Is Apple Watch constantly connected to wifi?

[Olja]

I have an Apple Watch SE, non cellular. Although it is connected to the same wifi network as my iphone, I can see that many times it disconnects from wifi network when iphone is in bluetooth range. When it loses bluetooth connection to the iphone, it takes a significant amount of time for it to connect to wifi or doesn't connect at all. I then have to go to wifi settings on the watch to manually connect it to wifi.

So, is the Apple Watch constantly connected to wifi, even when iphone is in bluetooth range? Or does it take a while for it to connect to wifi when it loses connection to the iphone?

 

[JonnyBlaze]

I think it works as you describe, Bluetooth when phone is in range, WiFi when not. I have never noticed any delay in connecting to WiFi though. maybe turn off and on again - that old classic.

 

[akash.nu]

Also dependent on the WiFi router and the bandwidth the signals are emitted at times. So Bluetooth is the first preference because of the least amount of battery drain and if unavailable then only connect to WiFi as you mentioned.

 

[waw74]

it does wait, but should be under a minute or 2 to make sure you're really out of BT range. Otherwise if you're right on the edge of the signal, the watch will be powering the wifi on and off rapidly which would eat more battery. especially if you're somewhere without wifi, as the watch will spend time searching for a network it knows, and transmitting at higher powers trying to find something.

not sure if this will work, but have you tried using an app that needs data before you go into settings?
The watch might be smart enough to realize it doesn't have a connection and turn wifi on automatically.

Is the lack of wifi impacting your experience?
or are you watching the screen, and not seeing it instantly change?

You normally shouldn't notice the delay. Like the old saying "a watched pot never boils"

Cellular works the same way, it doesn't turn on till it can't find bluetooth or wifi.

 

[Olja]

it does wait, but should be under a minute or 2 to make sure you're really out of BT range. Otherwise if you're right on the edge of the signal, the watch will be powering the wifi on and off rapidly which would eat more battery. especially if you're somewhere without wifi, as the watch will spend time searching for a network it knows, and transmitting at higher powers trying to find something.

not sure if this will work, but have you tried using an app that needs data before you go into settings?
The watch might be smart enough to realize it doesn't have a connection and turn wifi on automatically.

Is the lack of wifi impacting your experience?
or are you watching the screen, and not seeing it instantly change?

You normally shouldn't notice the delay. Like the old saying "a watched pot never boils"

Cellular works the same way, it doesn't turn on till it can't find bluetooth or wifi.

The problem is the lack of consistency. At times it will automatically change to wifi, sometimes I can only see the red phone icon on top of the watch face until I go into settings.
When I do this, I notice that my wifi network is under the available ones, just like any other wifi network in range. Shouldn't it always be below the wifi switch on the watch?

 

[xraydoc]

The problem is the lack of consistency. At times it will automatically change to wifi, sometimes I can only see the red phone icon on top of the watch face until I go into settings.
When I do this, I notice that my wifi network is under the available ones, just like any other wifi network in range. Shouldn't it always be below the wifi switch on the watch?

Sometimes it takes a couple minutes to connect to wifi when it loses the BT signal, but I've never had my watches fail to connect to wifi after 3-4 minutes unless there's a poor wifi signal. Don't forget that with the size of the watch, the wifi antennas are not terribly big.