Standalone cellular Apple Watch for child?

hi, sure getting conflicting answers regard a cellular Apple Watch. Is it possible if say you had to mobility plan with a company and say your kid just wanted to activated and use just the cellar watch as a stand alone. Is it possible? Telus says no you need a mobile phone attached to it, same with Sasktel. Our problem is our mobility phones are tied to business. However Telus business does not allow stand alone Apple Watch, only consumer side, consumer side wants a phone attached. Sasktel is even more out to lunch saying cellular watch is always attached to phone. I guess what I’m asking is th we’re anyway my kid can have this watch as a stand alone, not connected to a phone and her own number / sim

/ eSIM. If so who is offering this

Posted on Mar 27, 2026 4:20 PM

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Posted on Mar 27, 2026 4:47 PM

Apple Watch Family Plan https://support.apple.com/en-us/109036 https://support.apple.com/guide/watch/set-up-a-family-members-apple-watch-apd54d0a51fb/watchos 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.


Basically, you need a parent's iPhone as the controlling iPhone. You get a cellular plan for the child's Apple Watch from a cellular provided that support the Apple Watch Family Plan.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 27, 2026 4:47 PM in response to Nathan Gogol

Apple Watch Family Plan https://support.apple.com/en-us/109036 https://support.apple.com/guide/watch/set-up-a-family-members-apple-watch-apd54d0a51fb/watchos 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.


Basically, you need a parent's iPhone as the controlling iPhone. You get a cellular plan for the child's Apple Watch from a cellular provided that support the Apple Watch Family Plan.

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Standalone cellular Apple Watch for child?

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