Apple Watches and ship wifi

[Wookie01]

Hi all,

We are sailing on Celebrity Edge in December and our package includes premium wifi for one device.

Does anybody know how Apple Watches perform in this environment?
Does the ship see the watch as a second device?

My iPhone will probably be on airplane mode to avoid accidental network usage, will that create any problems?

thanks for any assistance, Graham 🙂

[Charles4515]

Your Apple Watch won’t be counted as a second device on the WiFi. It does not log in. Only the phone logs in. Also if you have a cellular version it does not roam. You don’t have to worry about the watch. You should have your phone in Airplane mode but with WiFi on to use the premium WiFi. Airplane mode will prevent you from connecting to cellular at sea onboard. You don’t want that but you want WiFi. So airplane mode with WiFi on. 
 

Edited October 23, 2023 by Charles4515

[CruisinShips]

Apple watches are connected to your iphone via Bluetooth.  So if your phone is connected via wifi, your watch just piggybacks off that, and thus won't be counted as a device.  Just make sure you have Bluetooth enabled on your phone.  Caveat...this assumes your watch isn't one that's connects via cellular.

[peterde]

The easiest way to handle this is to go into your Apple Watch settings app on your iPhone and go into <General> <Airplane Mode> and make sure that <Mirror IPhone> is checked. This will ensure you watch does what you phone is set to so there is no worries about accidentally connecting to the expensive ship’s cellular. 

[broadwaybaby123]

I actually volunteer for Google. Does your iPhone connect via BT or is it LTE? If it's LTE, it's generally considered a separate device. 

 

That said, I was told by Guest Services to disable any VPNs (since Starlink can't bypass their security) and put my phone in Airplane Mode.

Edited October 23, 2023 by broadwaybaby123

[Charles4515]

9 minutes ago, broadwaybaby123 said:

I actually volunteer for Google. Does your iPhone connect via BT or is it LTE? If it's LTE, it's generally considered a separate device. 

 

That said, I was told by Guest Services to disable any VPNs (since Starlink can't bypass their security) and put my phone in Airplane Mode.

As a volunteer for Google do you usually give advice when you don’t know the answer? Why would anyone volunteer for a trillion dollar company? 
 

Why are you bringing up VPNs? Do you know why people use a VPN? 

[CruisinShips]

I just googled starlink and VPN, and it said VPNs DO work with Starlink....

[broadwaybaby123]

1 hour ago, Charles4515 said:

As a volunteer for Google do you usually give advice when you don’t know the answer? Why would anyone volunteer for a trillion dollar company? 
 

Why are you bringing up VPNs? Do you know why people use a VPN? 

I do know the answer and I do know why people use VPNs. I'm just reporting what Guest Services told me about using VPNs since I used Starlink recently and had no idea that it wouldn't work with a VPN enabled.

Edited October 23, 2023 by broadwaybaby123

[Charles4515]

5 minutes ago, broadwaybaby123 said:

Actually I do know the answer as I know several folks who have Apple products as well and volunteer for both.

 

And yes, I do know why people use VPNs.

You don’t know the answer. What you posted was confusion. You also posted misinformation. Being a volunteer does not mean you know what you are talking about but it seems like you posted that you are a volunteer to claim some kind of authority. Also knowing folks who have Apple products does not mean you know the answer. Many of us who use Apple products often have to ask questions and learn new things as software and hardware changes. Watch OS 10.0 released a few weeks ago brought many changes. 

[Jeremiah1212]

Not sure why people feel the need to try to complicate this so much. 

 

If your phone is on ship WiFi and your watch is nearby it will work fine. You cannot connect your watch directly to ship WiFi and use it without your phone nearby. Since the point is to avoid network usage, you can just verify your watch is also in airplane mode if you have a cellular model. Otherwise it doesn't matter. 

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, CruisinShips said:

I just googled starlink and VPN, and it said VPNs DO work with Starlink....

 

I have used VPN with Starlink on at least 5 ships so far and no problem at all. 

[DaKahuna]

4 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

I have used VPN with Starlink on at least 5 ships so far and no problem at all. 

