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WiFi calling on Apple Watch works!

Did WiFi calling work on your watch?

  • Yes

    Votes: 6 35.3%

  • No

    Votes: 11 64.7%
  • Total voters
    17
  • Poll closed .
T

TheACN

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 25, 2015
10
4
I've just tried it, turned my iphone off completely, made sure cloud icon was there on the glance, asked my friend to call me, and viola, it rings... Go ahead try...
 
Last edited:
Before I forget, I'm on tmobile and was playin with wifi calling settings yesterday. When I activated "wifi calling on other devices" I don't see the watch and it used to say "when nearby" in settings menu. Now it just says "on".

I'm at work so haven't tried facetime audio yet, will try when i get home. But regular calls work just fine. yay

I'm on IOS 9.1 PB
 
You must have created this thread right before I created mine.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/cellular-continuity-on-the-watch.1919703/

I didn't think wifi calling was working because, as you said, the watch doesn't show up in the other devices menu, but I just turned off my phone and had someone call me while my watch was connect to wifi, and it did ring. Thanks! Weird that it doesn't show up in menu though, when I clearly saw it after unpairing my watch.
 
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Edited "closed" vs "turned off", sorry was excited and wrote fast :)
The other guy doesn't have an iPhone, I will have to wait till I get home to try facetime audio. But let me write down step by step what I did:

1- On watch app, under phone settings, I saw WiFi calling. It was active, I tried it and didn't work.
2- Went on to iPhone settings, deactivated WiFi calling, reactivated both WiFi calling and WiFi calling on other devices.
3- Strangely, watch doesn't appear there but said "only when nearby". Didn't work when nearby or away...
4- About an hour ago, realized it doesn't say "when nearby" anymore, but says "on". Gave it a try and worked... No clue what changed...

I found a post on apple support regarding this:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203032
says there it's on by default on apple watch.


Edit: I did not re-pair my watch as I didn't have any issues with the battery after the watchos 2 update.
 
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A little update;
Facetime audio does not work. Also realized when I first turn off my iPhone, even though watch had the cloud icon, it took about 5 minutes before I could receive any call. I tried it multiple times, it always takes about 5 minutes before calls start to come in. And it allows me to place a call from the Watch too.
 
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Yeah, Facetime audio didn't work when I tried it—only wifi calling worked; I guess because they technically are routing the wifi calls through Tmobile. The reason I was so confused at first was because the Apple Watch does not show up in the list of devices, but when the iOS 9 betas were first released, I saw screenshots of Apple Watches appearing in the menus. Oh well, as long as it works.
 
TheACN said:
I've just tried it, turned my iphone off completely, made sure cloud icon was there on the glance, asked my friend to call me, and viola, it rings... Go ahead try...
Click to expand...

Viola. That was my grandma's name. I miss her.
 
TheACN said:
Edited "closed" vs "turned off", sorry was excited and wrote fast :)
The other guy doesn't have an iPhone, I will have to wait till I get home to try facetime audio. But let me write down step by step what I did:

1- On watch app, under phone settings, I saw WiFi calling. It was active, I tried it and didn't work.
2- Went on to iPhone settings, deactivated WiFi calling, reactivated both WiFi calling and WiFi calling on other devices.
3- Strangely, watch doesn't appear there but said "only when nearby". Didn't work when nearby or away...
4- About an hour ago, realized it doesn't say "when nearby" anymore, but says "on". Gave it a try and worked... No clue what changed...

I found a post on apple support regarding this:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203032
says there it's on by default on apple watch.


Edit: I did not re-pair my watch as I didn't have any issues with the battery after the watchos 2 update.
Click to expand...
Nice for you!
Sucks it isn't currently supported on ATT at the moment. I can't fathom how one of the largest carriers in the country is so slow to roll these features out, while TMobile always has the latest features as soon as they're available.. I bet we'll get it in 2017.
 
