How far can the Apple Watch stay connected w/ your device?

[wvayens]

I'm able to leave my phone in the front of the house and the watch will find it in the back of the house, a distance of about 50 feet. If I step outside and go any further, the concrete walls will block the signal. Haven't tested any further distances outside yet....

 

[impaler]

I don't have an Watch, but the range for BT 4.0 is approximately 100 meters (330 feet +/-). Not sure what the real world limitations will be.

Bear in mind, those are ideal range parameters, with no barriers, walls, floors, etc., to push through. In my work building, for instance, which is solid, thick concrete, I can only go 50 feet.

Anyone figure out the WiFi situation? Will it switch to WiFi if you're on, say, your home network but out of physical range of the iPhone?

 

[Bigeric23]

Yes, if I'm on my Wi-Fi network, I can leave my phone in my office (second floor) and go anywhere in the house without issue--just a bit slower at the far ends.

 

[Scatabrain]

Yes, if I'm on my Wi-Fi network, I can leave my phone in my office (second floor) and go anywhere in the house without issue--just a bit slower at the far ends.

Big Eric, I think you may still be on BT. The apple store guy corroborates wifi not working independently. (I know they are not infallible but he was unambiguous about his report on this).


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[Bigeric23]

I'm pretty sure Bluetooth would not reach from the second-floor office to first-floor patio.

Take a look at this:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7011282

 

[Scatabrain]

I'm pretty sure Bluetooth would not reach from the second-floor office to first-floor patio.

Take a look at this:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7011282

Thanks Eric. So a couple of things for me to look at there. One thing I noticed there is that phone calls are not in the list of wifi activities. As one of the posters there discussed he had his airport as a bridge. I do as well. The way he fixed it was to open wifi on first router. That's not possible for me as first router is high end router that does not support wifi. Will have to think on changing airport out of bridge mode as my setup relies on rules setup on first router.

At least I now have something new to test. Thanks!


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[Scatabrain]

I'm pretty sure Bluetooth would not reach from the second-floor office to first-floor patio.

Take a look at this:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7011282

Alright: Big Eric for the Big Win!

Changed my airport to DHCP instead of bridge, adjusted the assignable ranges and restarted it. Turned off BT on phone, walked to very far end of wifi range away from phone (why not) and was able to use everything on watch including messages, weather, music controls (although away from phone this is pointless) AND - drum roll - Phone calls.

UPDATE: Important to connect to phone over BT once before going to WiFi with watch.

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[Ledsteplin]

I don't have an Watch, but the range for BT 4.0 is approximately 100 meters (330 feet +/-). Not sure what the real world limitations will be.

Most Bluetooth range is about 33 feet average. My headset goes about 20 feet before it starts misbehaving. Maybe I don't have 4.0.


Sent from my ancient but trustworthy iPhone 5. ☮