 

Same here.  I think what they were trying to say is the VPN needs to be disabled BEFORE you connect to the ship's WiFi but can be reconnected once you have established the connection to the ship's WiFi. 

 

p.s. I use Private Internet Access for my VPN service. 

[Jim_Iain]

2 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 

Same here.  I think what they were trying to say is the VPN needs to be disabled BEFORE you connect to the ship's WiFi but can be reconnected once you have established the connection to the ship's WiFi. 

 

p.s. I use Private Internet Access for my VPN service. 

 

John you are so right.   

 

I must be getting old as on my last cruise I just couldn't get my router to logon on, after and hour the light bulb went off as it was set to auto connect by default.

[Traveling Fools]

3 hours ago, broadwaybaby123 said:

I actually volunteer for Google.

 

I bet you stayed at a Holiday Inn Express too!🤣

[broadwaybaby123]

4 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

You don’t know the answer. What you posted was confusion. You also posted misinformation. Being a volunteer does not mean you know what you are talking about but it seems like you posted that you are a volunteer to claim some kind of authority. Also knowing folks who have Apple products does not mean you know the answer. Many of us who use Apple products often have to ask questions and learn new things as software and hardware changes. Watch OS 10.0 released a few weeks ago brought many changes. 

Actually I do know and I didn't post misinformation.

[Cruise till you drop]

Interesting tidbit about your AppleWatch on a ship.  On the last few cruises, I would walk laps on the track and it counted the steps accurately but it was using the ship movement to count the distance.  I was doing 2.5 minute miles and walking about 20 miles in about an hour.

[mahdnc]

As long as my new Snoopy watch face works onboard, I am happy.

 

Edited October 23, 2023 by mahdnc

[Charles4515]

8 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

As long as my new Snoopy watch face works onboard, I am happy.

 

I love that watch face!

[mahdnc]

Just now, Charles4515 said:

I love that watch face!

 

As you probably know, when you raise your wrist to look at the watch, there is a ~7 second digital Snoopy cartoon that plays (many with Woodstock in it).  There are so many different ones, I have rarely seen a repeat.  I try not to chuckle out loud at the office.....

[chrisn-au]

10 hours ago, Wookie01 said:

Does anybody know how Apple Watches perform in this environment?

It is actually a great question as the watch can absolutely access wifi independently of the phone. I was on the apex a few weeks ago, however I effectively always had my phone with me. A little googling suggests that captive portals are not supported so I assume the answer is no

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

 

i would be been to see your experience - I also suggest a quick visit to the ilounge  

[jwlane]

2 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:

it was using the ship movement to count the distance.

Why would it do otherwise?

[awhfy]

7 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

John you are so right.   

 

I must be getting old as on my last cruise I just couldn't get my router to logon on, after and hour the light bulb went off as it was set to auto connect by default.

We’ve all done it once Jim!

[DaKahuna]

14 minutes ago, awhfy said:

We’ve all done it once Jim!

 I wish it was only once.  I have lost track of the times I have been wrong.

 

[Cruise till you drop]

2 hours ago, jwlane said:

Why would it do otherwise?

Maybe I wasn’t clear.  When I walk on land, it takes me about 2100 steps to do a mile and I do it in 18-20 minutes.  But since the ship is moving when I walk on their track, if the ship sales 15 knots per hour, it usually gives me credit for about 20 Miles in an hour of walking instead of how far I’m actually walking which is between 3-4 miles

[paulh84]

3 hours ago, chrisn-au said:

It is actually a great question as the watch can absolutely access wifi independently of the phone. I was on the apex a few weeks ago, however I effectively always had my phone with me. A little googling suggests that captive portals are not supported so I assume the answer is no

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

 

i would be been to see your experience - I also suggest a quick visit to the ilounge  

 
The Lounge won’t help. It’s not possible. You can sometimes text yourself the URL to the login portal but that trick hasn’t worked for me anywhere in a few years. It’s never worked for me on a ship. Occasionally I will get a stray notification on my watch without my phone.