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What can the Apple Watch do without internet?

K

kerosene

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 13, 2008
108
4
Serious question.

I travel a lot internationally, unless within range of WiFi or when unavoidable I don't do data roaming due to the horrendous cost.

So, what good would the Apple Watch do me over a conventional watch when there's no internet connection?
 
This has been talked about many times in many thread. In a nutshell, you must be paired to an iPhone to access the internet. If your iPhone doesn't have internet access then neither does your :apple:Watch.

Without your iPhone you can:

  • Use watch/timer/alarm features
  • Count steps
  • Use :apple:Pay
  • Listen to locally stored music through BT
  • Look at local stored pictures

May be a couple of other minor things.
 
kerosene said:
Serious question.

I travel a lot internationally, unless within range of WiFi or when unavoidable I don't do data roaming due to the horrendous cost.

So, what good would the Apple Watch do me over a conventional watch when there's no internet connection?
Click to expand...

The same things as your phone + heart rate. It is basically a remote for the phone.
 
Thanks, could think of a few more things it probably could do when paired with an iPhone but not connected to internet:

- GPS, but no maps
- call alerts
- sms

Anything else?

----------
Ries said:
The same things as your phone + heart rate. It is basically a remote for the phone.
Click to expand...

Think you're right, only thing that's not somehow a doubling up of the iPhone would be heart rate monitoring...
 
I think that if it's paired with the phone but no internet, it would do almost if not everything.
You'd be able to get your calls, messages, music, GPS including maps, and it would do everything the watch can do without being paired. It might be an issue for some third party apps, but more or less it would work as advertised.
 
ditzy said:
I think that if it's paired with the phone but no internet, it would do almost if not everything.
You'd be able to get your calls, messages, music, GPS including maps, and it would do everything the watch can do without being paired. It might be an issue for some third party apps, but more or less it would work as advertised.
Click to expand...

GPS including maps, how? Don't they always load on demand? And messages yes but only sms.
 
kerosene said:
Working with Apple Maps, Google or other third party? Will work with AW? Haven't heard of before.
Click to expand...

check out the following apps in the AppStore for iOs:

CoPilot GPS
Navigon
TomTom
Navfree
City Maps 2 Go Pro
MAPS.me


I don't think any of these apps cache Apple Maps or Google Maps data. Both companies want you to stay connected to their servers so they will definitely block offline access / caching / downloading.
 
kerosene said:
Serious question.

I travel a lot internationally, unless within range of WiFi or when unavoidable I don't do data roaming due to the horrendous cost.

So, what good would the Apple Watch do me over a conventional watch when there's no internet connection?
Click to expand...

Turn on Aiplane Mode on your iPhone and turn off WiFi and that's what your AppleWatch will be able to do
 
My bad. I think you're right about not being able to get maps. I also think you wouldn't get iMessages. I also think that you wouldn't be able to send the fancy watch messages, as I think that goes over the internet.
 
I'm heading off to Europe a few weeks after I hope to have my Watch. AT&T has a nice new travel plan that for $30 for 30 days will give me unlimited texting and enough data for simple maps when I want them. I will be doing a LOT of biking and walking so I want to get that tracked.

I will change my phone message to tell people to text me.

Now all I have to figure out is how to use offline maps.
 
bushman4 said:
Turn on Aiplane Mode on your iPhone and turn off WiFi and that's what your AppleWatch will be able to do
Click to expand...

Except that no data roaming isn't the same as no roaming - off course I'm using that abroad to receive/make calls and sms. It's just data roaming that's crazy expensive.

Seems there's not a lot the AW would do without internet. Could be frustrating to simply use as a watch and call/sms announcer. There's plenty of useful apps for the iPhone that don't need internet, can't think of any on the AW except date/time where it's nicer to have a glance at the wrist than look at your phone.

Questionable if it makes sense to buy for me...thanks for the replies.
 
After a road trip through europe a few years ago I started looking for ways to keep connected regardless of where I am. I ran into a story about the knowroaming sticker that goes on your sim card and can be setup to roam anywhere. I really haven't used it yet but I'm ready for the next trip with it. I had a hard time finding a sim card that would fit a 4S in Croatia.
 
aawil said:
After a road trip through europe a few years ago I started looking for ways to keep connected regardless of where I am. I ran into a story about the knowroaming sticker that goes on your sim card and can be setup to roam anywhere. I really haven't used it yet but I'm ready for the next trip with it. I had a hard time finding a sim card that would fit a 4S in Croatia.
Click to expand...

Envy the people in the US for not having to bother with these things from Eastcoast to Westcoast. So many countries in Europe and while most are in the European Union, each country has their own carriers that are milking roamers as much as they can, even if they belong to the same parent company (e.g. Vodafone).
 
