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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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1 reply

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.



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

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