Possible to keep using Watch (non-cellular) without iPhone for a month?

[okkibs]

Hello everyone,

Until I receive my new iPhone early Nov I would like to sell my old iPhone now, since I found someone to sell it to for a very good price. This would obviously require removing my account and factory resetting it. I have in the past used the Watch (GPS-only, no cellular) just fine offline, but I'd like to keep using Apple Pay and using it on Wifi.

Thus my question is, what will happen when I connect the Watch to Wifi, will it realize that the paired iPhone is gone for good and stop working? Or does it not care?

Most importantly is that I use Apple Pay every day and go through a dozen transactions per week, and while I heard that there is only a limited number of offline purchases possible before needing to connect again, I am unsure whether a Wifi connection on the Watch would suffice to restore Apple Pay functionality.

The Apple support documents only say that all this works fine with the iPhone "offline" but no mention what happens when I actually remove it from my account entirely. (This is why I cannot simply test it either... if it breaks the Watch I'd have to factory reset it and pair it again, losing all data on it.)

The Pixel I have set up now is quite alright, I had Android in the past and only switched for the Watch and Apple Pay. If it turns out I can just keep using the Watch like this, I wouldn't even necessarily miss the iPhone...

Thanks!

 

[parseckadet]

The Apple support documents only say that all this works fine with the iPhone "offline" but no mention what happens when I actually remove it from my account entirely. (This is why I cannot simply test it either... if it breaks the Watch I'd have to factory reset it and pair it again, losing all data on it.)

You actually could test this. Your watch is backed up to your phone (I think it happens when you take the watch off and charge, but I’m not certain), and that backup is included when your phone backs up to iCloud. That iCloud backup will persist even after you remove the phone from your account. So you could perform a backup of everything, wipe the phone and remove it from your account, and see what happens with the watch. If things don’t go well, just setup your phone again, restoring from iCloud, then add your watch again restoring from the backup.

 

[jz0309]

Hello everyone,

Until I receive my new iPhone early Nov I would like to sell my old iPhone now, since I found someone to sell it to for a very good price. This would obviously require removing my account and factory resetting it. I have in the past used the Watch (GPS-only, no cellular) just fine offline, but I'd like to keep using Apple Pay and using it on Wifi.

Thus my question is, what will happen when I connect the Watch to Wifi, will it realize that the paired iPhone is gone for good and stop working? Or does it not care?

Most importantly is that I use Apple Pay every day and go through a dozen transactions per week, and while I heard that there is only a limited number of offline purchases possible before needing to connect again, I am unsure whether a Wifi connection on the Watch would suffice to restore Apple Pay functionality.

The Apple support documents only say that all this works fine with the iPhone "offline" but no mention what happens when I actually remove it from my account entirely. (This is why I cannot simply test it either... if it breaks the Watch I'd have to factory reset it and pair it again, losing all data on it.)

The Pixel I have set up now is quite alright, I had Android in the past and only switched for the Watch and Apple Pay. If it turns out I can just keep using the Watch like this, I wouldn't even necessarily miss the iPhone...

Thanks!

You’ll have to unpair your watch from the phone, and you cannot use your watch in the unpaired state …

 

[okkibs]

You’ll have to unpair your watch from the phone, and you cannot use your watch in the unpaired state …

Who says I have to unpair it? The Watch has an offline mode. The phone could blow up and the Watch would have no way of knowing.

If things don’t go well, just setup your phone again, restoring from iCloud, then add your watch again restoring from the backup.

Fair enough, although the most important part is how Apple Pay will behave in a week or two. It might work for a couple days and then ask for the iPhone at which point I'd have shipped it already.

Apple couldn't answer my question either, they offered a callback from the department in question later at which point their automated callback system connected me to a random agent that could not assist with Watch issues and upon trying to forward me to the right department realised they're not even available today.

 

[G.McGilli]

You’ll have to unpair your watch from the phone, and you cannot use your watch in the unpaired state …

Exactly - and so all your Apple Pay cards will also be removed from your watch as well as the phone.

 

[G.McGilli]

Who says I have to unpair it? The Watch has an offline mode. The phone could blow up and the Watch would have no way of knowing.

Ok... I'm fully intrigued...

IF - you can get your iPhone reset without it unpairing the watch - then technically you can still use Apple Pay

If your Apple Watch can't connect to Wi-Fi, cellular, or your iPhone​

Use your Apple Watch without your iPhone nearby - Apple Support (CA)

Learn what you can do with your Apple Watch when your iPhone isn't with you.

support.apple.com

Truly - I want to know... I'm not upgrading my phone otherwise I'd try this... Post back though whether it un-pairs it automatically (if u don't do it yourself) and it continues to work!

 

[jz0309]

Who says I have to unpair it? The Watch has an offline mode. The phone could blow up and the Watch would have no way of knowing.

sure, but OP won't have his/her phone for a month, so when they get their new phone, how do they pair a watch that is paired to a phone they don't have anymore? and the AW will remember it is paired ... I suppose you might be able to do a factory reset ... I'll let you try this out

 

[jz0309]

Exactly - and so all your Apple Pay cards will also be removed from your watch as well as the phone.

from the phone not by un-pairing the watch but if you reset it, just want to clarify that part.

 

[jz0309]

Ok... I'm fully intrigued...

IF - you can get your iPhone reset without it unpairing the watch - then technically you can still use Apple Pay

If your Apple Watch can't connect to Wi-Fi, cellular, or your iPhone​

View attachment 2069888

Use your Apple Watch without your iPhone nearby - Apple Support (CA)

Learn what you can do with your Apple Watch when your iPhone isn't with you.

support.apple.com

Truly - I want to know... I'm not upgrading my phone otherwise I'd try this... Post back though whether it un-pairs it automatically (if u don't do it yourself) and it continues to work!

me personally, I'm not going to be the guinea pig for this ...

