So if I switch to Android, is my Apple Watch out of the window?

[The Cockney Rebel]

I’ve become really bored of the iPhone (I have a 14 Pro Max) and have my eye on the S23.

However, I love iCloud & of course have my Apple Watch.

If I make the switch, would my watch basically become useless?

Not sure whether to post this here, or in the iPhone forum.

Thanks in advance for any advice, and wishing you all well.

 

[jaymc]

Depends on how your view of useless your WATCH becomes ... no phone calling without the iPhone.
Not too sure about other stuff. Maybe watching some YouTube videos would help.

 

[iAppleOrchard]

Your Apple Watch will turn into a one time fitness tracker where you won't be able to see previous workouts, no phone calls, no messages, you may want to keep your iPhones so you can sync. Syncing will make your Apple Watch more worth it.

 

[jz0309]

I’ve become really bored of the iPhone (I have a 14 Pro Max) and have my eye on the S23.

However, I love iCloud & of course have my Apple Watch.

If I make the switch, would my watch basically become useless?

Not sure whether to post this here, or in the iPhone forum.

Thanks in advance for any advice, and wishing you all well.

AW is a companion to the iPhone ...

so you had your 14PM for what, 7 months and you are "really bored" - what would a S23 give you that would not make you bored again in 7 months?

Did you also not inquire here a few weeks ago getting a mountain bike as you like the AW fitness functions?

I am confused, by all means get whatever phone, watch etc you like ...

 

[Night Spring]

The watch can keep doing some things without the phone. It'll show time, alarm and timer functions should work, your activity circles will fill up each day, you could even run workouts. There's no way to review your data history, however, without an iPhone to sync the data to. And you need the iPhone to update watchOS.

If you switched to Android phone, but kept your iPhone without a phone plan just to control your watch, that would work. My mom did this for a while -- she had some other phone she was using to do phone stuff, and used an older iPhone I gave her just to manage her Apple watch.

 

[jz0309]

The watch can keep doing some things without the phone. It'll show time, alarm and timer functions should work, your activity circles will fill up each day, you could even run workouts. There's no way to review your data history, however, without an iPhone to sync the data to. And you need the iPhone to update watchOS.

If you switched to Android phone, but kept your iPhone without a phone plan just to control your watch, that would work. My mom did this for a while -- she had some other phone she was using to do phone stuff, and used an older iPhone I gave her just to manage her Apple watch.

but only if it is paired to an iPhone. assuming OP gets rid of their iPhone, AW should be un-paired and thus rendered useless, and leaving it paired to an iPhone that is no longer in your possession ...
your 2nd scenario obviously will work fine

 

[Eric Idle]

I’ve become really bored of the iPhone (I have a 14 Pro Max) and have my eye on the S23.

However, I love iCloud & of course have my Apple Watch.

If I make the switch, would my watch basically become useless?

Not sure whether to post this here, or in the iPhone forum.

Thanks in advance for any advice, and wishing you all well.

😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

 

[Night Spring]

but only if it is paired to an iPhone. assuming OP gets rid of their iPhone, AW should be un-paired and thus rendered useless, and leaving it paired to an iPhone that is no longer in your possession ...
your 2nd scenario obviously will work fine

Well, can't OP just wipe the phone without unpairing the watch? Then the watch will just assume that the paired iPhone is out of range, and keep doing the things it can do without the iPhone.

 

[Apple_Robert]

In my opinion, the problem isn't iOS or Android. It is how you are viewing and using whatever device you are distracted by. At this point, you are looking for another distraction instead of seeing the iPhone and Apple Watch as positive tools working together to be of positive influence for you and with you, as you navigate your daily mental challenges. Until you start incorporating the mental aspect challenges into your day to day tech life tools, you will find yourself "bored" with whatever OS of the month you choose.

 

[jz0309]

Well, can't OP just wipe the phone without unpairing the watch? Then the watch will just assume that the paired iPhone is out of range, and keep doing the things it can do without the iPhone.

Maybe, but the phone has to be did-associated from that appleID else no-one can use it and I do not know what that might do to the watch, since that used said appleID and a phone associated…

 

[eltoslightfoot]

I’ve become really bored of the iPhone (I have a 14 Pro Max) and have my eye on the S23.

