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Potential new watch owner - a couple of questions.

Donka

Donka

macrumors 68030
Original poster
May 3, 2011
2,865
1,467
Scotland
I’ve been avoiding the Apple Watch since release but warming to the idea of trying one out. I did have a couple of questions though if anyone can feedback please…

  1. If my iPhone is running a full screen app and I get a message come through, can I reply to the message via the watch without the iPhone losing focus on the current playing app and switching to messages?
  2. How does the watch affect the iPhone’s battery life? I always keep WiFi and Bluetooth turned off on my iPhone unless needed so concerned with any noticeable battery hit with Bluetooth enabled permanently.
 
1) Your game play will probably be interrupted although you should still be able to respond from the watch.
2) You need Bluetooth and Wifi on so that the phone can connect to the watch, especially if you don't have the cellular model. Battery use from the watch is very minimal on the phone.
 
Thanks. Is WiFi actually required or just recommended if you are out of BT range of your iPhone?
 
I second what @Apple_Robert says...I have the Series 6 and can confirm that no battery drain is, frankly noticeable when the watch is connected vs when it is not. In response to your 1st point...most times the notification will come through on the iPhone, but then appear on your Watch about 5-19 seconds afterwards. Can respond on Watch without being interrupted.
 
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In terms of battery whatever battery drain there could be is probably offset by the fact your watch would generally get the notifications when the phone is not being used so the phone screen doesnt come on so saves some battery there. Also in general the battery drain from bluetooth and Wifi being on constantly is minimal to start with.
 
Just today I got a call while I was typing on my MBA M1. The MBA, IPhone and watch all gave their selected incoming call indicator tone/vibrate. I certainly couldnt miss the call 😀 and I took the call on my watch.

I don’t think? the iPhone has a feature that allows watch to handle an incoming call while the iPhone doesn’t show the call coming in/not get briefly interrupted. However that’s an interesting feature request to suggest (unless it’s already there and I don’t know of it). I can see use cases for it. When I’m listening to AM I will get a call that interrupts the music. ‘Send calls and texts to watch when music is playing’ radio button. I like it……If it’s possible (I have a GPS only S6, maybe cellular could or already does).
Outgoing on the watch is already friendlier to this process.
 
To be clear, I’m okay with the notification coming in on the phone, what I’m looking for is for me to be able to reply via the watch while the phone continues to play the current app. An example would be one of the kids watching a movie on the phone when out somewhere. If I can reply on the watch without the messages app being on screen on the phone i.e. the movie keeps playing then that’s great.
 
Donka said:
To be clear, I’m okay with the notification coming in on the phone, what I’m looking for is for me to be able to reply via the watch while the phone continues to play the current app. An example would be one of the kids watching a movie on the phone when out somewhere. If I can reply on the watch without the messages app being on screen on the phone i.e. the movie keeps playing then that’s great.
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Yep, absolutely. You can respond via dictation, tapping a canned response or even writing out your response letter by letter on the watch screen. The phone will not jump to messages when you reply unless they decide to tap the notification that comes up.
 
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Knowlege Bomb said:
Yep, absolutely. You can respond via dictation, tapping a canned response or even writing out your response letter by letter on the watch screen. The phone will not jump to messages when you reply unless they decide to tap the notification that comes up.
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Perfect, thx.
 
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