✅ How effective is Apple Watch without WiFi & Cellular, but with iPhone nearby?

I want to buy used Apple Watch LTE series 4 44mm (that’s what my budget will cover).

The problem is currently there is no compatible eSIM with Apple Watch in my country. I am optimistic that there will be at least one late this year/next year. Buying WiFi only now and then switch to the LTE version when it comes out is non-option, because reselling is not great here.

How do you think will it perform? More opinion is welcome. My planned use case is:

  • install the beta OSes and unlock my iPhone 12 mini with Watch.
    I am the errand-boy in my house, and not lowering my mask or typing my long password when I am shopping will be very convenient. Or I could just use the watch while the iPhone will stay in my small bag/pocket.
  • For health: detect jogging, measure health
  • Navigation with Apple Maps, or Google Maps if possible
  • enable notifications when my iPhone is fully charged
  • General notifications

Thank you!

I misinterpreted Daring Fireball’s article. I thought the new feature is to enable notification on the other paired device when the other device is fully charged. Thank you for the heads up!

To sum it up. Apple Watch’s bluetooth capability for notification is great. Also the GPS allow for independent route tracking, if I don’t mind not receiving notification, I can leave the iPhone at home while running.


Thanks!
Could you add your opinion and experience on navigation? Can you do navigation well if the iPhone is not nearby?

I think I will use 50:50 Apple Maps:Google Maps for navigation.
Apple’s will work fine for major place like hospital, gas station and government building. Google’s will aid me for smaller shops, friends’ house or better alternative route.

I have a Series 4 (purchased as soon as they were available) 44mm with cellular that I have never activated. I also don’t do any navigation on the watch, nor has it ever told me when my phone is fully charged, but beyond that it works very, very well.

Also, I do a 1.5 hour run every day with it in workout mode and the battery still lasts well over a day. I usually put it on at 6:30 AM and take it off sometime after midnight. It almost always has more than 30% battery left.

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I have a S4 without cellular. Works great for most of your use cases. For navigation I use Apple Maps locally and Waze on trips, all driven by my phone. I love the way the watch alerts me to upcoming turns without having to listen to incessant directions all the time. I like Waze’s information about traffic and such when on the highway.

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In my country Apple does not even sell an Apple Watch with LTE…

My Series 3 is (still) great for health (tracking running/biking with Strava, measuring health with the native Apple App) and (general) notifications!

Additional features that I love:

  • unlocking my Mac with the watch
  • paying with Apple Pay
  • entering a concert venue using the ticket on the watch (hope we can do that again later this year!)

I look forward to unlocking my iPhone while wearing a face mask!

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Hi all, I finally got my first Apple Watch! Thank you for the replies, opinion and insights :slight_smile:

I finally got secondhand 5 40mm LTE. My cousin knew that I am interested in buying one, so he offered the one he never use in the same price I would have paid for the secondhand 4 LTE!

I tested Google Maps on my way back home from his place, and the navigation guide is good. I hope sometimes in the future I can see the mini map displayed on the Watch instead of turn left-right guide tho.

I love how the iPhone scanned flower-like pattern to pair with the Watch! I used automatic set up and all compatible apps installed on my iPhone transferred to my Watch. I used Things 3 integration to check completed shopping list, and Authy integration to see 2FA.

My cousin told me to wait 2 weeks before installing watchOS beta. He said the general release may be coming soon, and installing beta watchOS is not as convenient as beta iOS.

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Neither do the official Apple distributor in my country, currently no operator supports eSIM for watch.
The one I’ve got and the one I planned to buy are bought outside my country. The unofficial distributor usually bought in bulk and resell on the local eCommerce, Brand New In Box and still sealed (commonly called ‘green peel’).

2 days of using it, I love this Apple Watch!
I’ve received urgent call while I ride my motorcycle (the caller said my voice is good despite the winds!).
I used navigation two times (which I still hope there will be navigation like in the phone for the future).
I tried washing my hands and spraying disinfectant to it, and it still works :open_mouth:

I tried dictation but my spoken English is not so good, and mentioning names will result in random noun coming out.

One of my biggest complain is, I just knew that wrist tattoo affects Wrist Detection. That’s major bummer. My first night sleep tracking was not so good, the second night I tried using it on my right hand and it’s more accurate.

Now, the third day, I will try using it on my wrist bone (where there is a gap, no tattoo). I wish this latest setup the best. I like my watch on my left hand.

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