What can the Apple Watch do without internet?

[kerosene]

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.

LTE implementation in Europe is very slow, so this may have made a difference. As I said, my observation was based on experiences from over a year ago.

 

[Seannyb]

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.

What else do you really want it to be able to do? I don't understand. Of all the things listed so far I think that there are at least 5 pretty useful things that it does that a traditional watch will not, without internet. With internet it does over 1000 more things than a traditional watch.

To me it's a no brainer.

 

[Dmaynard83]

What can the Apple Watch do without internet?

LTE implementation in Europe is very slow, so this may have made a difference. As I said, my observation was based on experiences from over a year ago.

Yea but we have had LTE in most cities since before the iPhone 5 was released.

I went to Sweden last year and all they had was 3G. And we went to Paris and Rome two years ago and it was 3G as well.

And the comparison between 3G and LTE is like dial up compared to cable.

 

[Bosox76]

Has anyone tried using the Watch yet in a foreign country without roaming on? Experiences??
I'm assuming that sms and phone notifications still come through

 

[Zxxv]

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 Watch.

Without your iPhone you can:

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

May be a couple of other minor things.

saw this on arstechnica

Cool story: Last night I went for a walk around my neighborhood with my dog, but my phone was drained from WhatsApp (not sure why) so I left it home charging. I stopped by my parents house, since they live in the same neighborhood and I got an iMessage on my watch from my wife who was still at work. I was like ???, but then I realized since the watch remembers my parent's wifi hotspot due to having it on my phone, the watch automatically connected to it and enabled iMessage. So I got to reply to her immediately instead of not catching and replying to the message until sometime after I got back. Just one of the many cool experiences I've had with the watch over the course of a few days.

 

[flur]

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.

NYC is a special case in the U.S., because of the number of extremely tall buildings and the amount of steel. Some carriers have a lot of trouble with signal penetration and you'll get a lot of dropped calls. Others have no dropped calls.

FWIW, I think the last time I had a dropped call (in the U.S.) was maybe 7 years ago in Minneapolis, on Sprint. I live in Seattle, but I travel fairly regularly.

 

[kerosene]

NYC is a special case in the U.S., because of the number of extremely tall buildings and the amount of steel. Some carriers have a lot of trouble with signal penetration and you'll get a lot of dropped calls. Others have no dropped calls.

FWIW, I think the last time I had a dropped call (in the U.S.) was maybe 7 years ago in Minneapolis, on Sprint. I live in Seattle, but I travel fairly regularly.

Makes sense, certainly a challenging environment. Thanks for your comment.

 

[hsotnicam8002]

With my iPhone in airplane mode, my Navigon app still provides and narrates a route. Obviously this is via GPS and maps held in memory. It follows that this is a possibility for any maps app. But the Apple Maps does not allow it and I just receive a blank screen, seemingly because it needs a WiFi or Cellular link. I'm assuming that (when my Apple Watch arrives) it will have the same limitations.

This is really disappointing, as I assumed the watch maps app would be of use for, say, walking around a city on holiday and then being able to find my way back to my hotel. The WiFi connection possibilities in Europe are so hit and miss that I'm certain to get lost. Maybe I'll never be seen again ....

So not only do I have a watch that needs a phone to do most things more than be a watch, but it also need a reliable wifi connection (almost impossible) for it to do most things more than be a watch.

At least I can ponder on the limitations of my Pebble whilst not quite so many wasted pound signs flow over my eyes. I've yet to fail being disappointed by any Apple device I've purchased over the past 25 years.

Oh, you can thrash me all you want for being an extravagant, over expectant Apple fan boy (turned man). I'm used to being humiliated - after all my Apple devices never live up to expectations and I always get flack for it from friends and colleagues!

Can anyone surprise me with some good news?