Julien said:
This has been talked about many times in many thread. In a nutshell, you must be paired to an iPhone to access the internet. If your iPhone doesn't have internet access then neither does your :apple:Watch.

Without your iPhone you can:

  • Use watch/timer/alarm features
  • Count steps
  • Use :apple:Pay
  • Listen to locally stored music through BT
  • Look at local stored pictures

May be a couple of other minor things.
Click to expand...


I don't think Apple Pay would be usable without the iPhone/Internet. Pay API works like Wallet (google) API and requires a connection to ultimately charge the user's card at the time of purchase to process the transaction.

That being said I intend to use my :apple:watch as what it is: a great watch to use everyday all day without necessarily needing everything else.
 
JPIndustrie said:
I don't think Apple Pay would be usable without the iPhone/Internet. Pay API works like Wallet (google) API and requires a connection to ultimately charge the user's card at the time of purchase to process the transaction.

That being said I intend to use my :apple:watch as what it is: a great watch to use everyday all day without necessarily needing everything else.
Click to expand...

Apple seems to think you can.:D

Screen%20Shot%202015-03-21%20at%201.18.30%20PM_zpsfww0abwn.jpg
 
kerosene said:
Envy the people in the US for not having to bother with these things from Eastcoast to Westcoast. So many countries in Europe and while most are in the European Union, each country has their own carriers that are milking roamers as much as they can, even if they belong to the same parent company (e.g. Vodafone).
Click to expand...

I thought they were pushing a law in the EU that would allow roaming in all countries without extra fees or something like that. I'm not sure if it's been implemented. I think they have better coverage in europe than in the US, not to mention cheaper service. It's the same with cable internet, my friends in Poland have the triple plan cable, phone and internet and pay 99zl. Here it's 3 times as much.
 
kerosene said:
Yep, cool feature, seems enough if the terminal has connectivity - same as with an ordinary credit card.
Click to expand...

Yes, the :apple:Watch just supplies it's stored random token in place of a real CC number. This is a much different system than Google Wallet and is passive and requires no internet connection.
 
aawil said:
I thought they were pushing a law in the EU that would allow roaming in all countries without extra fees or something like that. I'm not sure if it's been implemented. I think they have better coverage in europe than in the US, not to mention cheaper service. It's the same with cable internet, my friends in Poland have the triple plan cable, phone and internet and pay 99zl. Here it's 3 times as much.
Click to expand...

It's becoming better compared to a few years back when carriers could, and did, charge what they want. The European Commission first asked operators to regulate themselves, which they didn't do, and then implemented a stage system with the goal of abandoning roaming charges alltogether. However as with all things EU, this is a painfully slow process. So roamers are still the golden geese here, while you may be right that competition in some countries can be good for local consumers.

http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/roaming-tariffs
 
kerosene said:
Envy the people in the US for not having to bother with these things from Eastcoast to Westcoast. So many countries in Europe and while most are in the European Union, each country has their own carriers that are milking roamers as much as they can, even if they belong to the same parent company (e.g. Vodafone).
Click to expand...

This may be the first time I've ever heard of anyone from the EU envying us in the US with regards to wireless carriers.

kerosene said:
It's becoming better compared to a few years back when carriers could, and did, charge what they want. The European Commission first asked operators to regulate themselves, which they didn't do, and then implemented a stage system with the goal of abandoning roaming charges alltogether. However as with all things EU, this is a painfully slow process. So roamers are still the golden geese here, while you may be right that competition in some countries can be good for local consumers.

http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/roaming-tariffs
Click to expand...

Might be slow, but at least at some point it will happen. The only reason roaming is bearable in the US is because the major carriers got big enough to blanket most of the country.
 
Runt888 said:
This may be the first time I've ever heard of anyone from the EU envying us in the US with regards to wireless carriers.
Click to expand...

Carrier quality in my experience is usually better in Europe. Couldn't believe the number of dropped calls I had in the States, especially in NYC. Almost never happens in most places I know in Europe. However my experience from the US is from over a year ago, hopefully it's improved since.
 
kerosene said:
Carrier quality in my experience is usually better in Europe. Couldn't believe the number of dropped calls I had in the States, especially in NYC. Almost never happens in most places I know in Europe. However my experience from the US is from over a year ago, hopefully it's improved since.
Click to expand...


After traveling in Rome, Paris and Stockholm I think carrier quality is much better in the usa.

I'm on Verizon and we have LTE everywhere in Los Angeles and NYC. When going to those cities in Europe the best I had was 3G.
 
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