What are instances where you will personally will use AW3 cellular without your phone?

[fischersd]

that's also possible on any other apple watch.

Yep...didn't say it wasn't Just stating that the watch could still work on the cruise ship without VoLTE roaming.

i enjoy your optimism, but series 3 watches will be long dead before this is implemented around the world.

True, for many of the carriers, but I'd see greater adoption in Europe, as there's so much cross-carrier traffic there. And once the European carriers have it in place, that'll drive the others to do so.
Likely at least a few years away before you can count on it working everywhere.

But, with eSIM provisioning, it's quite likely that you could load additional carrier profiles on your Apple watch and switch to another carrier when travelling abroad. (you'd have to do a SIM swap in your phone if you want the number mirrored on the two devices). And, yes, the watches have limited LTE band support per SKU, but they have enough bands that they should work in most countries.

 

[BarracksSi]

The Watch doesn't need TouchID for secure transactions - you've already authenticated when you unlocked it (via either unlock code or TouchID on your iPhone) - as long as you still have it on your wrist, why should you need to authenticate again?

Far more convenient for payments than pulling your iPhone out of your pocket.

Oh...and, on topic - when I forget my iPhone (which I do almost weekly)

Oh, that's right, Apple Pay works on the watch...

... but because it's been set up on the phone already and attached to TouchID.

So, no, you're not going to be able to configure Pay on the watch without something more secure than a passcode.

 

[fischersd]

Oh, that's right, Apple Pay works on the watch...

... but because it's been set up on the phone already and attached to TouchID.

So, no, you're not going to be able to configure Pay on the watch without something more secure than a passcode.

Ah, yeah, you could configure it with just a passcode. Apple doesn't force you to enable TouchID. You can still configure Apple Watch without Touch ID being configured on your iPhone. Unlocking the Apple Watch uses the same level as security as most credit card PIN's - 4 digits.

 

[5105973]

Here is a scenario that some people will be able to relate to. My daughter has Type 1 Diabetes. She uses a continuous glucose monitor (Dexcom g5) that connects to her iPhone so we can monitor her sugar levels from afar. Dexcom will soon be releasing an update to their apps that allows her watch to be a receiver instead of or in addition to her phone. With cellular access on her watch we will still be able to monitor her sugar levels when she is in places without her phone - out playing with friends, gym class in school, water parks like Six Flags or at Disney. This feature alone makes the cellular update for the watch worth the $10/month.

Even without the added concerns of diabetes monitoring, your post highlights why this is a good purchase for our older more responsible kids and not yet another frivolous way to spoil them. So often they go out to places like the pool or sports practice or to a friend's house. Lugging around even an IPhone 5 or SE gets in the way under these circumstances. They misplace them or have to ask the chaperoning parent to hold onto the phone or break them or another kid swipes the phone and so forth.

This way the phone is always on the kid, even in water, and they can text you a preset message to pick them up or they can actually call you. While even the sport edition is quite expensive, it is harder to misplace or forget than an iPhone and less likely to need to be left in the care of another adult who already has enough to keep track of. There are also some shells and cases to help protect the watch.

Some schools or classrooms that don't permit the student to keep their phone with them will permit the Apple Watch with notifications silenced.

 

[fischersd]

Ooh! Just thought of another one! You know how Apple did the app to help you find your AirPods? Well, with Cellular in the Apple Watch, they could do a similar app to help you find your lost iPhone (more precise location finding, possibly build it into Find my iPhone)

Yes, Apple, name me on the patent when you do this. You're welcome.

You could even call the cops to come with you to the persons door if they "borrowed it without permission"

Edit: Submitted to Apple.

 

[BarracksSi]

Ah, yeah, you could configure it with just a passcode. Apple doesn't force you to enable TouchID. You can still configure Apple Watch without Touch ID being configured on your iPhone. Unlocking the Apple Watch uses the same level as security as most credit card PIN's - 4 digits.

Sure, but you'll need the phone to add the card to the watch, right?

Or you'd need to log into iCloud with your alphanumeric password and two-factor authentication (soon to be required for all accounts), which will need another device for confirmation (most conveniently would be your phone, but your home computer can do it, too).

 

[BarracksSi]

Ooh! Just thought of another one! You know how Apple did the app to help you find your AirPods? Well, with Cellular in the Apple Watch, they could do a similar app to help you find your lost iPhone (more precise location finding, possibly build it into Find my iPhone)

Yes, Apple, name me on the patent when you do this. You're welcome.

You could even call the cops to come with you to the persons door if they "borrowed it without permission"

This is certainly true, as the previous versions of the AW could not guarantee data access when far away from the phone. Now the S3 LTE (or S3C, for S3 Cellular?) knows its own location and could contact the phone.

 

[fischersd]

Sure, but you'll need the phone to add the card to the watch, right?

Or you'd need to log into iCloud with your alphanumeric password and two-factor authentication (soon to be required for all accounts), which will need another device for confirmation (most conveniently would be your phone, but your home computer can do it, too).

Heh. It's pretty damn painful to do a lot of setup on the watch due to that tiny screen (hence the watch app on the iPhone) Plus, we need the iPhone's camera to scan the cards for Apple Pay.

Yeah, I'd think 2FA would be a requirement for Apple Pay....

 

[rnangie]

I'm an on-call hospice nurse and I have to be available. Every now and then I forget my phone at home so this would be amazing. Also when running. I mentioned wanting this to my husband yesterday so hopefully he'll get the hint and it'll be under the tree this year. If not I'll just buy it myself after Xmas

 

[fischersd]

Ooh! Just thought of another one. Now that we have GPS and Cellular in AW3, we could put a geofence (maximum distance) around the iPhone - notify when I'm X feet/yards/meters away from my iPhone (so it could actually tell me when I've forgotten it!!)

Submitted to Apple...

 

[SHirsch999]

Sounds more like Dexcom will make their app native to the AW instead of phone-dependent. Have they said it'll need LTE to work without the phone?

The rumor I heard was that the "app” was going to be updated to allow the watch to be a stand-alone receiver, no iPhone needed. I believe the transmitter currently uses Bluetooth to communicate with the receiving device, either an iPhone or the Dexcom receiver. This leads me to believe that LTE is not needed for the watch to be a receiver, but will be needed to share data from the watch to the follower's device. I don’t know if they plan to release an app native to the watch instead of being dependent on the iPhone app.

 

[BarracksSi]

The rumor I heard was that the "app” was going to be updated to allow the watch to be a stand-alone receiver, no iPhone needed. I believe the transmitter currently uses Bluetooth to communicate with the receiving device, either an iPhone or the Dexcom receiver. This leads me to believe that LTE is not needed for the watch to be a receiver, but will be needed to share data from the watch to the follower's device. I don’t know if they plan to release an app native to the watch instead of being dependent on the iPhone app.

That's what I mean about it being made native to the watch -- otherwise, it'd still need the phone and use its BT radio instead of using the watch's radio.

It's a good thing either way, but I doubt that it would require a cellular Series 3 to work.