TheACN said:
I've just tried it, turned my iphone off completely, made sure cloud icon was there on the glance, asked my friend to call me, and viola, it rings... Go ahead try...
Click to expand...

Hi

could you both try on 'out going' calls?

suprised you didn't do that?

Because if you can use the watch to make & receive calls, without iphone that is amazing.

thanks
 
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Sadly AT&T does not support wifi calling. So I can't try this. I did, however, see that texting and Siri work with my phone off now.
 
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deany said:
Hi

Can make a call without the phone?

Cheers
Click to expand...

Yes, it does work. However, after phone is turned off it might take a moment before the watch can be able to make calls, and during that time making an outgoing call comes back as "call failed". After a while though both incoming and outgoing works fine.
 
TheACN said:
Yes, it does work. However, after phone is turned off it might take a moment before the watch can be able to make calls, and during that time making an outgoing call comes back as "call failed". After a while though both incoming and outgoing works fine.
Click to expand...

I'm pleased its working for you because that is a 'before its time' feature.

I have turned Wi-Fi calling on and put iphone 9.0 in airplane mode, on EE in the UK, and no joy. (EE does support Wi-Fi calling and is the largest network here).

It must be a carrier feature for 4g T-Mobile USA?

cheers
 
deany said:
I'm pleased its working for you because that is a 'before its time' feature.

I have turned Wi-Fi calling on and put iphone 9.0 in airplane mode, on EE in the UK, and no joy. (EE does support Wi-Fi calling and is the largest network here).

It must be a carrier feature for 4g T-Mobile USA?

cheers
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm on t-mobile USA. Don't know if it makes any difference but i'm located in NYC and on unlimited LTE plan. I believe tmobile has supported wifi calling for a long time now, they're really good at keeping up with the technology, however their regular cellular reception can be annoying.
 
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Two carrier functions are required for this to work. First your carrier must support Wi-Fi calling. As noted that's T-Mobile and Sprint at this point. ATT is awaiting FCC approval because they want to support TTY differently. Verizon is MIA.
Secondly your carrier must support the Ios 9 version of Continuity. That seems to be T-Mobile only at this point.
 
TheACN said:
Edited "closed" vs "turned off", sorry was excited and wrote fast :)
The other guy doesn't have an iPhone, I will have to wait till I get home to try facetime audio. But let me write down step by step what I did:

1- On watch app, under phone settings, I saw WiFi calling. It was active, I tried it and didn't work.
2- Went on to iPhone settings, deactivated WiFi calling, reactivated both WiFi calling and WiFi calling on other devices.
3- Strangely, watch doesn't appear there but said "only when nearby". Didn't work when nearby or away...
4- About an hour ago, realized it doesn't say "when nearby" anymore, but says "on". Gave it a try and worked... No clue what changed...

I found a post on apple support regarding this:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203032
says there it's on by default on apple watch.


Edit: I did not re-pair my watch as I didn't have any issues with the battery after the watchos 2 update.
Click to expand...



Hi
Where is wifi calling on Apple Watch app can't see it on mine

Thanks winmecd
 
dtuck90 said:
Just tried it on EE in the UK wi my iPhone 6 and no luck
Click to expand...

With it working in USA with T-Mobile and T-Mobile USA and EE UK being owned by the same German company. How long do you think it will be before EE offer it?

my friend on Friday said 'what you can't make a call without your iphone' (I'd left my iphone in her car) I felt a bit miffed that you can use the watch as a phone, but not yet in UK!.

Does anyone 'in the know', have a time frame?

cheers
 
deany said:
With it working in USA with T-Mobile and T-Mobile USA and EE UK being owned by the same German company. How long do you think it will be before EE offer it?

my friend on Friday said 'what you can't make a call without your iphone' (I'd left my iphone in her car) I felt a bit miffed that you can use the watch as a phone, but not yet in UK!.

Does anyone 'in the know', have a time frame?

cheers
Click to expand...
I hope it's soon.
 
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