Unusual Family Setup questions

[W.Riker]

This'll probably seem weird, but I've been thinking about trying to replace my phone with a smartwatch, and as far as I can tell the only real way to do that is by using Apple Watch Family Setup. I've got some family members with iPhones that could help me with this, but there are some questions I have that I have not been able to find answers to. Primarily because Family Setup is primarily used for parents who want to be able to contact their kids without giving them a full on smartphone. Which leads me to my first question.

During the setup process, can the person with the phone opt out of all of the parental controls? and will they be able to get rid of the app used to connect to and set up the watch once the process is complete?

Also, once the setup process is complete, are there any vital features that the watch won't be able to do on it's own? I don't care about any of the health tracking stuff. I basically just want the watch be able to make and receive calls, send and receive texts, have access to basic apps like a calendar and weather, and tell me the time.

Not exactly Family Setup related, but with all of the health tracking stuff turned off, and not really using it for much throughout the day, do you think a series 9 watch's battery would make it through a full day? I'm ok with the idea of needing to charge it every night while I'm asleep. Based on what I've read online an Ultra/Ultra 2 would definitely be able to do that, but I'd like to avoid needing to get such an expensive device if I can.

Thanks in advance for any help I can get with this. It's... been a weirdly frustrating thing to try and look up info for, lol.

 

[xraydoc]

Why would you go through the hassle of doing a family share setup?

Why not just connect your watch to your iPhone and leave your iPhone behind when you go out? I do that sometimes and I have access to everything you described (calls, texts, weather, calendar, time).

 

[Night Spring]

Can't help with the family setup, but can confirm that Apple watch battery can easily last a whole day, especially if you turn always on display off. I charge my Series 8 watch once a day, for about an hour, then wear it to sleep and then all day until it's time to charge it again before bed.

 

[forzagaribaldi]

My S7 will last a day sometimes but I often top up at some point. I often leave my phone at home and rely just on the watch but bear in mind that anything using mobile data results in increased battery usage and calls and listening to audio (in my case local podcast files on the watch using Overcast) also hit the battery.

 

[Mackilroy]

My S9 lasts all day with always-on enabled.

 

[W.Riker]

Thanks for sharing your experiences with battery life. Helps eliminate the Ultra/Ultra 2 from consideration.

Why would you go through the hassle of doing a family share setup?

Why not just connect your watch to your iPhone and leave your iPhone behind when you go out? I do that sometimes and I have access to everything you described (calls, texts, weather, calendar, time).

Because I want to completely replace my phone with a smartwatch, and not own a smartphone at all anymore. It's something that, with how far the tech in smartwatches has come, should be a lot easier than it actually is imho.

 

[ZebraDude]

The Apple Watch was built to mostly use Bluetooth to keep the battery drain in check. WiFi and more importantly LTE can become a large drain on the battery.

 

[hanser]

I tried using my LTE Watch series 7 as a iPhone replacement (not family share, but having the (very old) phone just laying around at home without using it), and it works, but with limitations. One is signal strength; the antenna seems to be weaker and it loses signal more. The other is battery. If you completely rely on the LTE connection, it will probably not last through a whole day. especially if you use LTE a lot for phone calls or streaming music. If you do not have to be connected all the time, and just will switch on LTE for a few minutes every 3 hours to look at messages, it will last through the day.

 

[xraydoc]

Thanks for sharing your experiences with battery life. Helps eliminate the Ultra/Ultra 2 from consideration.

Because I want to completely replace my phone with a smartwatch, and not own a smartphone at all anymore. It's something that, with how far the tech in smartwatches has come, should be a lot easier than it actually is imho.

I’m not sure the tech has come far enough. You might be able, depending on your use-case scenario, to almost never touch the phone. But if you’re making a remote family account on someone else’s phone, then you’re not really freeing yourself.

Just add it to your phone and leave it home plugged in on a shelf.

 

[BenGoren]

Also, once the setup process is complete, are there any vital features that the watch won't be able to do on it's own? I don't care about any of the health tracking stuff. I basically just want the watch be able to make and receive calls, send and receive texts, have access to basic apps like a calendar and weather, and tell me the time.

In that case, you absolutely need a phone.

The watch uses the phone as an active relay to the SMS network. While iMessage works fine so long as the watch has some sort of a network connection, the only way that it can send or receive SMS messages is by talking to the phone — and the phone itself needs real-time connection to both the watch and the SMS network.

The watch and the phone can be on opposite sides of the planet, but both must be able to talk to each other, and the phone has to be able to talk to the SMS network.

In practice, the watch is a superior smartphone to the original iPhone. You can almost always just use the watch and forget about the phone.

But it’s not actually possible to completely ditch the phone. There are other “gotchas” … such as the watch’s cellular plan being tied to a phone with an active plan. You could leave the phone powered off and still use cellular everything on the watch, but the phone company is going to bill you for the phone and not let you have a plan for the watch without it being tied to your phone.

You might consider getting the cheapest unlocked second-hand iPhone you can find, though. You just want something that can run the latest version of iOS.

b&

 

[Night Spring]

such as the watch’s cellular plan being tied to a phone with an active plan.

Found old thread that seems to suggest there are stand-alone plans for watches.

cheap standalone data plan for apple watch (cellular apple watch) USA

HI All, I've seen some posts in the past but didn't know what the current status was. I'm considering getting my father an apple watch but he doesn't regularly carry his phone with him. Sometimes he likes to take longer outdoor walks and it would be nice if the fall protection etc would be...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[W.Riker]

There are absolutely standalone plans for wearables like smartwatches. There's no reason this shouldn't work. I just need to find someone who has experience with the Family Setup stuff so I can know for sure...