Apple Watch family setup and roaming within EU and global

Question

Apple Watch family setup and roaming within EU and global

Hi All

We are using an Apple Watch 7 for our child in family setup mode with an eSIM from Deutsche Telekom installed on the watch with an individual number. It works very well in Germany for data and phone calls. The eSIM Tarif includes data roaming within the EU and selected no EU countries and is LTE VoLTE and 5G capable.

No being in the Netherlands the watch does not connect to the local network, we had the same issue a few weeks before in Asia. Deutsche Telekom said the Tarif includes data roaming.

Is this a bug or intention by Apple ? Interestingly there is a list on Apple Support Site where the Netherlands is not listed. Apple Watch - Anbieter - Apple (DE)

Any ideas ?

Posted on May 10, 2024 12:52 AM

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Answer 1

May 10, 2024 1:53 AM in response to Andreas_Germany

The related article about setting up cellular on an Apple Watch mentions, that

"International roaming is not supported for cellular models of Apple Watch used in Family Setup."

...

copied from: Mobilfunk auf der Apple Watch konfigurieren - Apple Support (DE)

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Answer 2

May 10, 2024 1:56 PM in response to Andreas_Germany

You're welcome 🙂

Yes, the Apple Watch works better, if it is directly paired to an iPhone, without having some features restricted due to the Family setup. Which on the other hand might save you a lot of roaming costs, if used unrecognised by the children.

However, if you use the Feedback link, you can tell Apple directly about your wishes for future updates:

Feedback - Apple Watch - Apple

Or tell your carrier about it, since they provide the network service and decide, which data plans and/or setup include international roaming.

BTW, there is also a german part of the Apple Communities:

Offizielle Apple Support Community

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Answer 3

May 10, 2024 1:29 PM in response to Ingo2711

Ok. Thanks for this information. I did not read it and was not expecting roaming does not work in family setup while working normally in standard setup.

I don’t think this family setup is handled well from Apple. While on holidays abroad with kids neither roaming works on the watch nor it is able to connect to WiFi in most hotels due to lack of captive WiFi support.

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Apple Watch family setup and roaming within EU and global

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