HT204641: Update the software on your Apple Watch

Learn about Update the software on your Apple Watch
relevanted

Q: OS2 tetherless feature?  Wifi?  Setup?  Working?

I can't seem to find anything about the tether less wifi feature other than the marketing materials.  Any update/information regarding this?

Apple Watch

Posted on Sep 27, 2015 11:00 AM

Close

Q: OS2 tetherless feature?  Wifi?  Setup?  Working?

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by Meg St._Clair,Helpful

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair Sep 28, 2015 7:05 PM in response to relevanted
    Level 9 (58,855 points)
    iPhone
    Sep 28, 2015 7:05 PM in response to relevanted

    What features are you talking about?

     

    These are the things you can do on your watch without your phone:

     

    Use Apple Watch without its paired iPhone

    Three Apple Watch screens showing options for using the watch without the companion iPhone nearby: playing music, checking activity progress, and running—screen shows elapsed time of workout.

    Although you need your iPhone nearby to do many things with Apple Watch, there are things you can do when you don’t have your iPhone with you or when it’s turned off:

    • Play music from a synced playlist on Apple Watch
    • Use the watch Clock icon, alarms Alarm icon, timers Timer icon, and the stopwatch Stopwatch icon
    • Track your activity with the Activity app Activity icon
    • Track workouts using the Workout app Workout icon
    • Display photos from synced photo albums in the Photos app Photos app icon
    • Make purchases with Apple Pay


    Apple Watch uses Bluetooth® wireless technology to connect to its paired iPhone and uses the iPhone for many wireless functions. Apple Watch can’t configure Wi-Fi networks on its own, but it can connect to Wi-Fi networks you’ve set up or connected to using the paired iPhone.If your Apple Watch is in range of a Wi-Fi network that iPhone has connected to before, you can still do the following (even if iPhone is turned off):

    • Use Siri
    • Send and receive Digital Touch messages
    • Send and receive messages using iMessage Messages icon
    • Make and receive phone calls Phone icon (if you have Wi-Fi calling enabled and you’re within range of a Wi-Fi network that your iPhone has connected to before).
  • by relevanted,

    relevanted relevanted Sep 28, 2015 7:08 PM in response to Meg St._Clair
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 28, 2015 7:08 PM in response to Meg St._Clair

    It's just confusing from the standpoint that the watch DOES NOT and CANNOT connect to the internet without the bluetooth connection.

    The features you're responding about are non-tethered but don't use web based applications.

     

    Tetherless Wifi is an "advertised feature" in the marketing materials.  I took it to be that you could connect to the internet without the iPhone.

     

    Not a simple answer then...

  • by Meg St._Clair,

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair Sep 28, 2015 7:38 PM in response to relevanted
    Level 9 (58,855 points)
    iPhone
    Sep 28, 2015 7:38 PM in response to relevanted

    relevanted wrote:

     

     

    Tetherless Wifi is an "advertised feature" in the marketing materials.  I took it to be that you could connect to the internet without the iPhone.

     

    Not a simple answer then...

    Where did you see this "tetherless WiFi"? I don't recall ever having heard the term.

     

    No, you can't connect to the internet without the phone. You can connect to known Wifi networks and perform a very limited number of functions. See the list in the portion of the manual I quoted. The manual seems pretty clear to me. What is it you don't understand?

  • by Paul G Easley,

    Paul G Easley Paul G Easley Sep 29, 2015 11:00 PM in response to Meg St._Clair
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 29, 2015 11:00 PM in response to Meg St._Clair

    For what it is worth "tetherless wifi" was announced as a part of Watch OS 2  at the Apple developers conference.

     

    http://www.techradar.com/news/wearables/apple-watch-os-2-release-date-news-and-f eatures-1296413

     

    Tetherless wifi

     

    Yes, this sounds exactly like what you think it is. The Apple Watch is able to connect to open Wi-Fi networks without needing to connect to your iPhone first. You'll can leave your phone in another room and your wrist will be a perfectly suitable alternative. Android Wear's latest update already supports this feature, so it's nice to see the iOS device receiving it as well.

