Watch cellular questions

[gadget123]

If I buy a watch cellular can I use phones from any of my Apple accounts or wife’s? Does it have to be the one linked to the iPhone contract? Or can I set the watch up for anyone?

Also can you pay the watch and contract early before the 4 years if you wish to and use without the cellular?

Do you get given a new number to your existing contact to call on?

 

[deeddawg]

1 - you can pair the watch with any of your iphones, but it'll be most useful if you choose the phone you use the most. Realize the watch is largely an extension of the phone with which it is paired.

2 - that's dependent on the contract with your carrier. I don't buy a watch on contract, and I sure wouldn't buy one on a four year one. Just buy it outright from Apple or use Apple's financing.

3 - not in my experience - per above the watch is an extension, and thus people call your primary phone number. Although the watch is provisioned with a separate number, that's not typically used.

 

[gadget123]

It would be for my wife. So yes her account if it will still work? Looked at buying a cellular one from Apple but these £5 tariffs are not on website hassle of contacting them. The one I seen is !13 a 4 year deal but I’m guessing you can pay the entire thing off early it’s the SE so £280 I think is the credit agreement so would be easy to pay off when cellular data no longer needed? It’s mostly to check emails ect

may also send text messages so would they come from the new number or iMessage? Would be using on her Apple ID rather than mine which has the contract I guess this would work?

o2 website says 30p per text doesn’t it send iMessage for free?

 

[waw74]

You shouldn't think of the watch as a separate device, It's a second screen for the phone you're setting it up with.

it is a different number, but you will never see that number unless you really go looking for it. All Calls and messages will go to and from the number of the phone. (or however your phone is configured, like iMessage email address). I had to go to my account page on the t-mobile website to find the number, sending a text to that number did not do anything.


your watch should be paired to your phone. Your wife's watch to her phone. If you use your phone to set up a watch for her, it will receive all of the calls, messages, and notifications from your phone. you can not assign a different apple account to a watch.


There is a small exception to this. You can set a watch up for a family member, but will loose a lot of functions. This is designed so you can give a child a watch without them having their own phone. The watch must be cellular model. https://support.apple.com/en-us/109036

An Apple Watch for someone with an android phone is pretty much useless. You'll have to jump though a lot of hoops to make it work, and even then it will be severely limited.

 

[deeddawg]

may also send text messages so would they come from the new number or iMessage? Would be using on her Apple ID rather than mine which has the contract I guess this would work?

o2 website says 30p per text doesn’t it send iMessage for free?

@waw74 did a good job addressing the first part of your followup question - consider the apple watch as an extension of whichever iphone you've paired it with, it is not really a standalone device.

Messages will go via iMessage using data rather than SMS wherever possible, though if texting non-iphone users then it would go as SMS but should show as from the number of the phone the watch is paired with. Again, these aren't separate devices associated with an AppleID, they're an extension of the iphone they're paired with.

Costs depends on carrier; my US T-Mobile plan is unlimited texts, calls, & data so I have no knowledge of O2 in the UK's plans costs.

 

[gadget123]

You shouldn't think of the watch as a separate device, It's a second screen for the phone you're setting it up with.

it is a different number, but you will never see that number unless you really go looking for it. All Calls and messages will go to and from the number of the phone. (or however your phone is configured, like iMessage email address). I had to go to my account page on the t-mobile website to find the number, sending a text to that number did not do anything.


your watch should be paired to your phone. Your wife's watch to her phone. If you use your phone to set up a watch for her, it will receive all of the calls, messages, and notifications from your phone. you can not assign a different apple account to a watch.


There is a small exception to this. You can set a watch up for a family member, but will loose a lot of functions. This is designed so you can give a child a watch without them having their own phone. The watch must be cellular model. https://support.apple.com/en-us/109036

An Apple Watch for someone with an android phone is pretty much useless. You'll have to jump though a lot of hoops to make it work, and even then it will be severely limited.

Ok what if I pair it to the phone which doesn’t have the contract? Would the messages go to that iCloud account and iMessage rather than the contact phone?

 

[BenGoren]

Ok what if I pair it to the phone which doesn’t have the contract? Would the messages go to that iCloud account and iMessage rather than the contact phone?

