watch
With the apple watches, does the phone have to be near you to use the text/calls via the watch? How far away can your phone be from the watch?
Apple Watch Series 9
Question marked as
If you are talking about SMS (traditional TEXTING), then the other side of the planet.
If you can’t send or receive messages on your Apple Watch - Apple Support
The iPhone must be powered on, and able to talk to the Internet. The iPhone and the Apple Watch must be signed into iMessage using the same Apple ID. And of course the Apple Watch must have Internet access as well.
If the Apple Watch is a cellular model, the phone calls can happen without the iPhone being near, nor powered on.
The same for iMessage messaging, as that is Internet data based and the cellular Apple Watch has Internet data access.
If you are talking GPS only Apple Watch, the the iPhone should be nearby. Bluetooth range (30-50 feet; 10-18 meters), as the Apple Watch wants to use the iPhone’s radios.
The exception is if you are on your home WiFi, and your cellular carrier supports WiFi calling, and you have enabled WiFi calling on you iPhone and Apple Watch, then the Apple Watch can do phone calls without the iPhone.
Also if on WiFi, iMessage can happen without the iPhone.