Using Apple Watch WiFi on CocoCay

[garywatson]

Now that the Apple Watch seems to offer password entry for WiFi, I'm thinking I can connect it as my one Zoom device and use it on CocoCay instead of bringing my phone onto the island. This would provide a certain minimal level of connectivity if something important comes up.  Has anybody tried this?

[mo&fran]

I thought that the watch had a Bluetooth connection to the phone to function. 

[mk-ultra]

deleted

Edited April 13, 2023 by mk-ultra

[Pratique]

If you can get it to work on the ship then it should also work on the island. But I always carry my phone because the watch is really limited in what it can do on its own.

[twangster]

Has something changed?

 

Published Date: February 21, 2023

 

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT209071

 

Find compatible Wi-Fi networks

Your Apple Watch can connect to a Wi-Fi network: 

• If your iPhone, while connected to your watch with Bluetooth, has connected to the network before.
• If the Wi-Fi network is 802.11b/g/n 2.4GHz (or 5GHz if you have Apple Watch Series 6 or later).

 

Your Apple Watch won't connect to public networks that require logins, subscriptions, or profiles. These networks, called captive networks, can include free and pay networks in places like businesses, schools, dorms, apartments, hotels, and stores. When your Apple Watch connects to a compatible Wi-Fi network instead of your iPhone connection, the Wi-Fi icon  appears in the Control Center.

[garywatson]

16 hours ago, twangster said:

 

 

Your Apple Watch won't connect to public networks that require logins, subscriptions, or profiles. These networks, called captive networks, can include free and pay networks in places like businesses, schools, dorms, apartments, hotels, and stores. When your Apple Watch connects to a compatible Wi-Fi network instead of your iPhone connection, the Wi-Fi icon  appears in the Control Center.

 

OK yes I see now - it will let you put in the wifi password on secure networks, but won't let you put in a password into a login screen on a "public" wifi like the Royal ships have.  Well then I will try a workaround which involves turning off my watch, spoofing my laptop's mac address to be my Apple Watch, get all logged in, then change the laptop's mac back to default then turn on the watch.  It should be seen as the same device.

[Daghis]

17 minutes ago, garywatson said:

Well then I will try a workaround which involves turning off my watch, spoofing my laptop's mac address to be my Apple Watch, get all logged in, then change the laptop's mac back to default then turn on the watch.  It should be seen as the same device.

Please report back if you are able to achieve this. I just took a quick peek in System Settings for my WiFi adapter, and it's got the hardware address grayed out. I don't know whether it's possible in macOS, but perhaps works with a Windows laptop.

[garywatson]

6 minutes ago, Daghis said:

Please report back if you are able to achieve this. I just took a quick peek in System Settings for my WiFi adapter, and it's got the hardware address grayed out. I don't know whether it's possible in macOS, but perhaps works with a Windows laptop.

 

I think you have to sudo it on the command line on a mac.

[garywatson]

3 minutes ago, garywatson said:

 

I think you have to sudo it on the command line on a mac.

 

Changing the MAC address of a Mac running macOS is pretty straightforward, and all you need for this is the Terminal. Follow the steps below to learn how.

1. Open Terminal.
2. Enter the following command to know the MAC addresses currently assigned to your current network interfaces: ifconfig. Make sure to note the original MAC address down somewhere. en0 represents Ethernet, whereas en1 denotes wireless network (Wi-Fi).
3. If you’ve already got a MAC address in mind to assign to your Mac, skip to the next step. However, if you don’t, use type the following command into the Terminal to generate one: openssl rand -hex 6 | sed ‘s/\(..\)/\1:/g; s/.$//’.
4. Disconnect the network connection for which you want to change the MAC address.
5. In the Terminal, enter sudo ifconfig en0 ether 21-A5-CE-DC-C2-33. Subsequently, enter your password and hit return. Replace the MAC address with the one you want to assign to your Mac. Similarly, replace en0 with en1 if you wish to change the MAC address for your Wi-Fi network.

