Receiving Notifications without iPhone nearby

[NevilleB]

My wife went to work yesterday but left her iPhone at home by mistake.

However, she continued receiving email, SMS and WhatsApp notifications on her Series 4 GPS only Apple Watch, even though her iPhone was 14km away from her! How was that possible?

She had her MacBook Pro connected to her office WiFi though - was her Watch connecting through those devices somehow?

 

[G.McGilli]

Has her iPhone ever connected to the office Wi-Fi? If so - then the watch can use that network also...

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

 

[akash.nu]

Has her iPhone ever connected to the office Wi-Fi? If so - then the watch can use that network also...

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

Yep I feel this is the reason.

 

[waw74]

if you drag up on the main watch face for control center you'll see how you're connected at the top

red rectangle (it's a phone, but really hard to make out) - no connection at all.
a green phone means you're connected to the phone via bluetooth
blue wifi symbol - will have the name of connected wifi
green dots for cellular (if you have it)


if her laptop is connected, and her wifi password is in keychain, it should be already in the phone /watch.
so what everyone else has said, she was probably connected to work wifi.

The only reason the watch wouldn't be on the wifi, is if they have a log-in web page like you might see at a hotel, where you have to agree to terms or enter a password
regular wifi passwords are shared among all your apple devices.