 

[okkibs]

when they get their new phone, how do they pair a watch that is paired to a phone they don't have anymore?

There is an option for that, once you restore your iPhone backup onto the new phone you can continue the watch connection in the watch app, it will prompt you to do it when you have the watch nearby. I actually found that out from this forum.

The Apple support document describes what features are available when the iPhone is offline which isn't the same as an iPhone that was removed from the account entirely. I know that Apple Pay works when my phone is out of battery and the watch is offline as well, I use it like that sometimes and Apple Pay works fine.

I opened this thread because I don't want to find out in a week when I connect the watch to Wifi for some music or something that I'll now have a paperweight on my arm until November. There are more reasons why the iPhone might be gone, for example it might need servicing and then is sent in for repairs, or it's lost or stolen and has to be wiped from iCloud. So I am sure I am not the first Watch user with this usage scenario.

 

[Shirasaki]

Thus my question is, what will happen when I connect the Watch to Wifi, will it realize that the paired iPhone is gone for good and stop working? Or does it not care?

In modern version of watchOS I don’t think it cares, though for how long I don’t know. Never thought about it in those two weeks otherwise I’d have some first hand experience on this matter. Something else that worth noting is if the Apple Watch will feed back the data stored on Watch temporarily to the iPhone when connection is established again.

 

[lmlphx]

Hello everyone,

Until I receive my new iPhone early Nov I would like to sell my old iPhone now, since I found someone to sell it to for a very good price. This would obviously require removing my account and factory resetting it. I have in the past used the Watch (GPS-only, no cellular) just fine offline, but I'd like to keep using Apple Pay and using it on Wifi.

Thus my question is, what will happen when I connect the Watch to Wifi, will it realize that the paired iPhone is gone for good and stop working? Or does it not care?

Most importantly is that I use Apple Pay every day and go through a dozen transactions per week, and while I heard that there is only a limited number of offline purchases possible before needing to connect again, I am unsure whether a Wifi connection on the Watch would suffice to restore Apple Pay functionality.

The Apple support documents only say that all this works fine with the iPhone "offline" but no mention what happens when I actually remove it from my account entirely. (This is why I cannot simply test it either... if it breaks the Watch I'd have to factory reset it and pair it again, losing all data on it.)

The Pixel I have set up now is quite alright, I had Android in the past and only switched for the Watch and Apple Pay. If it turns out I can just keep using the Watch like this, I wouldn't even necessarily miss the iPhone...

Thanks!

What if you could pair the watch with a friend's iphone for a month? I haven't been able to find out if you can have separate cards in the wallet for the each Apple Watch paired to 1 phone different from what your friend would have in there phone wallet. But this might be easy you to test out before selling your iPhone

 

[MacNut]

What if you could pair the watch with a friend's iphone for a month? I haven't been able to find out if you can have separate cards in the wallet for the each Apple Watch paired to 1 phone different from what your friend would have in there phone wallet. But this might be easy you to test out before selling your iPhone

As long as the friend isn't using an Apple Watch, it will unpair the data.

 

[8igers]

Who says I have to unpair it? The Watch has an offline mode. The phone could blow up and the Watch would have no way of knowing.

You have to unlock the phone from your iCloud. You can keep the Aw in a faraday cage while that happens, but later when the AW checks in through wifi to Apple servers, it may realize the phone is gone, then idk wtf happens. Maybe it will brick. My AW6 just ****ing bricked after unpairing yesterday. JFC.

 

[lmlphx]

You have to unlock the phone from your iCloud. You can keep the Aw in a faraday cage while that happens, but later when the AW checks in through wifi to Apple servers, it may realize the phone is gone, then idk wtf happens. Maybe it will brick. My AW6 just ****ing bricked after unpairing yesterday. JFC.

My AW4 bricked when I updated it to OS9... Fortunately I got my AW8 yesterday and all is good. Maybe I'll see about replacing the battery on the AW4 cause I wanted to give it to my daughter to use

 

[8igers]

My AW4 bricked when I updated it to OS9... Fortunately I got my AW8 yesterday and all is good. Maybe I'll see about replacing the battery on the AW4 cause I wanted to give it to my daughter to use

How does replacing the battery unbrick it?

 

[lmlphx]

How does replacing the battery unbrick it?

Just a last ditch effort as the watch just shows it charging and a red lightning bolt next to it no response… So I can't say for sure that it will but I thought for 20 bucks I could try replacing the battery myself

 

[matrix07]

sure, but OP won't have his/her phone for a month, so when they get their new phone, how do they pair a watch that is paired to a phone they don't have anymore?

back up phone to Mac with password protected. When get a new phone, restore with that back up which will contain Watch back up. Resetting the watch and pair with new phone. Voila. New watch with one month of watch data lost. 😀

 

[okkibs]

pair with new phone. Voila. New watch with one month of watch data lost. 😀

AFAIK you can pair it with the new phone without losing watch data, after restoring the iPhone backup and trying to connect the watch it will offer to resume sync without wiping. It might be new phone hardware, but for all intents and purposes it's your same phone again after the backup is restored. I am really not worried about that.

The watch cannot be paired with a friends phone as that would require a reset first of all, and then handing over my credit card information to said friend, not to mention I'd get their notifications and messages on my watch. It would make no sense to set it up that way. And while there is the family setup option, it's so limited that I wouldn't gain anything from doing that.

It would be so simple if I could just use the watch with any of the Macs or at least the iPad I have here since both the M1 Macs as well as the iPad could run the iOS Watch app.