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New to  watch. Can it....

Knowlege Bomb

Knowlege Bomb

macrumors G4
Original poster
Feb 14, 2008
10,290
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I just got an Apple Watch as a gift. I'm coming from a Garmin Vivosmart. One of my favorite features was getting a buzz on my wrist if my phone had slipped out of my pocket in the car or I walked out for work and forgot it.

Is there any way I can have my watch alert me if it loses Bluetooth connection with my phone? I just have a little icon that pops up on the screen.
 
Knowlege Bomb said:
I just got an Apple Watch as a gift. I'm coming from a Garmin Vivosmart. One of my favorite features was getting a buzz on my wrist if my phone had slipped out of my pocket in the car or I walked out for work and forgot it.

Is there any way I can have my watch alert me if it loses Bluetooth connection with my phone? I just have a little icon that pops up on the screen.
Click to expand...

Not that I'm aware of unfortunately.
 
This is a standard feature on all pebble third party apps I've seen, surprised the Apple Watch does not do it :(
 
gwhizkids said:
Actually, I think the Lookout app does what you're looking for.

Lookout – Security, Backup and Missing Device by Lookout, Inc.
https://appsto.re/us/zr_6z.i
Click to expand...

Mike Boreham said:
This works... just set it up on my iPhone 6+ and watch, and walked away from my phone. It gives an alert on my watch when about to go out of range. Not crashing (so far) for me.

Thanks for the tip.
Click to expand...

Is "out of range" bluetooth or wifi? Many of us like to dock our iPhone while at home and rely on our AW connected via wifi (but not necessarily via bluetooth) and it'd be annoying to get an alert if the app does it for bluetooth but not wifi.
 
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JayLenochiniMac said:
Is "out of range" bluetooth or wifi? Many of us like to dock our iPhone while at home and rely on our AW connected via wifi (but not necessarily via bluetooth) and it'd be annoying to get an alert if the app does it for bluetooth but not wifi.
Click to expand...

I am going to have to modify my initial enthusiasm for this app.

To answer your question I turned off wifi on my phone and walked away....and lost connection without any alerts.
Then I turned wifi back on and retested ....again no alerts.
Since then I have tried to repeat the initial successful alert without success.

Will keep experimenting.
 
Mike Boreham said:
I am going to have to modify my initial enthusiasm for this app.

To answer your question I turned off wifi on my phone and walked away....and lost connection without any alerts.
Then I turned wifi back on and retested ....again no alerts.
Since then I have tried to repeat the initial successful alert without success.

Will keep experimenting.
Click to expand...

This is the gist I got from the reviews. I'm really not a fan of any app that requires permission for location services even when the app is not in use.

Maybe I'll find some way to submit a feature request to Apple. Seems like a fairly basic feature if watches costing a quarter of the price can do it.
 
silvetti said:
This is a standard feature on all pebble third party apps I've seen, surprised the Apple Watch does not do it :(
Click to expand...

Pebble only connects over bluetooth. If you get out of range it buzzes you. The apple watch can lose bluetooth range and connect via WiFi instead so it's a bit tricky to implement this type of feature on the Apple Watch.
 
Armen said:
Pebble only connects over bluetooth. If you get out of range it buzzes you. The apple watch can lose bluetooth range and connect via WiFi instead so it's a bit tricky to implement this type of feature on the Apple Watch.
Click to expand...

They can simply add a feature to alert the user once it's out of bluetooth or wifi (so people will know they're no longer connected without having to look at the AW). It'd be annoying to get a pop-up alert when it's going to connect to wifi anyway.
 
I'm fine with the little icon. I don't want my watch to be freaking out and buzzing me every time I take out the trash or go to the laundry room.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
They can simply add a feature to alert the user once it's out of bluetooth or wifi (so people will know they're no longer connected without having to look at the AW). It'd be annoying to get a pop-up alert when it's going to connect to wifi anyway.
Click to expand...

The Pebble Watch alerts you when Bluetooth is disconnected because without that connection the watch will not receive notifications. I have a pair of LG bluetooth headphones that do the same. They vibrate when I'm out of range.

How would you work this out on the Apple Watch when Bluetooth disconnect doesn't necessarily mean the watch will no longer get notifications?

What Apple can do in my opinion is setup an internal notification (like how you get iMessage notifications) on the watch that reads something like "It appears your iPhone is out of range" with options like dismiss, ping iPhone .

The silly little red box with a line crossing through isn't very attention grabbing.
 
