Can I Pair Apple Watch with Standalone Plan to an iPhone that has no cell phone plan?

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Can I Pair Apple Watch with Standalone Plan to an iPhone that has no cell phone plan?

I have an apple watch that has its own Verizon plan and its own phone number. I tried to pair the watch with an iPhone that does not have any cellular plan. The pairing is ok, but the watch can't make any phone call. Somehow the cell plan does not work with the watch. Any idea how to set that up?

Note: an Apple watch needs to be paired with an iPhone to install certain apps. For phone calls, the watch should not be relying on the iPhone.

Posted on Dec 24, 2024 12:44 PM

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Answer 1

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BobHarris

Level 9

56,939 points

Dec 24, 2024 1:47 PM in response to eahgr

No.

The Apple Watch cellular uses the iPhone's phone number. For this service, the cellular companies that support the Apple Watch charge a monthly fee of about $10 U.S. added to the iPhone cellular bill. If you do not have an iPhone, or the iPhone does not have a cellular plan that supports the Apple Watch, then you cannot enable the cellular on the Apple Watch.

The alternative is to behave as the dependent child to another person, or the elderly relative of another person, and use the Apple Watch Family Plan

Apple Watch Family Plan

Set up Apple Watch for a family member - Apple Support

Set up Apple Watch For Your Kids - 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.

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Answer 2

eahgr Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 11, 2025 12:24 PM in response to BobHarris

The assumption that the watch is using the same phone number as the iphone is wrong. I have Verizon and the watch is setup as standalone. The watch has its own phone number and can make and receive calls by its own.

But currently the watch can only be setup as a "family member" for it to use as standalone. This limits watch's features. For example, spotify can't be used when the watch is setup as a "family member".

I am wondering why the watch needs to be setup as a family member to use its own phone number? This is not logical. The watch is a watch and I paid a cellular plan, why it needs to be tied to a phone with a cellular plan? If it needs to be tied, why would it only work when it's a "family member"?

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Can I Pair Apple Watch with Standalone Plan to an iPhone that has no cell phone plan?

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