How To Install Cellular on Apple Watch w/ a Different Carrier (Verizon & T-Mobile)
The other day I was helping someone pair their T-Mobile standalone Apple watch plan to their iPhone with Verizon as the carrier, and whenever you would go to install cellular on the watch in the setup process, it would try to connect to a Verizon watch plan that never existed in the first place.
The fix was to make a separate Apple ID for the standalone watch and connect it to your main Apple ID on your phone so that the watch can naturally connect to the available eSIM and work properly. I hope this helps anyone else stuck like I was, peace!
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Thank you, also, for getting this far in the description! You're a real one!
Thanks for the info!
You’re welcome. I hope it helped!
If my granddaughter has her own IPhone on Verizon and I have TMobil can I put a watch on my TMobil account with data for her will it work through her phone?
Short answer is no. But you’d be able to use the watch via Bluetooth when the watch near the phone. If you wanted data to work on T-Mobile the watch would need to have a different number from the Verizon one (T-Mobile Standalone line) since the main phone number is on Verizon that number can’t pair with the T-Mobile data line to use the same number. Let me know if that made sense.
godlike content. this is the only thing that worked -- I personally have verizon + android phone.. my job gives me an iphone... i buy series8 watch and cant get cellular working, the work-iphone has no cellular anymore (wifi only, for MS Teams etc) and its ATT just to top things off i watch this vid, unpair and reset my watch, pair again/redo everything while setting up an alternate me and use that family-type user as a proxy and ta da, we have joy.
I’m so glad that all worked out in the most unlikely combo out there 😂👏🏼
Thank you
You’re welcome
I have an Apple Watch 8 and it’s from Verizon. I’m trying to gift it to my gf but she has T-Mobile. Can she pair her iPhone to my watch if I remove the activation lock and remove cellular plans ? Or while I get the same issue you’re having?
You should be able to use it on her phone with Bluetooth only.
What if you just turn off cellular data or take out the Sim of the Verizon phone and then set it up? Must the iPhone have a cellular plan in order to use it with a watch that has a standalone plan?
I tried that and it still attempted to use Verizon. It detects the last sim on the phone. If you pay for a watch standalone plan you don’t need a phone cellular plan, but, if you use a standalone plan you’ll need to make a separate Apple ID for the watch apart from the phone’s Apple ID that you use to set up the watch. Did that answer your question? Hopefully I didn’t confuse you haha
@@OptionsFinestNot confusing at all 👍🏼 …and you are right. I went through the process last night and had to do exactly this. Now researching what features I’m missing by setting it up as a family member watch. Thanks man.
@@dangerous8333 Yess!! I'm glad it worked out man! I work at a phone store, stumped with it for nearly 2 hours, so I figured someone else would be in the same shoes as me. Let me know if there is anything you've discovered that's lacking when you do that. Cheers!
@@dangerous8333I set it up as a family member watch for a new line, however … my main iPhone. The one in which I used to have all my useful Apple Watch apps for my car, house, digital keys.. etc… I can’t use. It identifies the watch as “me (family member)”. I tried sharing my Apple home devices with the watch. I got the text on the new line for the watch. However I couldn’t accept the home invite without an entirely separate iPhone setting up the watch. It’s kinda frustrating >.
Ok so will you still get notifications from the phone to the watch?
If they’re separate numbers you’ll only get notifications from one or the other. If the watch is paired via Bluetooth to your phone you could potentially get notifications from your phone and your standalone watch number. Did that answer your question?
Yes, you can receive phone iPhone (diff cell #) and get its own standalone number as another phone. Just make sure you your phone is connected to the iPhone one for notifications / app tracking. And when you need to check your other line (I used it for different online accounts that require a cell number and not a VOIP line). Switch over to check messages.
When you receive notifications between the two lines, it will show which line that text or call is going to.
Your iPhone must be within range and connected to the watch though
I tried this as I don't use an iPhone as my main phone but wanted the Apple watch Ultra. It does work, but you are severely limited in functionality. Medications, respiratory rate, irregular heart rhythm notifications, ECG, AFib History, Cycle Tracking, Sleep, Wrist Temperature, Blood Oxygen, Walking Steadiness, Audiobooks, Remote, News, and Shortcuts don't work in this standalone mode. Deal breaker for me.
Did you pair the watch with an iPhone?
Yes@@OptionsFinest
Im trying to activate my wactch but cant figure it out. I have the apple 9 from Verizon and my iphones from Spectrum.
I’m going thru the same thing same company’s was you able to use it
@quantaviouswarren9379 I can't get it to work. They told me to get a iphone through Verizon only way it'll work.
It’s also somewhat dependent, I’m sure, to whether the device is unlocked. Is the watch a standalone line?
hm.. my Verizon iPhone only shows Verizon cellular data for watch... after I clicked "setup cellular", it showed: call Verizon
Is it a Verizon watch?
I have it standalone but I don’t know how to add music in Apple music on the watch
You need to make a separate Apple ID just for the watch with your standalone line then add it to your family sharing for your main Apple ID that way you can use your music
@@OptionsFinest thanks man!! I’ll try.
@@bryanpark5321 Keep me updated!
I’m try get straight talk cellular for my Apple Watch and they said I can’t do that at Walmart
Yea I don’t think that company offers watch plans. My experience is only with the larger carriers.
can you please be more detail because the carrier dont understand it
Tell me the situation. Did you bring it in person or are you doing it over the phone?