The Watch needs a network signal complication

[jonnyb]

I want this on the watch: A complication that shows the cell or wifi signal that the phone has got. I was in the supermarket just now getting a sandwich, but I couldn’t send a text from the watch because I was deep inside the shop with no signal, but I couldn’t see that from the watch so it was a waste of time trying.

 

[andyblila]

Was your phone with you? If it wasn't, you will see a red cell phone indicating that there is no connection.

 

[adammull]

Only slightly related, but I'm still not happy with the way the iPhone handles LTE to WIFI handoffs in general.

If I show up at a place that has a log-in for WIFI such as Panera, or the airport, my phone quits working until I either A) turn off WIFI or B) sign into the network, which is inevitably slow and terrible anyway.

I wish LTE would just supersede everything unless its a known network like your home or office.

 

[jonnyb]

Was your phone with you? If it wasn't, you will see a red cell phone indicating that there is no connection.

Yeah, I've seen the 'not connected to the phone' icon. However, the phone was with me so that's not the issue for me. I want to be able to see on the watch whether or not it will actually be able to do what I want it to do. Otherwise in a building I'd have to take my phone out first to see if I have a signal before i do anything on the watch - which would be pretty pointless.

 

[iregret]

I want this on the watch: A complication that shows the cell or wifi signal that the phone has got. I was in the supermarket just now getting a sandwich, but I couldn’t send a text from the watch because I was deep inside the shop with no signal, but I couldn’t see that from the watch so it was a waste of time trying.

I agree. Or at least put the current signal strength on the same "glance" as settings. The one that also pages your phone. Put it right beside where it says connected. Seems like a no brainer.

 

[jonnyb]

I've sent this request to the Apple Feedback page which now has a dedicated Watch section. If it's an available complication then it could be entirely optional but really useful for those that want it.

 

[gsmornot]

I'm using an app called iPhone Battery that tells me current iPhone battery level and alerts me once my phone is fully charged. Anyhow, they added carrier and signal strength/type yesterday in an update. I wondered why they did that but now that you mention your point here I can see where it might be useful.

I have no affiliation with the app, just happened to see it in a thread here or in a list somewhere about watch apps and picked it up.

 

[jonnyb]

I'm using an app called iPhone Battery that tells me current iPhone battery level and alerts me once my phone is fully charged. Anyhow, they added carrier and signal strength/type yesterday in an update. I wondered why they did that but now that you mention your point here I can see where it might be useful.

I have no affiliation with the app, just happened to see it in a thread here or in a list somewhere about watch apps and picked it up.

Thanks. That might be useful until (I hope) Apple implement it in Watch OS 1.x

Got a link to it?

 

[BeyondtheTech]

I'm using an app called iPhone Battery that tells me current iPhone battery level and alerts me once my phone is fully charged. Anyhow, they added carrier and signal strength/type yesterday in an update. I wondered why they did that but now that you mention your point here I can see where it might be useful.

I have no affiliation with the app, just happened to see it in a thread here or in a list somewhere about watch apps and picked it up.

The dev for PhoneMate is on the forums here and he has a similar app which shows network connectivity. Not sure if "signal strength" can be accessed through the SDK, but I asked him to look into it.

App is on sale for $0.99.

 

[gsmornot]

Thanks. That might be useful until (I hope) Apple implement it in Watch OS 1.x

Got a link to it?

Here is the link. This was a free app when I picked it up a week ago.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/remote-battery-connectivity/id954912200?mt=8

 

[swordfish5736]

Only slightly related, but I'm still not happy with the way the iPhone handles LTE to WIFI handoffs in general.

If I show up at a place that has a log-in for WIFI such as Panera, or the airport, my phone quits working until I either A) turn off WIFI or B) sign into the network, which is inevitably slow and terrible anyway.

I wish LTE would just supersede everything unless its a known network like your home or office.

Have you tried using the auto-login/auto-join feature for captive networks?

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204497

 

[jonnyb]

Here is the link. This was a free app when I picked it up a week ago.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/remote-battery-connectivity/id954912200?mt=8

Great, thanks!

 

[sjinsjca]

Only slightly related, but I'm still not happy with the way the iPhone handles LTE to WIFI handoffs in general.

If I show up at a place that has a log-in for WIFI such as Panera, or the airport, my phone quits working until I either A) turn off WIFI or B) sign into the network, which is inevitably slow and terrible anyway.

I wish LTE would just supersede everything unless its a known network like your home or office.

Actually I suspect that's more than slightly related.

Way back in the early iOS 6 days (IIRC) there was a promising advance imminent that would fall back to the cell connection if the WiFi connection was unresponsive. That ended up not happening... and it needs to.

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Have you tried using the auto-login/auto-join feature for captive networks?

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204497

That may not work if the hotspot requires a click-to-agree or other user interaction such as a username/password. (Auto-login is supposed to fix that problem, but sometimes doesn't, for example when you visit a Marriott and log in with your room number and last name, and then the next day walk into a different Marriott...)

In fact, by having auto-login/auto-join turned on, you guarantee that the phone will connect... and yet have no connectivity.

Best to tell the phone to "forget" such networks so it doesn't attempt to connect on its own (and then get stuck in no-connectivity-land). That way, WiFi is still active on the phone, which contributes to location accuracy.

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Here is the link. This was a free app when I picked it up a week ago.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/remote-battery-connectivity/id954912200?mt=8

This will give you an indication of the RF strength to the WiFi hotspot, but it will say nothing about actual connectivity to the Internet or LAN. The hotspot could still be waiting for you to agree to its terms or to enter a password or something.

 

[adammull]

Have you tried using the auto-login/auto-join feature for captive networks?

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204497

That doesn't answer my question. I may have logged into Panera, for example, in the past so its a known network, on this visit, however, I may just be stopping in for a coffee and don't want to use their network, but my iPhone is waiting on me to agree to their stupid TOS.

This will all be fixed when LTE is ubiquitous. It's already faster than a lot of broadband. I find myself turning off WIFI more and more.

 

[sjinsjca]

That doesn't answer my question. I may have logged into Panera, for example, in the past so its a known network, on this visit, however, I may just be stopping in for a coffee and don't want to use their network, but my iPhone is waiting on me to agree to their stupid TOS.

This will all be fixed when LTE is ubiquitous. It's already faster than a lot of broadband. I find myself turning off WIFI more and more.

Those TOSes are SO annoying. The '90s had the shrink-wrap EULAs that nobody read; these are this era's meaningless genuflection to lawyers and regulators. (In some countries, such as Germany, such logins are required and must be traceable to a person's official government-issued ID. It's for the children, y'know.)

Also annoying are logins which change from situation to situation. A post or two ago I mentioned visiting Marriotts, where very often your login is tied to your room number. Which means it is different with every stay... even if you're an established Marriott customer who stays at dozens of their hotels around the world every year. If I could log in with my Marriott Rewards credentials, there'd be no problem, and I could depend on auto-login in their hotels. At least, until I stayed at one that has a slightly different WiFi authentication mechanism...

And THEN there are the hotels (and again, Germany, I'm lookin' at you) that require a login every hour or so, or after you've momentarily broken a connection (such as by folding up your iPad to head down to the restaurant for dinner). Egad that's annoying.

It's also unclear how the Watch will work with WiFi hotspots that allow only one device per login. Yes, there are still many of those-- airliner hotspots are a good example.

Anyway, I strongly suspect that many of the frustrations people are reporting with Internet-enabled functionalities on their Watches may have the WiFi login mess at their root.