My son's not ready to carry a phone around so planning on getting him an Apple Watch with cellular. By the end of year, assuming he's ready to be trusted with a phone I'd like to switch the cellular plan to an iPhone and then pair the watch to the phone. Is that possible?
iPhone SE, iOS 17
Most phone numbers are transferrable, so you should be able to get an iPhone cellular plan and transfer his Apple Watch number to the iPhone. This would be the same as switching a phone to a different carrier and taking your phone number with you.
If you are going to stay with the same carrier, this should be trivial for them, as they are not loosing a customer, just getting a higher paying cellular plan for the iPhone/Apple Watch combination.
Here is information about the Apple Watch Family Plan, which I assume is what you plan on using today:
Set up Apple Watch for a family member - Apple Support
Set up a family member’s Apple Watch - Apple Support
Some limitations: Cannot receive SMS/MMS messages, as that depends on a fully paired iPhone. Messaging is pretty much limited to Apple's Messages, unless the messaging service provides an Apple Watch app. Alarms, alerts, notifications on the iPhone are not sent to the Apple Watch. Apple Pay via a credit card is not available. Also not available: Medications, respiratory rate, irregular heart rhythm notifications, ECG, AFib History, Cycle Tracking, Sleep, Wrist Temperature, Blood Oxygen, Walking Steadiness, Audiobooks, Camera Remote, News, Shortcuts, and the double tap gesture.
Most phone numbers are transferrable, so you should be able to get an iPhone cellular plan and transfer his Apple Watch number to the iPhone. This would be the same as switching a phone to a different carrier and taking your phone number with you.
If you are going to stay with the same carrier, this should be trivial for them, as they are not loosing a customer, just getting a higher paying cellular plan for the iPhone/Apple Watch combination.
Here is information about the Apple Watch Family Plan, which I assume is what you plan on using today:
Set up Apple Watch for a family member - Apple Support
Set up a family member’s Apple Watch - Apple Support
Some limitations: Cannot receive SMS/MMS messages, as that depends on a fully paired iPhone. Messaging is pretty much limited to Apple's Messages, unless the messaging service provides an Apple Watch app. Alarms, alerts, notifications on the iPhone are not sent to the Apple Watch. Apple Pay via a credit card is not available. Also not available: Medications, respiratory rate, irregular heart rhythm notifications, ECG, AFib History, Cycle Tracking, Sleep, Wrist Temperature, Blood Oxygen, Walking Steadiness, Audiobooks, Camera Remote, News, Shortcuts, and the double tap gesture.
Switch cellular plan from Apple Watch to iPhone