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Armen said:
The Pebble Watch alerts you when Bluetooth is disconnected because without that connection the watch will not receive notifications. I have a pair of LG bluetooth headphones that do the same. They vibrate when I'm out of range.

How would you work this out on the Apple Watch when Bluetooth disconnect doesn't necessarily mean the watch will no longer get notifications?

What Apple can do in my opinion is setup an internal notification (like how you get iMessage notifications) on the watch that reads something like "It appears your iPhone is out of range" with options like dismiss, ping iPhone .

The silly little red box with a line crossing through isn't very attention grabbing.
Click to expand...

Re-read my post. I wrote "bluetooth or wifi," meaning when it's not connected to either and hence it'll no longer get notifications. In the AW's case, it'd alert when it's not connected to either bluetooth or wifi, in contrast to bluetooth only on the Pebble.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
Re-read my post. I wrote "bluetooth or wifi," meaning when it's not connected to either and hence it'll no longer get notifications. In the AW's case, it'd alert when it's not connected to either bluetooth or wifi, in contrast to bluetooth only on the Pebble.
Click to expand...

One of the reasons some users here are asking for this feature is to alert them just in case they leave their phone behind. Bluetooth will Alert you in about 50 feet.

WiFi? well, that's another issue. I can leave my iPhone at my desk, go down 5 floors (2 floors, 3 levels underground parking) and I'll still have WiFi signal.
 
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Armen said:
WiFi? well, that's another issue. I can leave my iPhone at my desk, go down 5 floors (2 floors, 3 levels underground parking) and I'll still have WiFi signal.
Click to expand...

Interesting scenario. I have Wi-Fi at my work, which my phone connects to (so my watch knows it too, right?). However, my corporate network seems to "kick off" devices from Wi-Fi after some period of inactivity. I'm trying to understand if this impacts my watch as well. I regularly attend meetings 50-100ft away from where I'd leave my phone, so watch functionality would be great.

I'm an AW newb, only 5 days in at this point.

I get the red icon when the phone is too far away, but how can I confirm/test that it's still connecting to my corporate Wi-Fi?

EDIT: a quick test trying to send/receive iMessage from another phone verifies that my AW cannot "work" when my phone is powered off/not connected to Wi-Fi, and out of BT range.
 
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BeatCrazy said:
Interesting scenario. I have Wi-Fi at my work, which my phone connects to (so my watch knows it too, right?). However, my corporate network seems to "kick off" devices from Wi-Fi after some period of inactivity. I'm trying to understand if this impacts my watch as well. I regularly attend meetings 50-100ft away from where I'd leave my phone, so watch functionality would be great.

I'm an AW newb, only 5 days in at this point.

I get the red icon when the phone is too far away, but how can I confirm/test that it's still connecting to my corporate Wi-Fi?

EDIT: a quick test trying to send/receive iMessage from another phone verifies that my AW cannot "work" when my phone is powered off/not connected to Wi-Fi, and out of BT range.
Click to expand...

Look in the settings Glance.

The iPhone icon below means it's connected via Bluetooth whereas on WiFi you would see a cloud icon instead.

apple-watch-settings-glance.jpg
 
Armen said:
Any other questions? :)
Click to expand...

Sure :)
  • Why don't I get haptic notifications from my Gmail/Yahoo email apps that notify my phone with badges/banners?
  • Why does my RSS Watch app (large) complication always say "No news yet", even if I've added RSS feeds to the iPhone app?
  • Why do some complications get "stuck" or won't launch live data, until I reboot the watch? This happens especially after I change watch faces.
  • Why don't more 3rd party apps have Glances?
  • Are Glances exclusive to "native" watchOS apps?
  • Is there anyway to adjust the sensitivity of the "raise to view" display function? I realize this would impact batter life, but raising my watch to view does not always turn on the display in a manner that I'm expecting, i.e. not sensitive enough.
 
Last edited:
BeatCrazy said:
Sure :)
  • Why don't I get haptic notifications from my Gmail/Yahoo email apps that notify my phone with badges/banners?
  • Why does my RSS Watch app (large) complication always say "No news yet", even if I've added RSS feeds to the iPhone app?
  • Why do some complications get "stuck" or won't launch live data, until I reboot the watch? This happens especially after I change watch faces.
  • Why don't more 3rd party apps have Glances?
  • Are Glances exclusive to "native" watchOS apps?
  • Is there anyway to adjust the sensitivity of the "raise to view" display function? I realize this would impact batter life, but raising my watch to view does not turn on the display in a manner that I'm expecting.
Click to expand...

