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ru7hl355

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 31, 2013
100
15
Scotland
Hey,

does anyone where i can see which network the watch is connected to or does it just connect to the same network as the phones on?

cheers
 
The watch does not connect to any access point, not even when the iPhone does. It connects to the iPhone with a peer-to-peer link ("WiFi Direct").
 
The watch does not connect to any access point, not even when the iPhone does. It connects to the iPhone with a peer-to-peer link ("WiFi Direct").

Apple's own documentation says that the watch will connect to known access points (that the paired iPhone has already been associated with).

That said, I cannot answer the OP's question as my T+04 pre-order has a 4-6 week shipping estimate.

It looks like there is a "Wi-Fi State" glance that can be enabled as well to potentially see which Wi-Fi network the watch is on?
 

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Apple's own documentation says that the watch will connect to known access points (that the paired iPhone has already been associated with).

Link?

I know that my watch does not connect to my Airport Extreme at home (the one that my iPhone connects to). You can display the watch's WiFi MAC address, and mine is not seen on the access point.

It looks like there is a "Wi-Fi State" glance that can be enabled as well to potentially see which Wi-Fi network the watch is on?

Curiously, that glance is absent on my watch and watch app.
 
OK, just tested it. The Watch will connect to the Time Capsule / Airport Express, and it will shows up on the client list.

IMG_8733.jpgIMG_8732.jpg
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And the watch can connect with the iPhone via the Wi-Fi network (NO direct connection). I test it by leaving my phone on the upper floor and use my watch at the lower floor.

IMG_8734.jpg

So, my iPhone is connected to the 2T TC (inside a room at upper floor), there is a cable between the 2T TC and 3T TC, and my watch is connected to the 3T TC (lower floor). The watch remain full functions. And during the test. I switch off the iPhone's BT as well.

In fact, I can connect my watch to the AE (setup as a wireless extender), which is even further away from the phone (inside another room in the lower floor). I am actually living at 45/F, all floors and walls are very thick concrete. It's just impossible that the watch still has any direct connection to the phone, but they are still connected, and the watch is fully functional all the time.

I also did another little test - switch off the phone. Interestingly, the watch can still download the map via Wi-fi without any help from the Phone. More powerful than I expect.
 
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Ah crap, seems like the WiFi on my watch is broken then... :mad:

May be you can try to switch off the iPhone's BT, or even the phone, and then check the Airport again.

I guess there are few ways for the watch to connect to the phone, and connect via the network may be at the bottom of the list. As I said, the watch can use Wi-Fi on it's own without any help from the phone. If your watch can do that as well, then it's Wi-Fi must be working.
 
May be you can try to switch off the iPhone's BT, or even the phone, and then check the Airport again.

Yep tried that. As soon as I disable BT on the phone the watch disconnects (I get the red disconnected symbol) and nothing works anymore, not even things that are supposed to work like Siri, phone calls, etc. As I said before, the watch would not show up as WiFi client on the Airport, nor could it be seen by IP Scanner Pro and the like.

The good news is, it's not the watch that's broken #

I set up a new AP using a spare Airport and the watch uses that WiFi network just fine. I can use Siri and make phone calls with BT on the iPhone turned off. Phew!

I believe I have tracked this down to my very long WPA2 passphrase. This has been known to cause problems in the past, for example I had trim it from 64 to 63 characters for certain Windows clients. I cut it in half, now the watch connects.

So with this all fixed I can confirm that the watch does indeed connect to a WiFi network known to the iPhone. I apologise for making confusing statements based on experience with just my own watch and my own WiFi network at home, which at the time would;t play nice together...

To the OP, I haven't found a way of displaying which network the watch is connected to (other than using a sniffer or looking at the Airport client list).
 
Just tested mine with the BlueTooth on the phone off, and it's still able to fetch Tweets, so I'm guessing it's connected to the net somehow.

However, it did take its time, and the first time I tried to load the Twitter app, I got the little red "no phone" icon.

If I can still get notifs over wifi when then phone is elsewhere, I will be a very happy bunny.
 
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