May I suggest?

Don’t over-think this, and don’t try to get fancy.

Apple intends for the Watch to be an extension of the iPhone.

The Watch is emphatically not a standalone device. It is perpetually joined at the hip to the iPhone with which it is paired.

(To be fair, in some extremely useful ways, you have huge latitude in how far, physically and conceptually, you can distance the two. But the bond is never truly broken. At least, not without erasing the Watch and re-pairing it with a different iPhone.)

Any and all attempts to pretend that the Watch is a standalone device are doomed to heartbreak. Even despite the fact that there are a few people for whom their Watch is essentially their primary device and their iPhone lives permanently plugged into a charger under a pile of unread mail on their desk.

Embrace that connection and it’s a fantastic tool.

Try to insist that it really is / should / could / must be a standalone device and heartbreak is guaranteed to ensue.

And, no. There’s no “one weird trick” that makes it otherwise.

Cheers,

b&

 

[gadget123]

May I suggest?

Don’t over-think this, and don’t try to get fancy.

Apple intends for the Watch to be an extension of the iPhone.

The Watch is emphatically not a standalone device. It is perpetually joined at the hip to the iPhone with which it is paired.

(To be fair, in some extremely useful ways, you have huge latitude in how far, physically and conceptually, you can distance the two. But the bond is never truly broken. At least, not without erasing the Watch and re-pairing it with a different iPhone.)

Any and all attempts to pretend that the Watch is a standalone device are doomed to heartbreak. Even despite the fact that there are a few people for whom their Watch is essentially their primary device and their iPhone lives permanently plugged into a charger under a pile of unread mail on their desk.

Embrace that connection and it’s a fantastic tool.

Try to insist that it really is / should / could / must be a standalone device and heartbreak is guaranteed to ensue.

And, no. There’s no “one weird trick” that makes it otherwise.

Cheers,

b&

So we have watches already but problem is my wife can’t have her phone in her at work now so she needs the cellular data to check emails

 

[Howard2k]

So we have watches already but problem is my wife can’t have her phone in her at work now so she needs the cellular data to check emails.

Which phone is the phone that your wife uses to call people? What model and OS?

 

[waw74]

if she has an iPhone, she can pair the watch to her phone.
if she doesn't have an iPhone, you need to consider a different watch.

When her phone is close, the watch will connect to it via bluetooth. If the phone isn't close, the watch will turn on its wifi to see if it can find a known network, if that doesn't happen it will power up the cellular and use that.

if the phone isn't close, having a wifi network you can connect to will help with battery life compared to relying 100% on cell.

Things will work better if her phone is connected somewhere, it can be on cell sitting in the car in the parking lot, wifi/cell in a locker, on wifi/cell at home, or anywhere, as long as the phone has a connection of some kind.

once they're paired, all calls and messages will go from the phone to the watch. Focus mode sycns across devices, so if she has a work focus on her phone that blocks most notifications, that will also transfer to her watch. Enabling a focus on any device, will set it on all of her other devices (can disable in settings). There are many options for customizing which notifications will or won't forward to the watch

notications, messages, and calls will work no matter where the phone/watch are. I may be wrong about this, but I think cell calls, and non iMessage messaging require the phone to be online somewhere. iMessage and FaceTime calls will work without the phone being online somewhere. Most apps send the notifications to your phone, and the phone forwards to the watch.

if you've got Apple Music, you can pair your AirPods/BT headphones directly to the watch and stream from there. You can also sync podcasts to the watch.

 

[BenGoren]

First, if her work prohibits phones, it’s also going to prohibit cellular-capable watches. They actually are phones, after all — just small ones with a wrist strap.

That’s especially true if she works at one of the types of places well known to prohibit phones — such as secure government agencies, defense contractors, and the like. And, if it’s a general prohibition intended to reduce distractions, they’re going to be just as upset if she checks email on her watch as on a phone.

If she really would be permitted a cellular-capable watch, then you want to pair the watch to her phone. She would generally want to keep her phone on and plugged in at home (not the car — it’ll get too hot!), and then, assuming an active cellular plan on the Watch, everything would “just work.”

b&

 

[haddy]

i I may be wrong about this, but I think cell calls, and non iMessage messaging require the phone to be online somewhere. iMessage and FaceTime calls will work without the phone being online somewhere. Most apps send the notifications to your phone, and the phone forwards to the watch.

