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I'm looking at purchasing an apple watch with cellular, I'm just wondering do you need a data plan with the watch in order to make the fall detection work properly. Or is it only just depending on using the GPS and cellular in order to send emergency notifications?
If you have your iPhone nearby, then it will use your iPhone's cellular radio to call for emergency services (911 in the U.S.), and then notify your emergency contacts.
If you do not have your iPhone with you, and it is a cellular Apple Watch, you would need to activate the cellular service. This involves sharing your iPhone's number and paying the carrier that supports both the iPhone and your Apple Watch the equivalent of $10 U.S. extra per month on your iPhone bill.
If you have your iPhone nearby, then it will use your iPhone's cellular radio to call for emergency services (911 in the U.S.), and then notify your emergency contacts.
If you do not have your iPhone with you, and it is a cellular Apple Watch, you would need to activate the cellular service. This involves sharing your iPhone's number and paying the carrier that supports both the iPhone and your Apple Watch the equivalent of $10 U.S. extra per month on your iPhone bill.
Thanks @BobHarris. I'm based in Australia, and the carriers have a "number sharing" monthly fee of $5 to pair your phone number with the cellular watch. I was just checking to make sure that the process with the fall detection and the emergency notification did not to access data through the watch to work, and only relied on the cellular for the phone connection.
Well some carriers allow for WiFi calling, when you have WiFi, but are in an area with no cellular signals. I assume that would use data, but in that situation it would be the WiFi internet connection, most likely at home.
For example, where I live, cellular signals are weak, and there are spots in my home with zero signal. In those situations, my iPhone switches to WiFi calling, and uses my Xfinity cable Internet data.
But if a cellular signal is available, the calls use cellular.
Thanks very much
Apple Watch GPS+Cellular Fall Detection