However, I love iCloud & of course have my Apple Watch.

If I make the switch, would my watch basically become useless?

Not sure whether to post this here, or in the iPhone forum.

Thanks in advance for any advice, and wishing you all well.

As someone who once tried to go down this path...don't bother. The two might as well be a matched set. You get rid of your iPhone, get rid of the watch at the same time. Get an Sammy watch to go with it. Otherwise you will just drive yourself insane.

 

[Howard2k]

Find a friend with iPhone and do a family setup?

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Find a friend with iPhone and do a family setup?

It will all still be stuck on the watch and not easily worked with. No notifications with Android. What's the point?

 

[Howard2k]

It will all still be stuck on the watch and not easily worked with. No notifications with Android. What's the point?

I agree, it’s not a great option, but if the OP might flip flop it might be a short term option

 

[akidokraja]

If you really want S23 sell the AW and get Garmin, like Epix 2 or Enduro 2. Do not get Fénix 7.

 

[Night Spring]

Maybe, but the phone has to be did-associated from that appleID else no-one can use it and I do not know what that might do to the watch, since that used said appleID and a phone associated…

Well, I think you are overthinking this. The watch will continue doing simple things it can do without Apple ID. It won't turn into an inert piece of metal and glass. Whether or not a watch with just the simplest functions is useful to the OP, that's for him to decide.

 

[usagora]

In my opinion, the problem isn't iOS or Android. It is how you are viewing and using whatever device you are distracted by. At this point, you are looking for another distraction instead of seeing the iPhone and Apple Watch as positive tools working together to be of positive influence for you and with you, as you navigate your daily mental challenges. Until you start incorporating the mental aspect challenges into your day to day tech life tools, you will find yourself "bored" with whatever OS of the month you choose.

Agreed. Saying I'm "bored" with my iPhone would be like saying I'm "bored" with my Swiss Army knife and want to buy some other brand of multi-tool. Ok, I get it, we live in a materialistic society in which most people like the initial thrill of buying new things, but that initial honeymoon period is pretty short-lived and then you're back to equilibrium again. It can be a vicious cycle.

 

[Significant1]

If you really want S23 sell the AW and get Garmin, like Epix 2 or Enduro 2. Do not get Fénix 7.

Yeah. I have Epix an I know it cannot do all my AW can, but it does what I want better (except LTE), so I carry my AW mostly to balance out the feeling of wearing a watch on one wrist.

 

[Spudlicious]

The OP is experiencing Apple ecosystem bondage, and I really sympathise; it is so hard to break those chains. I agree that the iPhone is boring, I see it as being for people who just want functionality rather than for geeks who like to fiddle around with things. At the moment I'm enjoying the Pixel 7, which despite the reasonable price has more cool features than you can shake a stick at, but can I make it my daily driver? Not really, because I have Apple Watch and can't bin it because it cost me £400, and I use (and almost worship) Apple computers that partner so well with iPhone.

There is one perfect solution, however, and that is to

continued on page 173

 

[toobravetosave]

I’ve become really bored of the iPhone (I have a 14 Pro Max) and have my eye on the S23.

However, I love iCloud & of course have my Apple Watch.

If I make the switch, would my watch basically become useless?

Not sure whether to post this here, or in the iPhone forum.

Thanks in advance for any advice, and wishing you all well.

Let me start by saying I just returned my S23 despite liking it a LOT more than the iPhone. I also liked the Samsung watch 5 a LOT more than the Apple Watch. I also like the Samsung music app a LOT more than Apple Music (I have an extensive offline music collection and Samsung music just has a vastly superior interface and supports FLAC which is great). I even had no problem using a password manager on it like Bitwarden to go cross platform which was in some ways pretty nice because I use edge on my Mac a lot for school stuff and could then take advantage of the plugin. I also used to have an S21 Ultra so android is certainly not unfamiliar and I have no problem using it.