  • Why don't I get haptic notifications from my Gmail/Yahoo email apps that notify my phone with badges/banners? -I'm honestly not sure about this one.
  • Why does my RSS Watch app (large) complication always say "No news yet", even if I've added RSS feeds to the iPhone app? 3rd party complications can only be refreshed once every 30 minutes per Apple's guidelines.
  • Why do some complications get "stuck" or won't launch live data, until I reboot the watch? This happens especially after I change watch faces. You shouldn't have to restart your watch for complications to work properly. You can try unpairing/repairing your watch with your phone (this fixes a lot of weird issues)
  • Why don't more 3rd party apps have Glances? 3rd party developers have to include Apple watch support and glances.
  • Are Glances exclusive to "native" watchOS apps? No. Apple provides API's for developers to add their own Apple watch apps and glances.
  • Is there anyway to adjust the sensitivity of the "raise to view" display function? I realize this would impact batter life, but raising my watch to view does not turn on the display in a manner that I'm expecting. No. The screen comes on when you raise and twist your wrist as if you want to look at the time. If it's not doing this consistantly:
  • - Check to make sure you are on WatchOS 2.2
  • - unpair/repair the watch as suggest earlier.
 
Armen said:
  • Why don't I get haptic notifications from my Gmail/Yahoo email apps that notify my phone with badges/banners? -I'm honestly not sure about this one.
  • Why does my RSS Watch app (large) complication always say "No news yet", even if I've added RSS feeds to the iPhone app? 3rd party complications can only be refreshed once every 30 minutes per Apple's guidelines.
  • Why do some complications get "stuck" or won't launch live data, until I reboot the watch? This happens especially after I change watch faces. You shouldn't have to restart your watch for complications to work properly. You can try unpairing/repairing your watch with your phone (this fixes a lot of weird issues)
  • Why don't more 3rd party apps have Glances? 3rd party developers have to include Apple watch support and glances.
  • Are Glances exclusive to "native" watchOS apps? No. Apple provides API's for developers to add their own Apple watch apps and glances.
  • Is there anyway to adjust the sensitivity of the "raise to view" display function? I realize this would impact batter life, but raising my watch to view does not turn on the display in a manner that I'm expecting. No. The screen comes on when you raise and twist your wrist as if you want to look at the time. If it's not doing this consistantly:
  • - Check to make sure you are on WatchOS 2.2
  • - unpair/repair the watch as suggest earlier.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I may not have been clear on a few of those.

  • Yes, I'm on 2.2
  • Regarding Glances for native apps.. I mean some apps are native watchOS, while other or not (correct?), so are the Glances tied to 3rd party "native" watchOS 2.x apps only? Not talking about Apple apps.
  • Regarding the RSS app, yes I'm aware about the 30 minute restriction, but I haven't gotten any notifications in 48 hours since I installed it.
 
BeatCrazy said:
Thanks. I may not have been clear on a few of those.

  • Yes, I'm on 2.2
  • Regarding Glances for native apps.. I mean some apps are native watchOS, while other or not (correct?), so are the Glances tied to 3rd party "native" watchOS 2.x apps only? Not talking about Apple apps.
  • Regarding the RSS app, yes I'm aware about the 30 minute restriction, but I haven't gotten any notifications in 48 hours since I installed it.
Click to expand...

Go to the Apple Watch app on your iPhone. At the top you should see your watch. If you tap on it you can choose to unpair the watch. If you unpair your watch and then pair it again if may take care of the issues you are having with your RSS feed and other oddities.


Go to the Apple Watch App on your phone. Scroll down to the bottom section. Any apps listed here are 3rd party apps that are installed on your phone that have Apple Watch components to them. If you click one you can choose to install it on your Apple watch and in some cases you will see an option to make it available in glances also.





Here's an example of what the screen would look like if you tapped on breaking News in that list if you had it installed.

12739-6934-ai_watch_glances_00003-m.jpg
 
Armen said:
Go to the Apple Watch App on your phone. Scroll down to the bottom section. Any apps listed here are 3rd party apps that are installed on your phone that have Apple Watch components to them. If you click one you can choose to install it on your Apple watch and in some cases you will see an option to make it available in glances also.

Here's an example of what the screen would look like if you tapped on breaking News in that list if you had it installed.

12739-6934-ai_watch_glances_00003-m.jpg
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm familiar with this functionality. I'm just trying to get a better idea of which 3rd party apps (that I don't already own) support Glances, and is the (3rd party) app required to be native/i.e. watchOS 2.x, in order to support Glances?
 
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