     

    It's been hard to find a time to put this into practice though – you can keep the Watch connection alive in most homes thanks to being close enough. We can't even find this mode in the Watch itself, so perhaps it auto mirrors from the phone to learn the connected Wi-Fi locations.

  • by Meg St._Clair,

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair Sep 30, 2015 1:01 AM in response to Paul G Easley
    Level 9 (58,855 points)
    iPhone
    Sep 30, 2015 1:01 AM in response to Paul G Easley

    Honestly, that doesn't sound much different than what's in the manual. The article you quoted doesn't mention connecting to the internet.

  • by Paul G Easley,

    Paul G Easley Paul G Easley Sep 30, 2015 11:34 AM in response to Meg St._Clair
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 30, 2015 11:34 AM in response to Meg St._Clair

    Hi Meg:  The watch manual on iBooks is from April, so it only covers  OS 1 as far as I can tell.

     

    I asked tech support about this today. He said it is automatic.

     

    When your watch loses Bluetooth contact with your phone, the watch will directly connect to your wifi network as long as you are still in range of your wifi router. Wifi router needs to be 2.4ghz.  Will not work with 5.0ghz.

     

    I forget the name of the glance which shows your connection status to your phone, but that is where you can see if you're connected to the wifi network.  It will show a green cloud icon rather than a phone icon.

     

    I haven't had a chance to test this yet to see exactly what it does (if it allows you to connect to the Internet).  I forgot to ask!

     

    He did say there is a new watch manual covering OS 2.  Hopefully they'll get it up on iBooks soon!

     

    Have a great day!

  • by Paul G Easley,

    Paul G Easley Paul G Easley Sep 30, 2015 12:34 PM in response to relevanted
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 30, 2015 12:34 PM in response to relevanted

    Yea! I found a support document that covers this:

     

    About Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on Apple Watch

    Learn about Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for your Apple Watch, and why you should use both.

     

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204562

  • by Paul G Easley,

    Paul G Easley Paul G Easley Sep 30, 2015 1:59 PM in response to Meg St._Clair
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 30, 2015 1:59 PM in response to Meg St._Clair

    Hey Meg, digging further, no internet connection.  You are absolulsly correct, gives you

     

    - siri

    - digital touch messages

    - imessage

    - wifi-enabled phone calls

     

    SOrry for my confusion!

  • by Paul G Easley,Helpful

    Paul G Easley Paul G Easley Sep 30, 2015 9:28 PM in response to relevanted
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 30, 2015 9:28 PM in response to relevanted

    I did test some, turned off my phone and my watch connected to wifi.

     

    I am a Siri nut, so it was great to be able to ask questions  and get her to set timers, open apps etc.

     

    The only questions she can't answer with the phone off are location based ones, like 'where's the closest Mexican Restaurant,' as that needs the phone's GPS.

     

    But Stock quotes, sports scores, word definitions, etc worked great. So for me at least this is a nice improvement over the watch OS 1 experience.

  • by relevanted,

    relevanted relevanted Sep 30, 2015 9:33 PM in response to Meg St._Clair
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 30, 2015 9:33 PM in response to Meg St._Clair

    When I turn off Bluetooth on my watch my phone shows red  disconnected icon    I don't get a green cloud icon at all

    I tried to use the weather app and it tells me that it cannot connect

    Neither iMessage or the phone call functions work and I am connected to well known 2.4 802.11abgn airport base station in my own home.

    But it performs like a rockstar when the Bluetooth is turned on 

  • by Jonathan UK,

    Jonathan UK Jonathan UK Oct 1, 2015 4:52 AM in response to relevanted
    Level 7 (33,944 points)
    Apple Watch
    Oct 1, 2015 4:52 AM in response to relevanted

    Although your query involves the same subject, it is different to the OP's question (which has already been answered). A different question should be asked in a new thread. If others later have the same query, this also makes it easier for them to find - hopefully along with an answer.

    More info here: Find answers and ask new questions