I gave my daughter an Apple Watch SE 3. Since she put the watch on the charger last night, the watch never updated its location. The school policy doesn't allow her to wear the watch during school hours, so she put the watch in the backpack. I checked the watch's location in the Find My app many times, and its location is not updated since last night.
Is this an expected behavior?
The watch can only share the location, if it is connected to a cellular or Wi-Fi network, and on the wrist.
Unlocking the watch will establish a network connection.
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If you share your location from an iPhone that’s paired with Apple Watch (GPS + Cellular models), your location is shared from your Apple Watch when you’re out of range of your iPhone and Apple Watch is on your wrist.
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copied from: Share your location in Find My on iPhone - Apple Support
The watch has to be connected to a trusted Wi-Fi, cellular network or paired iPhone, and to be located if lost:
If your Apple Watch is lost or stolen - Apple Support
The watch will connect to a cellular network, as soon as it is switched on and/or charged.
If nearby, you can ping it with your iPhone.
I just got watch and it has cellular. I saw it not update for hours at a time. While she wore it, it kept updating. I didn’t check for a bit of a walk, threw it in a bag cause of sports, and checked. It hadn’t updated since I last looked and she was wearing it. I put the sensor against my wrist and checked. Location updated. It seems you need to check while they are wearing it. I need to contact apple support to confirm I think.
I wonder why it's designed this way. Sounds like if my daughter misplaces the watch, there is not a way to find the watch.
The watch has cellular plan, but what I observed is similar to what Dave_Stein said.
Does Apple Watch update its location when it is not worn?
