Will we ever get full cellular capabilities??

[FiremanMike]

I splurged and bought a cell connected apple watch about a year ago and was immediately disappointed/irritated to find that the cellular capabilities are extremely limited... Pandora doesn't work, youtube music doesn't work, no SMS text reception, can't get alerts from a my dispatching app. Obviously these things work fine when in range of my phone, but it honestly makes the cell connection fairly useless to me.

Will apple ever give us full cell data functionality?

 

[Bigwaff]

My cellular Apple Watch S7 works fine when using cellular data. Calls, messages, data apps, etc. What watch series and cellular service do you have?

 

[MarkX]

I splurged and bought a cell connected apple watch about a year ago and was immediately disappointed/irritated to find that the cellular capabilities are extremely limited... Pandora doesn't work, youtube music doesn't work, no SMS text reception, can't get alerts from a my dispatching app. Obviously these things work fine when in range of my phone, but it honestly makes the cell connection fairly useless to me.

Will apple ever give us full cell data functionality?

This might seem like a silly question but do you have a watch plan activated for your watch?

I regularly leave my iphone at home when out running and get texts calls etc no problem.

 

[Howard2k]

Sounds like maybe it’s not configured correctly?

 

[FiremanMike]

If you guys are getting sms texts and pandora/youtube music to work on cellular, then please tell me how. I'd also add that googling it turns up numerous articles including on apple that say this isn't the case..

 

[Bigwaff]

If you guys are getting sms texts and pandora/youtube music to work on cellular, then please tell me how. I'd also add that googling it turns up numerous articles including on apple that say this isn't the case..

SMS, yes. Send and receive. I’m pretty sure both Pandora and YouTube don’t support cellular streaming with Apple Watch.

 

[Howard2k]

Texts yes. I don't use Pandora or YouTube but Spotify and Apple Music work over cellular data.

 

[MarkX]

Sounds like maybe it’s not configured correctly?

Or has bought a cellular watch and expects it to work without a dedicated watch plan.

 

[FiremanMike]

Or has bought a cellular watch and expects it to work without a dedicated watch plan.

Nope, have a cell watch and dedicated watch plan.

It's fairly well documented that green texts don't send or receive while away from your phone, nor does pandora or youtube music..

So if your experiences are different than the rest of society, I'd love to know if you did something special.

I have a cell watch and a cell plan, there's no reason I shouldn't be able to use pandora, youtube radio, sms texting, and my FD dispatching app while away from my phone. Of course apple music works just fine, I just don't care for their variety.

 

[MarkX]

Nope, have a cell watch and dedicated watch plan.

It's fairly well documented that green texts don't send or receive while away from your phone, nor does pandora or youtube music..

So if your experiences are different than the rest of society, I'd love to know if you did something special.

I have a cell watch and a cell plan, there's no reason I shouldn't be able to use pandora, youtube radio, sms texting, and my FD dispatching app while away from my phone. Of course apple music works just fine, I just don't care for their variety.

Sms, not something that is commonly used in the UK, it's kind of a last resort for us.

WhatsApp is the preferred messaging service and it's uses data. Sms doesn't use data and as apple watches only work via data it doesnt work without phone near by.

 

[Bichon]

Spotify and Apple music comprise about 68% of the music streaming market and their watch apps work fine with cellular data. Pandora Premium, which holds only 1.9% market share, developed a watch app that requires an iPhone, but you blame Apple and not Pandora for this lack of functionality?

 

[Bigwaff]

Nope, have a cell watch and dedicated watch plan.

It's fairly well documented that green texts don't send or receive while away from your phone, nor does pandora or youtube music..

@FiremanMike is right. SMS/MMS require iPhone to be the relay, even for GPS/Cellular Apple Watches. The only "maybe" is the Ultra 3 GPS/Cellular using satellite. The paired iPhone is still used as a relay, so it needs to be on and connected to WiFi or cellular data, but it doesn't need to be nearby the watch. iPhone relays SMS/MMS messages via a service which the Ultra 3 connects to via satellite.

Regarding Pandora and YouTube, those Apple Watch apps don't support cellular streaming directly from the watch. Implementing that feature is on the vendor, not Apple.

 

[hgfjhbvytjdnb]

Spotify and Apple music comprise about 68% of the music streaming market

These stats are shocking, what's the sauce?

 

[FiremanMike]

Spotify and Apple music comprise about 68% of the music streaming market and their watch apps work fine with cellular data. Pandora Premium, which holds only 1.9% market share, developed a watch app that requires an iPhone, but you blame Apple and not Pandora for this lack of functionality?

Yes, I am. I pay extra every month for data for my watch, but usage of that data is restricted. Given apples strict control over apps, I'd bet money that apple has as much to do with the lack of data access for those apps as the app makers.

I have family members and coworkers without iphones, so access to SMS is important to me. I enjoy the curated variety of pandora and youtube music far more than apple music, so being able to run without my bulky iphone is important to me. My FD dispatching app is also obviously important to me.

Like I said, I pay for data, I should be able to use it on the apps on my watch - and I say this as an apple fanboy who's only had an iphone since the 4, macbooks, ipads, apple watches.. I am not anti apple, but I feel like I was duped a bit when I bought my first cell connected watch only to find it doesn't work with the majority of the apps I need it to unless my phone is in my pocket, negating the entire reason I got a cell watch.

Whether the blame is on apple or the app makers, the question stands, will the apple watch ever be able to be a device that works to its potential when I intentionally or accidentally leave my phone behind..

 

[Student of Life]

Yes, I am. I pay extra every month for data for my watch, but usage of that data is restricted. Given apples strict control over apps, I'd bet money that apple has as much to do with the lack of data access for those apps as the app makers.

I have family members and coworkers without iphones, so access to SMS is important to me. I enjoy the curated variety of pandora and youtube music far more than apple music, so being able to run without my bulky iphone is important to me. My FD dispatching app is also obviously important to me.

Like I said, I pay for data, I should be able to use it on the apps on my watch - and I say this as an apple fanboy who's only had an iphone since the 4, macbooks, ipads, apple watches.. I am not anti apple, but I feel like I was duped a bit when I bought my first cell connected watch only to find it doesn't work with the majority of the apps I need it to unless my phone is in my pocket, negating the entire reason I got a cell watch.

Whether the blame is on apple or the app makers, the question stands, will the apple watch ever be able to be a device that works to its potential when I intentionally or accidentally leave my phone behind..

SMS works, the problem you seem to be having is with the pandora app which is something that might be corrected if you go reach out to them and express your displeasure in the lack of native Apple Watch cellular support.

 

[Howard2k]

Whether the blame is on apple or the app makers, the question stands, will the apple watch ever be able to be a device that works to its potential when I intentionally or accidentally leave my phone behind..

No.

While Apple allows third party apps, there will always be some apps that won't leverage the available connectivity. Apple won't force compliance there I don't expect.

That's not an Apple issue, it's an semi-open ecosystem issue.

Use poorly developed apps, get a poor experience.

 

[FiremanMike]

SMS works, the problem you seem to be having is with the pandora app which is something that might be corrected if you go reach out to them and express your displeasure in the lack of native Apple Watch cellular support.

I have never had SMS work when disconnected from the phone. If you have a method to make it work, please let me know.