(Emergency) Wifi calling on Apple Watch when iPhone off: AT&T: Yes; Verizon: No

Question

(Emergency) Wifi calling on Apple Watch when iPhone off: AT&T: Yes; Verizon: No

I was investigating whether a non-cellular Apple Watch can make an emergency phone call when the iPhone is not present or is dead.

Apple says "Emergency SOS requires a cellular connection or Wi-Fi calling with an Internet connection from your Apple Watch or nearby iPhone." At the Wi-Fi calling page, Apple links to

Wireless carrier support and features for iPhone in the United States and Canada

On that page, AT&T and Verizon both have these features

Wi-Fi Calling
Wi-Fi Calling on supported iCloud-connected devices

Unfortunately, it appears that "supported" means something different to the two carriers.

My spouse's iPhone uses AT&T for cellular service. I set up wifi calling on the phone. In the Watch app on the phone, I was able to enable wifi calling on her watch. I powered off the iPhone and I was able to call out from the watch.

My iPhone uses Verizon for cellular service. The iPhone and watch are using the same SSID. Both iPhone and Watch are signed into my Apple Account (and thus iCloud). I set up wifi calling on the phone. "Calls on Other Devices" shows "When Nearby" (no option to change that). Following that to "Allow Calls on Other Devices" shows that to be turned on. Two devices (both laptops) are shown. The iPhone is not shown among the other devices.

When I powered off my iPhone, my watch was unable to make a call.

If you use Verizon cellular service on your iPhone and suffer a fall or accident and want to make an emergency call, it appears that if your iPhone is not nearby (perhaps thrown by emergency) or is not charged or was rendered inoperable by the emergency, your Apple Watch (unless it has its own cellular contract) will not be able to make a call. If you use AT&T and your watch is on a wifi network, it appears it can make the emergency call.

Apple Watch Series 7

Posted on Aug 2, 2025 08:30 PM

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Answer 1

Aug 7, 2025 05:23 PM in response to William Tyson

It is not clear to me you are correctly interpreting how Wi-Fi calling works.

My story:

I live in part of my town with terrible Cellular service for every carrier, Outside, on the lawn. My house is solid masonry construction, and would be a dead zone for Wi-FI except that I have Access points all over the house. If you are dumb enough to go inside, you are lucky to see maybe one bar, or SOS, over cellular.

My understanding of how Wi-Fi Calling applies to me is that I can sit in a room behind a 4-ft thick chimney -- a cellular dead zone that has a Wi-Fi Router directly under it in the room below -- and make crisp clear calls with my iPhone. These calls will get connected over Wi-Fi to my Router, and over my fairly fast Internet connection to the Internet, and at some remote location they will connect back into the [regular wired] phone system, and if needed, then be connected to the cellular network.

I get the weather on my watch when my iPhone is at the other end of the house, inaccessible. The phone is not acting as intermediary in fetching the weather. So I would expect to be able to make a WiFi call from the watch when inside the house, but ONLY when in close range of an Internet AccessPoint/Router.

I am not convinced the phone would be an intermediary device in that case.

¿Or perhaps it really is a deliberate (and artificial) limitation placed by Verizon?

¿Were you well in range of your Router when you did your tests?

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Answer 2

Aug 7, 2025 06:28 PM in response to William Tyson

<< I set up wifi calling on the phone. "Calls on Other Devices" shows "When Nearby" (no option to change that). Following that to "Allow Calls on Other Devices" shows that to be turned on. >>

the more I think about this, the more is sounds like a deliberate artificial restriction by Verizon.

if you have a chance, could you post a screenshot of the Verizon settings and

a screenshot of the AT&T settings, if they are indeed different?

it would be fascinating to see them side by side.

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Answer 3

Aug 11, 2025 02:39 AM in response to William Tyson

CORRECTION: Verizon: YES

If properly configured, a non-cellular Apple Watch associated with an iPhone on a Verizon plan can make calls out if the phone is dead.

In my original post, I wrote

"Calls on Other Devices" shows "When Nearby" (no option to change that).

There was a non-obvious place to change that to "On". Apparently "When Nearby" may mean that the other device communicates to the nearby phone, which then calls out. "On" seems to me that if the other device is logged into your Apple Account, then it can originate and receive calls even if it is in another state.

When this was set to "When Nearby", I could make calls with my watch in my normal situation when the iPhone is alive and nearby. If the iPhone was set to make calls via Wifi, it would use Wifi rather than Cellular to make calls.

But, it would NOT make calls if the phone was dead.

Configuration for When Nearby (does not allow calls from watch when phone is dead)

Configuration for ON. Watch and other devices can call even if phone is dead.

Note that the Apple Watch does not show up in the Other Devices list (ie, other devices logged into the same Apple Account as the iPhone).

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Answer 4

Aug 11, 2025 06:24 AM in response to William Tyson

That's really good information to know. Thank you for doing this investigation and providing a good roadmap.

When I tried to duplicate your settings, I got 'read the Riot Act' with a Verizon document I had the agree to, that said essentially, that method might disconnect arbitrarily. Agree or you can't change those settings. It also suggested that your emergency location information might not go out with an emergency call, so be sure and tell them where you are.

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