Has anyone been able to get GPS coordinates, without their iphone, cell service, or wifi. Is the Apple Watch 3 (cellular-GPS) a true GPS, or just a useless piece of junk that mirrors my iphone? I don’t need maps, or workout records or whatever, just want a gps coordinate I can read on my watch, or should I return it and get a garmin?
You would need an app which supports Apple Watch (e.g. Topo Maps), the native Maps app won't provide coordinates.
I don't know how accurate a Watch (with cellular) is on its own. The iPhone will use "Assisted GPS", a hybrid of GPS along with a triangulation of cell towers and known Wi-Fi sources (you don't personally have to have connected to these Wi-Fi sources, their location is from crowd-sourced info). Without the assistance of a paired iPhone, I'm not sure what level of accuracy to expect from the Watch.
Just took a brisk walk w/o my iPhone. My watch located my position just fine on Topo Maps, but unfortunately the app doesn't seem to have a provision to show coordinates. Perhaps other mapping apps have this capability, but the other prerequisite would be to have a cellular-GPS model of Apple Watch if you're not going to have your iPhone with you.
Yes, the Apple Watch Series 3 GPS works without a connection to your phone or to cellular. Just note that the map may not load offline.
- Fin
Yes, the watch has its own GPS chip. What happens when you open the Maps app on the watch and tap "Location"? Is the problem that it doesn't give coordinates but instead gives you a map?
I can’t get any map service to work in any capacity without my iphone on. Topo, Gai, View Ranger, or even the standard map app. Yes, location services are all on. Still no updates, nothing. It seems like my iphone is the gps, and the watch is just a secondary display on my wrist. Have you been able to get any of these apps to work, with the phone turned off?
If you have the non cellular GPS watch, try a test by shutting your iPhone down before you get to home WiFi so your watch has connectivity, (or some other pre-known WiFi) then connect Find my iPhone from another device or computer, and see where it shows your devices. The watch should be clearly at home and the iPhone still some distance away until you power it up. My experience is the accuracy of the watch GPS is pretty good, within the limits I would expect considering possible GPS signal attenuation while you are in a building.
Assisted GPS (tower triangulation) should not make a significant difference to accuracy, but it can improve time to calculate a fix, and if GPS is blocked by buildings it will still provide a better-than-nothing fix with somewhat lower accuracy.
Branta_uk wrote:
If you have the non cellular GPS watch, try a test by shutting your iPhone down before you get to home WiFi so your watch has connectivity, (or some other pre-known WiFi) then connect Find my iPhone from another device or computer, and see where it shows your devices. The watch should be clearly at home and the iPhone still some distance away until you power it up. My experience is the accuracy of the watch GPS is pretty good, within the limits I would expect considering possible GPS signal attenuation while you are in a building.
Navigation doesn't appear to be one of the things that a non-cellular Apple Watch can do when not connected to a phone.
How to use your Apple Watch without your iPhone nearby - Apple Support
Fortunately, the OP appears to have the Cellular version. 🙂
Ok, but how do I see my actual coordinates? Latitude, Longitude, etc?
I’ll try to remember and zap my watch cellular connection before I go into the office tomorrow, then try some tests. There’s no point trying now, all my toys are already together at home.
Yes, but I have a cellular-GPS model. If yours is GPS-only, that's probably why (sorry, I presumed that you had a cellular version).
GPS coordinates