Yep you are wrong... cellular AWs have an eSIM. This has the same phone number as the paired iPhone. My cellular provider allows two AWs paired to the one iPhone to use the same number. The iPhone does not have to be online or on. In NZ they charge $7/month extra for each AW no matter your plan.

 

[wilderkun]

Yep you are wrong... cellular AWs have an eSIM. This has the same phone number as the paired iPhone. My cellular provider allows two AWs paired to the one iPhone to use the same number. The iPhone does not have to be online or on. In NZ they charge $7/month extra for each AW no matter your plan.

I am in Los Angeles, and my Apple Watch has a separate number assigned to it. But because it’s paired to my watch, I only get notifications from the phone with my Apple ID and the one paired to the watch. In America, it’s a technicality thing, because they give a number to any device with a data plan. So iPads also have their own number, but you never use it. It’s there specifically for the data

 

[Howard2k]

Yep you are wrong... cellular AWs have an eSIM. This has the same phone number as the paired iPhone. My cellular provider allows two AWs paired to the one iPhone to use the same number. The iPhone does not have to be online or on. In NZ they charge $7/month extra for each AW no matter your plan.

It seems to depend on the provider. My phone needs to be on for me to get text messages, but not iMessages.

 

[waw74]

Yep you are wrong... cellular AWs have an eSIM. This has the same phone number as the paired iPhone.

I have tried in the past with sending messages/calls, it's been a year or two, and I remember it not working,
I did just try calling myself just now (regular phone number) with the phone off, and it rang on my watch,

It doesn't matter if it's an e-sim, I don't think the cell network is setup to handle 2 devices at the same actual number. The numbers just get paired in the providers system.

my watch absolutely has a different number assigned to it. but calling or texting that number doesn't work, all calls and texts go to the number of my phone. The only way I've found to see that number is to go digging on my provider's website. I was unable to find it in settings on either my watch or phone.

 

[haddy]

It doesn't matter if it's an e-sim, I don't think the cell network is setup to handle 2 devices at the same actual number. The numbers just get paired in the providers system.

In NZ Spark (my cellular provider) allows 2 AWS and the paired iPhone with the same number. This is what I have.....AW 10 and AW 7 plus iPhone 15. They all work independently with the 3 Subscriber Identifying Modules having the same phone number. Spark needs the IMEI and EID numbers of each watch to set them up. Is it different with your provider?

 

[waw74]

on my provider's webpage, I have 2 plans (phone and watch), both have a unique number assigned.

That may be just a webpage display issue, as I mentioned before, calling or texting the watch's number doesn't actually connect to anything.

 

[haddy]

on my provider's webpage, I have 2 plans (phone and watch), both have a unique number assigned.

That may be just a webpage display issue, as I mentioned before, calling or texting the watch's number doesn't actually connect to anything.

Well in NZ only Spark provides my service. The two other providers (One NZ...previously Vodafone...and 2degrees) in NZ don't offer this service. My wife's provider is One NZ so there is no point in her having a cellular AW unless she changes to Spark.....which, if she does buy a cellular watch, it is easy to transfer her number to Spark.

 

[deeddawg]

on my provider's webpage, I have 2 plans (phone and watch), both have a unique number assigned.

That may be just a webpage display issue, as I mentioned before, calling or texting the watch's number doesn't actually connect to anything.

This is how it works as I understand things (and in my experience in the US on ATT and TMO. The watch is provisioned with its own number, which shows on your account page, yet it’s tied to your phone’s number in the back end systems. The number doesn’t accept calls/texts and outbound shows as your phone’s number.

 

[gadget123]

So to be clear can I set up a watch on my wife’s Apple ID even if the contract was on mine?

 

[deeddawg]

So to be clear can I set up a watch on my wife’s Apple ID even if the contract was on mine?

That's not how it works.

You don't set up a watch on (to) an Apple ID.

You pair the watch to an iphone. The watch's cellular plan gets associated with that phone's service.

Since you said you already have the watches, just pair her watch with her phone.