said here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/119601
I'm on Verizon, for what it's worth.