Apple Watch SE loses cellular connection when connected to WIFI

I just setup a brand new Apple Watch SE *standalone* on Sunday and O/S was updated during the setup. On Monday, I noticed the watch would not connect to cellular, even though we have full bars on other devices. Then only way for me to get connected to cellular is to turn WIFI off. If I turn it back on again, it may stay connected to cellular for some time, but then if the watch switches to WIFI and back to cellular, it will eventually lose the cellular connection, and stay disconnected for some time.

I spoke to Apple and after basic troubleshooting steps, they told me I should visit the store so they could run diagnostics on it. Diagnostics came back with no issues. The Apple tech thinks that cellular is not in the realm of Apple, but I'm not sure I agree with that statement.

I spoke to Verizon. They really couldn't do anything to troubleshoot even with their L2 support, so they want to send me a new watch.

Based on other postings of people with similar issues, I think there is a fundamental flaw with the Apple Watch in general wherein it can't effectively maintain both connections (cellular and WIFI) when both signals are variable. It took me 1 day to see the issue, and I'm sure Apple could reproduce this issue in house easily.

I'll wait to get the new watch and do some quick testing. I'm pretty confident I'll see the same behavior on the new watch with only minutes of testing. I'm also pretty confident that Apple won't fix the issue since they are in version 8 of the watch and such a basic flaw still exists... :(

Apple Watch SE

Posted on Aug 23, 2023 07:24 AM

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Posted on Jan 22, 2024 09:19 AM

Hi there, were you ever able to resolve this issue? This is an ongoing issue for us as well and neither Apple or ATT will acknowledge it as a known issue and keep kicking it back to each other. Thanks!

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3 replies

Jun 2, 2024 12:20 PM in response to Gman_SD

I am facing the same issue on my SE 2nd Gen Connected to T-Mobile on a Standalone plan (not paired to an iPhone). Were you able to resolve this issue?


The watch toggles off the cellular connectivity when connected to wi-fi, similar to turnign off the cellular line on iphone. The moment you turn off the wi-fi it connect to cellular so technically it's not a cellular service issue hence carriers are unable to resolve the situation.


This behavior may be by design and Apple should reconsider and change the behavior such that a standalone watch works just like an iPhone to make this set-up useful. i.e Keep cellular connection on even when connected to wi-fi.

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Apple Watch SE loses cellular connection when connected to WIFI

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