Pairing just to activate

[LordQ]

Hi guys, I was wondering if I can buy an Apple Watch, pair it with my dad's iPhone 5S just to activate it and use it as my Apple Watch?

I'm thinking about this because I have a 4S but I really want the watch. I don't even care if it's not going to use the other apps (I plan to turn off all notifications, apps, etc) so I can use it to tell time and track my fitness.

Is this possible?

Thanks!

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

Your dad would need to plan on never getting his own AW.

 

[xraydoc]

Your dad would need to plan on never getting his own AW.

Not true. All he'd have to do is tell the Watch app to unpair. No different than if you lost your watch or had it stolen. Can still pair a new one.

Now, the watch, on the other hand, disconnected from a paired phone will not do much more than tell time. Seems like a waste (IMHO), though far be it from me to tell someone how to spend their money. An iPhone 4S will never know the watch was there...

 

[friedmud]

A couple of things:

1. Wait for WatchOS 2.0. It is going to give more autonomy to the Watch (for instance, the ability to run third party apps without being connected to the phone).

2. When you do it... you should switch the iCloud account out on the 5S so that it is _your_ iCloud account. That will allow you to receive iMessages sent to your account when your Watch is on wifi.

3. If you want email - same thing... make sure _your_ email is setup on the phone before pairing it... then the Watch will be able to send and receive your email while on Wifi.

4. Don't do it. The Watch works best with a phone. A 5S is _free_ on contract.... and pretty cheap otherwise (look at Ebay).

 

[exxxviii]

So I can use it to tell time and track my fitness.

Ditto everyone else. Plus, the watch by itself is not very good as a fitness tracker. It would not, for example, be calibrated to your stride length, so it would incorrectly calculate distances for walks and runs. And, it resets its fitness data at midnight, so you would have no way to look back and see your activity history. And the workout app does not give you any means to see anything more than the most recent workout, so there is no way to look back into any meaningful history.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

Not true. All he'd have to do is tell the Watch app to unpair. No different than if you lost your watch or had it stolen. Can still pair a new one.

But wouldn't that remove the OP's iCloud account?

 

[Armen]

Hi guys, I was wondering if I can buy an Apple Watch, pair it with my dad's iPhone 5S just to activate it and use it as my Apple Watch?

I'm thinking about this because I have a 4S but I really want the watch. I don't even care if it's not going to use the other apps (I plan to turn off all notifications, apps, etc) so I can use it to tell time and track my fitness.

Is this possible?

Thanks!

You're better off getting a Fitbit. Waste of $350 to buy the Apple watch just for those features.

 

[Julien]

....so I can use it to tell time and track my fitness.

Is this possible?

Thanks!

You must have an iPhone to track anything. The Watch will only tell you what Workout activity you just did and only track today's goals. You would have no why to view any history without an iPhone.

A better idea would be to first upgrade to at least an iPhone 5 and then look at an Watch. Keep in mind all previous generation iPhones are about to drop in price/value so the next month is a GREAT time to buy.