Once that’s done, turn on your Mac’s Wi-Fi and type ifconfig to verify if the MAC address is changed successfully. Do note that the MAC address defaults back to the original MAC address upon every boot. As such, if you need to change your MAC address every time you use it, you can create a script that does it for you each time the system boots up.

[Pratique]

I haven't tried it, but my understanding is that if the watch is already connected to a public WiFi via your phone, then it will remain connected when you are out of Bluetooth range. So if you can connect to the ship's WiFi via your phone while on the ship, then leave your phone behind when you leave the ship, it seems that it should work since the SSID of the WiFi on the island is the same.

 

But I'm not sure since I have not tried it.

[twangster]

6 minutes ago, Pratique said:

I haven't tried it, but my understanding is that if the watch is already connected to a public WiFi via your phone, then it will remain connected when you are out of Bluetooth range. So if you can connect to the ship's WiFi via your phone while on the ship, then leave your phone behind when you leave the ship, it seems that it should work since the SSID of the WiFi on the island is the same.

 

But I'm not sure since I have not tried it.

 

That works on wifi networks where you just enter a passphrase to join the SSID like most people have at home.

 

In the case of ship and CocoCay WLANs the SSID is open (no security) but requires a captive portal to log into a Voom account.  An Apple watch and an iPhone have different MAC addresses and Voom won't allow a second device with a different MAC address to connect to the internet based on an iPhone already being connected.  In fact Voom won't asscoiate a watch with a particular phone, they are different wifi devices from Voom's persepctive.  The watch can connect to the WiFi but it won't have access to the internet and the lack of internet access renders the connection useless.

 

The work around posted above by spoofing a MAC address on another device is an interesting work around that appears like it should work.

[Pratique]

5 hours ago, twangster said:

In the case of ship and CocoCay WLANs the SSID is open (no security) but requires a captive portal to log into a Voom account.

Yeah that's an important distinction that hadn't occurred to me. In any event, other than for fitness tracking I have found the watch pretty useless without the phone being tethered.

[derorim]

6 hours ago, garywatson said:

 

Changing the MAC address of a Mac running macOS is pretty straightforward, and all you need for this is the Terminal. Follow the steps below to learn how.

1. Open Terminal.
2. Enter the following command to know the MAC addresses currently assigned to your current network interfaces: ifconfig. Make sure to note the original MAC address down somewhere. en0 represents Ethernet, whereas en1 denotes wireless network (Wi-Fi).
3. If you’ve already got a MAC address in mind to assign to your Mac, skip to the next step. However, if you don’t, use type the following command into the Terminal to generate one: openssl rand -hex 6 | sed ‘s/\(..\)/\1:/g; s/.$//’.
4. Disconnect the network connection for which you want to change the MAC address.
5. In the Terminal, enter sudo ifconfig en0 ether 21-A5-CE-DC-C2-33. Subsequently, enter your password and hit return. Replace the MAC address with the one you want to assign to your Mac. Similarly, replace en0 with en1 if you wish to change the MAC address for your Wi-Fi network.

Once that’s done, turn on your Mac’s Wi-Fi and type ifconfig to verify if the MAC address is changed successfully. Do note that the MAC address defaults back to the original MAC address upon every boot. As such, if you need to change your MAC address every time you use it, you can create a script that does it for you each time the system boots up.

Wow.  Wouldn’t it be easier to just take your phone with you?

[Daghis]

On 4/14/2023 at 1:51 PM, garywatson said:

 

Changing the MAC address of a Mac running macOS is pretty straightforward, and all you need for this is the Terminal. Follow the steps below to learn how.

Thank you for the info. It didn't work for me, but I was able to find this other page which provides a couple extra steps that may be required when doing this on the Wi-Fi adapter.

[garywatson]

4 minutes ago, Daghis said:

Thank you for the info. It didn't work for me, but I was able to find this other page which provides a couple extra steps that may be required when doing this on the Wi-Fi adapter.

 

I'll be on Independence in a bit over a week and will give it a try.