Can’t send text messages on Apple Watch 3 when iPhone is not near.

Yes I do. Ok then this tells me it must be my cell provider who has issues with the way the devices are Communicating on their network. Not a hardware issue. Who is your provider. I will tell mine so maybe they can tweak their network like your cell provider.

Thank you so much Stephanie! I am in the same boat. I am still very tempted to sell all my Apple products and go with a galaxy after all the hours I have wasted with AT&T and support with Apple trying to figure out why I don’t get text messages when I leave my phone at home. It’s so frustrating to continually reach out for support for something that is supposed to work yet no one can address the issue. I literally just stumbled across this board this morning and I have learned more in the last 10 minutes than I have since I got my watch in November.

Girl, me too! AT&T is the least helpful. Lol. I will keep the Apple Watch I have now but definitely will NOT be getting the next new one when it comes out. Waste of money considering I got the watch for the sole purpose of being able to send and receive messages and make phone calls while my phone is dead or not with me. I would not have purchased the watch had I known it would not do that! Ugh.

For me, something different: I've a serious problem with mails and notifications when on lte. Call and iMessage are working, anyway, in every constellation.

Watch and iPhone per Bluetooth: all notifications, mails, calls, iMessage

Watch and iPhone both on same wlan, Bluetooth off: all notifications, mails, calls, iMessage

Watch and iPhone on LTE, or one of both on LTE, Bluetooth off: NO notifications, NO Mails, calls, iMessage

Don't know why. Got this problem since updating on 11.2.x. On 11.1.2 it seems to be fine. But after update no chance, whatever i do. Bug is in developer bug reporter, made all i know.

YES This worked for me.. I have Verizon and I went through the same hassle of going into the store and exchanging the watch for anther one. Nothing worked. I turned off my wifi on my phone and also on my watch. Went outside down the street and took a bit for my network connection to kick in but it did. I tried texting from the watch and it WORKED!!! So the only bummer is that I have to remember to turn both wifi connections off before I leave my phone at home.. Hopefully there is a update that will fix this really soon... Thanks for the help sir!

Oh that’s great! Yes I forgot to turn wifi back on a couple times too and streamed Netflix and used up my data :(

At least it’s a temp fix if u want to keep the watch but its not how the watch should behave and for that much money a fix is needed

What kind of phone do u have? Mine was an iPhone 8plus

My convert to sms was on and that still did not fix it. Only thing that worked for me was what I posted above about turning off wifi on watch and turn off wifi on phone and turn off wifi assist on phone. Then I could do iMessage and sms while away from my phone.

This is the answer to this question found in the article :How to use your Apple Watch without your iPhone nearby - HT205547

"To receive SMS, MMS, or push notifications from third-party apps on your Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS + Cellular), your paired iPhone must be powered on and connected to Wi-Fi or cellular, but it doesn't need to be nearby."

This is expected behavior, not a glitch.

- Thanks

Look for the Apple Watch guide on iBooks, because it helps a lot with using the watch. I've had a problem with the watch not sending texts (SMS) when my iPhone battery is dead. I wanted to know if this was a user error issue, so I read about the topic in the guide. Basically, I learned that I need to switch by scrolling up from the watch face and see what connection I have. If I'm using wifi, the clam shape wave will be blue and the wifi network is listed at the top. Then I'm not using cellular. The message I sent using just wifi with phone off went out slower and it took longer to receive a response. If I turn off wifi, the cellular comes on and then messages are much faster. I assume that this change from wifi to cellular happens automatically when I leave wifi zone. SO, if you're having problems, read the guide and do some experiments to find out what happens based on what connection you are using.

Wish apple would fix whatever issue is causing txt msgs from sending or receiving. It doesnt matter if my iphone is on or off it will not send txt or imessage unless its within 30feet of my iphone. as soon as i leave the area it will only make and receive calls. Txt messages forget it. Apple support has been no help and reading all the reviews i would like to find someone that has this working. Doesnt seem to matter who the provider is. Verizon, ATT, Sprint, Tmobile None of them seem to work.

Even with iMessage on, I still cannot receive or send text messages on my Apple Watch 3 if my iPhone is not nearby. Also tried Turning on SMS as someone else suggested. Neither do the job.

I got the watch so I could go for walk/run and leave my iPhone at home. Definitely disappointed that I can’t get or receive texts.

Well that’s kinda overly complicated for the end user... I had my phone on yesterday, my watch would not send texts. So, today I turned the phone completely off and tried again. Nope. So, looks like either way there’s room for improvement here. I too can make calls, use data, the only thing I can’t do it the one thing I wanted to be able to do the most... get and send messages when needed, while active, and without needing to worry about my phone. ♂👎👎

Alright i spent all day trying to figure this out and what worked for me was going to settings on iphone then down to messages-send/receive-signing into my apple ID so that its an option as well as my number being an option. Then i unchecked everything except my number. Then go turn off imessage and turn it back on. It should say activating. Then you should be good to text and receive text using the cellular data on your watch. Hope this helps.

Hi I have had this problem for a long time and I was able to solve it so what you need to do it go to settings < imessage then send and receive and click enable massages with Apple I. Last go to the i

Watch app and unpair or reset the Apple Watch. Than wait for it to erase everything than re pair it

I recommend clicking keep plan but you can’t get it from a back up but you lose everything on the I watch but it’s Worth it hoped I helped😀

Hi jermaine a,

I had this problem and after days of agony and tier-2 tech support I've got it fixed. Here is what I did:

STEP 1: Go into iPhone under Settings, "Apple ID, iCloud, iTunes & App Store". Make sure under "Reachable At" you see your apple id and your cell phone #. Doesn't matter if you have extra stuff, just need those 2.

STEP 2: Go back to Settings, "Messages". Make sure iMessage is turned on and then go into the submenu "Send & Receive". In there under "YOU CAN BE REACHED BY IMESSAGE AT" you should see your cell # and your apple id. Make sure both have check marks beside them. Under "START NEW CONVERSATIONS FROM" make sure your cell # is there with a check by it as well.

TEST: To test it do the following:

a) Turn off wifi and Bluetooth on your iPhone, it will then just be connected to the cellular network.

b) Now turn of wifi on the Watch so that it is only left connected to the cellular. Wait for the Watch to shows at least 2 bars of cell signal.

c) Send an SMS text from the iPhone to your own cell number (e.g. 541-XXX-XXXX). If it shows up on both the iPhone and Watch then you are in business. This was the key to get this working on my Watch.

Remember, the Watch requires the iPhone to be connected somewhere to the cellular network. The watch is not operating independently when sending SMS, it has to have the iPhone connected to cell network even though it may be 100 miles away. This is not the case for phone calls.

Note 1:
The easy way to test if the watch is set up correctly to send SMS is to turn the bluetooth off of the connected iPhone, and then turn of wifi on the watch. Wait for 2 bars of cellular and then try to text a non-iMessage number. If it hangs as undeliverable then it is not configured correctly.

Note 2:
To send SMS messages the Watch must communicate with the iPhone. When not tethered to the phone by bluetooth it communicates with it over the cellular network. The iPhone is really sending the SMS message – it just communicates with the Watch so it seems like the Watch is doing it to the user. This explains why the iPhone must be connected to the cellular network somewhere in order for SMS message to be sent
from Watch. iMessage to other iMessage users works from the Watch even if iPhone is off.