Making/receiving calls on Watch with wifi

[Quahog]

I preordered my watch Friday morning, and I went by the Apple Store on Sunday because I wanted to see it... I didn't intend on making a try-on appointment, but the wait was only 10 minutes so I figured what the hell.

The Apple sales guy mentioned that you can make/receive calls from the watch as long as it's on the same wifi network... does not need to be in bluetooth range. I haven't read anything to confirm this... does anyone know?

It would be pretty useful for me, as at work we have a rather large campus and a wifi network covers all of it, and I often leave my 6+ on my desk when I'm someplace far away.... I image all features will work as long as you are on the same wifi... your phone doesn't have to be with you?

 

[8CoreWhore]

Yeah, it does that. So if you're home, and your iPhone is being charged in one room, and you are in another wearing your Watch, the Watch will still be linked to the iPhone over your home WiFi network.

We are not likely to be separated from our iPhones while on some other networks, like Starbucks, etc, maybe at work for some, or school for you.

From what I can gather, we don't know for certain how the Watch will connect to any WiFi router. Do you have to choose from a list of available networks and put in a password on the Watch screen? I seriously doubt it. I think our iPhones will handle those details for the Watch. So if you chose to connect with your iPhone to that network, it will then hand off those settings to the Watch for you. Easy peasy.

But what if your iPhone is connected to a network, and your Watch is close to the iPhone? I think it will choose a direct connection between the two.

I never keep the iPhone with me at home, it's sitting on a table. So the Watch will come in handy.

 

[scrapple]

just like osx yosemite does it..

if your iphone is somewhere in the house, and you get a phone call while your on your imac or something on the other side of the house, you can answer it on the imac..

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18756?locale=en_US

 

[etm0001]

The Apple sales guy mentioned that you can make/receive calls from the watch as long as it's on the same wifi network... does not need to be in bluetooth range. I haven't read anything to confirm this... does anyone know?

If it works like Continuity, then both devices simply need to be on the same subnet. (And since these are mobile devices, that means connecting to the subnet via WiFi). The only other option would be WiFi direct.

If I had to bet, I'd say it works just like Continuity.

 

[etm0001]

If it works like Continuity, then both devices simply need to be on the same subnet.

It just dawned on me that Continuity-style connectivity can't be the only way the iPhone and Apple Watch work together to make a call. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to place/accept calls via the Apple Watch when, say, walking on the street (i.e., not connected to a WiFi network and not on the same subnet). In this scenario, Bluetooth and/or WiFi direct are the only ways the two devices can communicate with each other.

 

[techiegirl]

It wouldn't (shouldn't) be any different than when I receive phone calls on my iPad or Macbook when I'm at home. It's a great feature for me since I rarely have my phone on my when I'm at home.

 

[magicMac]

Since it's now been confirmed by the reviewers that the apple watch is able to associate to a wifi network independent of the iPhone (Kevin lynch already confirmed this at the recent event in my opinion but the poor wording got the pessimists and Samsung fans here all very excited).

Nevertheless, this means that in theory the iPhone could share it's SIM info with the watch and allow wifi calling via the watch using your normal phone number (if supported like T-Mobile in the US and EE in the UK) which is very useful if your phone is out of range, lost, stolen or its battery depleted.

 

[Wildgift]

Very cool!

 

[simps100]

If it works like Continuity, then both devices simply need to be on the same subnet. (And since these are mobile devices, that means connecting to the subnet via WiFi). The only other option would be WiFi direct.

If I had to bet, I'd say it works just like Continuity.

After the 8.3 update i was able to enable WiFi calling and got a warning that i won't be able to answer calls on other devices. I assume this means as i have wifi calling i wont be able to use the Apple Watch phone features?

Anyone know if this is something which could be addressed with a software update?