However I still switched back because I ultimately realized apple being boring and in many ways more limited was just fine. It really does just work and a myriad of little inconveniences made me realize boring is fine for me right now. I didn't like doing extra inputs and bitwarden not recognizing the proper websites for passwords on my desktop. I didn't like losing synchronization between my phone and computer for web browsing and messaging. I didn't like doing more things on my phone just to move through menus and get around (iPhone swipe to go back is truly their most powerful feature). So many tiny things that just left me frustrated and so I returned it.

If you're deep into the Mac ecosystem and just trying to do things without having your device get in the way you may find it to be more hassle than the novelty is worth. I realized if I had a windows or chrome computer maybe it would be a lot different but I don't so...c'est la vie.

I'm actually pretty bummed out because I really did enjoy the parts I enjoyed but now I'm back to everything just working and it's boring but it's also fine.

 

[The Cockney Rebel]

Let me start by saying I just returned my S23 despite liking it a LOT more than the iPhone. I also liked the Samsung watch 5 a LOT more than the Apple Watch. I also like the Samsung music app a LOT more than Apple Music (I have an extensive offline music collection and Samsung music just has a vastly superior interface and supports FLAC which is great). I even had no problem using a password manager on it like Bitwarden to go cross platform which was in some ways pretty nice because I use edge on my Mac a lot for school stuff and could then take advantage of the plugin. I also used to have an S21 Ultra so android is certainly not unfamiliar and I have no problem using it.

However I still switched back because I ultimately realized apple being boring and in many ways more limited was just fine. It really does just work and a myriad of little inconveniences made me realize boring is fine for me right now. I didn't like doing extra inputs and bitwarden not recognizing the proper websites for passwords on my desktop. I didn't like losing synchronization between my phone and computer for web browsing and messaging. I didn't like doing more things on my phone just to move through menus and get around (iPhone swipe to go back is truly their most powerful feature). So many tiny things that just left me frustrated and so I returned it.
sounds silly, but
If you're deep into the Mac ecosystem and just trying to do things without having your device get in the way you may find it to be more hassle than the novelty is worth. I realized if I had a windows or chrome computer maybe it would be a lot different but I don't so...c'est la vie.

I'm actually pretty bummed out because I really did enjoy the parts I enjoyed but now I'm back to everything just working and it's boring but it's also fine.

Thank you for such an extensive reply.

You speak a lot of sense, and you have given me a lot to think about.

Are you in the UK? What is Samsung's return policy like?

I would consider having two phones, but one lump (12 Pro Max) is enough to lug around .

 

[toobravetosave]

Thank you for such an extensive reply.

You speak a lot of sense, and you have given me a lot to think about.

Are you in the UK? What is Samsung's return policy like?

I would consider having two phones, but one lump (12 Pro Max) is enough to lug around .

America but i ordered it directly from Samsung and believe the return policy was standard 30 days.

 

[Night Spring]

I would consider having two phones, but one lump (12 Pro Max) is enough to lug around .

can't you use the 12 pro max to manage your watch, and sell the 14?

 

[miamius001]

I did but still I go back to Iphone! I tried Samsung Fold 3 and lasted for 1 week only. I miss the easy browsing and handy dandy of my Iphone 12promax still.

 

[m4f1050]

I played around with this when I got my W at first... I paired it to an iPhone X, activated LTE on it, turned off my iPhone X and removed the SIM card off of the iPhone X and put it on my Good 'ole Galaxy S9+ and all was well, except updates, syncs and management (like changing faces or adding apps, pretty much whatever Watch app does) as stated above. You will need your paired iPhone even if you turn it off and put it to the side. After about a week, I ended up switching to my old work iPhone XR as my personal phone since I couldn't pair my W to my new work iPhone 13 Pro Max and activate LTE as it is from different carrier and it is carrier locked, otherwise I could've added my personal phone's carrier to my iPhone 13 Pro Max using eSIM and had both numbers on the iPhone 13 Pro Max. Like mentioned before, you will enjoy using it stand-alone for a little bit and using the Android features, but then you will miss all the W goodies of using it with the iPhone and come back to the iPhone eventually.

BTW, I am a 100% Android fiend (specially rooted) and I get the frustration and reason why wanting one. I love the features like plugging just about anything USB to them (which iPhone lacks) and having total control of the OS, but I learned to put that aside and use other resources (like a tablet or laptop) and use the iPhone as a ...phone.