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Using your apple watch 3 GSM as a cell phone replacement- Which apps work over LTE only?

J

juan99999

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 3, 2015
64
9
Ok, so I just got my apple watch, and the thing I'm most excited about is using it as a cell phone replacement when I don't need a big screen in my pocket. In my first two days of testing, I love the freedom that it gives me when I do things like go to meetings, hiking, etc where I don't need my big screen, but it does suck juice when on GSM!

I know it's early days, but I thought I'd share apps that work, and apps that don't and see if anyone else had anything to add.

My watch is on t-mobile.

Here are apps that work with 4.1 over LTE with phone switched off (after initial app install)
  • Lyft
  • Shazam
  • Itranslate converse
  • Most apple apps - Maps, Apple music, Mail, iMessage, ...
Apps that don't work yet without a phone:
  • Pandora
  • Spotify
  • Uber (not that I want to support a crap ethics company)
  • Delta
  • BBC news
  • SPG
  • Yelp
  • Flipboard (doesn't even work keeps telling me to login)
Notifications that will now need apps that don't exist to work on LTE; I am unclear if they work if you leave your phone on at home
  • Google voice
  • Google Maps
Any more that work with LTE?
 
Last edited:
juan99999 said:
Ok, so I just got my apple watch, and the thing I'm most excited about is using it as a cell phone replacement when I don't need a big screen in my pocket. In my first two days of testing, I love the freedom that it gives me when I do things like go to meetings, hiking, etc where I don't need my big screen, but it does suck juice when on GSM!

I know it's early days, but I thought I'd share apps that work, and apps that don't and see if anyone else had anything to add.

My watch is on t-mobile.

Here are apps that work with 4.1 over LTE with phone switched off (after initial app install)
  • Lyft
  • Shazam
  • Itranslate converse
  • Most apple apps - Maps, Apple music, Mail, iMessage, ...
Apps that don't work yet without a phone:
  • Pandora
  • Spotify
  • Uber (not that I want to support a crap ethics company)
  • Delta
  • BBC news
  • SPG
  • Yelp
  • Flipboard (doesn't even work keeps telling me to login)
Notifications that will now need apps that don't exist to work on LTE; I am unclear if they work if you leave your phone on at home
  • Google voice
  • Google Maps
Any more that work with LTE?
Click to expand...

Mail App from apple doesn't work with phone switched off. So do outlook, spark...
 
WatchPlayer (download new episodes over LTE/WiFi)
Shazam
Home
Bear
Calendar
CBS News
CNN
Dictionary
Drafts
Find Friends
Just Press Record
Maps
Messages (no SMS, just iMessage)
Micropolis
Music
News
OmniFocus (syncing needs to happen with iPhone around, but can still access to dos and add new ones)
PCalc
Phone
Photos
Pong
Radio
Reminders
Stocks
Thermo Watch
Twisty Color
Uber (yes you can summon Ubers over just LTE)
ViewRanger
Weather

Obvious Ones:
Alarms
Activity/Workouts
Breathe
Heart Rate
Stopwatch
Timer
Wallet
World Clock

NOTE: Uber did work over LTE only and now appears to not work at all - a recent update wiped out account info on the watch with no way to sync it over again.
[doublepost=1509979860][/doublepost]So happy the Lyft app now works over LTE!!! They must have updated it recently to do this! Does it also support paying via Apple Pay on the watch itself? Uber didn’t allow that and forced you to have a credit card on file.

Have you had a chance to test this yet? Just saw that it works when I throw my phone into AirPlane mode now! Very exciting!!
 
Last edited:
BA2020 said:
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...llular-only-connection.2079950/#post-25403038

If your phone is on/network connected somewhere, you should receive notifications as usual.
Click to expand...

Hum, I could have sworn I missed some but I'll try again!
[doublepost=1510052414][/doublepost]s
musicpenguy said:
WatchPlayer (download new episodes over LTE/WiFi)
Shazam
Home
Bear
Calendar
CBS News
CNN
Dictionary
Drafts
Find Friends
Just Press Record
Maps
Messages (no SMS, just iMessage)
Micropolis
Music
News
OmniFocus (syncing needs to happen with iPhone around, but can still access to dos and add new ones)
PCalc
Phone
Photos
Pong
Radio
Reminders
Stocks
Thermo Watch
Twisty Color
Uber (yes you can summon Ubers over just LTE)
ViewRanger
Weather

Obvious Ones:
Alarms
Activity/Workouts
Breathe
Heart Rate
Stopwatch
Timer
Wallet
World Clock

NOTE: Uber did work over LTE only and now appears to not work at all - a recent update wiped out account info on the watch with no way to sync it over again.
[doublepost=1509979860][/doublepost]So happy the Lyft app now works over LTE!!! They must have updated it recently to do this! Does it also support paying via Apple Pay on the watch itself? Uber didn’t allow that and forced you to have a credit card on file.

Have you had a chance to test this yet? Just saw that it works when I throw my phone into AirPlane mode now! Very exciting!!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the list!

I could summon lyft but haven't actually done it yet.

I'm having same issue you describe with uber with the flpboard app... can't get it to sync...
 
Uber still works on LTE, you just have to reinstall or re-pair. And login again to the app after. (Uber)
 
anticipate said:
Uber still works on LTE, you just have to reinstall or re-pair. And login again to the app after. (Uber)
Click to expand...
I deleted the app off my watch and reinstalled, no dice with it pairing to the watch. Did you have to uninstall it from the iPhone to get it to work?
 
I'm curious about sports apps.. Has anyone tested if ESPn, Yahoo Sports or TheScore will work on LTE only?

They seem pretty sketchy on Wi-Fi - I'm constantly going in and out of the app to keep the scores updated, Wondering if they perform better on the S3LTE
 
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