Activity data stops sharing out of town

[mctskater]

Hi all, this past month I’ve discovered a random issue with my Apple Watch sharing activity data with my friends.
This is the issue, when I left town on two separate vacations my activity sharing data from my friends stops updating. After I get back home the data from my friends activity continues to update.
The first time I noticed the issue I tried to remove my friend, the one I was visiting, but I kept getting an error that I couldn’t remove my friend.
The second vacation the same thing happened. I didn’t do anything and just waited to see what would happen once I got back home. Again, after getting back home the sharing feature was working as expected.
Both vacations where just a few hours drive. I didn’t leave the country or state.
Has anyone else had this same experience?
Thanks in advance!

 

[StumpyBloke]

I think the obvious question to start with, is did you have data access when needed?

 

[mctskater]

I had cell coverage and on wifi both times.
Is that what you mean by data access?

 

[StumpyBloke]

I had cell coverage and on wifi both times.
Is that what you mean by data access?

Sorry yes it is. That’s very strange. And you had your phone in range of your watch at all times? I’m assuming it is the non-cellular version of the watch?

 

[mctskater]

Yes, it was in range of the phone.
However, I just realized I failed to mention that it is a cellular version.
I also have cellular option enabled. Sorry for failing to add this detail.

 

[StumpyBloke]

No problem. But if it was in range of the iPhone then it wouldn’t fall back onto the cellular data anyway. At least it shouldn’t do.

Really don’t know what to suggest unfortunately. I’ve never had that problem myself. My data has always synchronised fine to my phone even when the two have been separated.

Hopefully someone will come along and can advise you.

 

[mctskater]

I have plans to leave town again and I will add an update with my next experience.
thanks for your messages.

 

[mctskater]

Update:
I’ve now left town three times. The first time was a few hours drive away. Again, all day I could not see updated activity data from friends. Later that night when I got home, right as I parked my car in the drive way, I got updates. The second time I left town was a longer trip and duration. All weekend, 3 days, I didn’t get updates. This time, during my trip I tired turning my iPhone off. No change. I tried turning off cell on my watch. No change. One I got home I again got updated shared activity data. And, I got all the missed data from the prior three days. Odd?
Right now, I’m currently out of town. This time I left the state. For most of the day I was having the same experience as my other two trips. However, I just got updated activity from everyone I share with?!? Odd? I didn’t do anything and it worked! 🤷
I’m not expecting anyone out there to have a solution for me, at this point I’m sharing in case others end up with the same experience.
I’ll add another update if I ever do find a correlation as to what’s going on.
Cheers