Apple watch with its own dedicated phone number / LTE

[EdouardTabet]

Need to setup 2 apple watchs for my kids.  They are under my family packaged and as per Apple, Rogers doen't offer a standalone plan for apple watch.

Help ?

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[lauraj1]

Looking for exactly the same thing.  Just switched from Bell to Rogers and really frustrated this does not seem to be an option.  I didn't even think to confirm before making the switch as this is non-issue with Bell.

[RogersYasmine]

Greetings @EdouardTabet,

Thanks for joining us in the Rogers community! I'm sure your kids are very excited for their Apple Watches. What a nice treat. 🙂

In order to use the watches on the Rogers network, they would need to be added to an Rogers postpaid wireless account (as an additional line) and linked to an existing iPhone device on the main line to share the data. The cost to add a smartwatch plan is $10/month + taxes. The iPhone must also be on a compatible Rogers Infinite or Share Everything plan. A MyRogers profile is required to assist with the set-up.

Please note, only one Apple Watch can be paired to the primary iPhone line at a time.

Also, feel free to check out our Apple Watch FAQ page found here. I think you'll find it's quite helpful!

Cheers!

RogersYasmine

[lauraj1]

Thank you for the reply but this solution does not work.  I already have an apple watch paired to my iPhone so based on the information you provided above there is no solution to add an apple watch for my child.  Is there any solution to this other than switching to another service provider?

[Muhammadf]

I have checked with Rogers. They don't support family setup.

Bell and Telus have family sharing. I have moved my wife's line to Telus and will try to activate the kids' watches. 

[RyBro]

RogersYasime

This connectivity issue seems like a very big missed opportunity for the Rogers network in general. Please offer some context into why only 1 of the 3 main telecom companies in Canada do not offer this service.

As a parent in the same situation, this goes to show that there is a market for this type of connection so I'm sure this could be a business opportunity for Rogers to capitalize on.

Look into this further and hope Rogers can get their act together on this.

[Amidis]

totally agree with you!  My daughter got an apple watch but we have to return it as Rogers does not support family share and my daughter is still a bit young to buy her an updated phone that supports the watch

[roachy846]

Why does Rogers not allow family setup? What does rogers have against families? 

[Paddyo13]

So its possible to set up a watch for my child with Bell or Telus…not Rogers?

[thussy]

Super frustrating to learn this after speaking to a customer care rep who assured me it would work and sends me an eSIM.  I go to activate it on my iPhone and it says it's not supported.   This has been out for years, yet Rogers refuses to make this available.  Probably our last straw - going to port my wife to Telus and probably follow her shortly.

[PHadgad]

So frustrating. I don't want to switch my whole account to Telus just for this, but am in the same boat. child that needs it but too young to purchase another phone for said child.

@Rogers can you please provide a solution or reason why you don't support this function?

[SJ8]

Why is Rogers telling everyone they can do this?

[slepoide]

I'm now on month 3 of trying to set up a family plan with two watches and an iphone.  And dozens of hours in online chat and on the phone. I am still striking out!

Month 1: Bell - Went to local store.  Nobody knew what they were talking about. After ordering a Samsung watch and plan because of incorrect info, we cancelled both and ordered an Apple watch. A few days later, we were told that our watch had arrived and we could come and pick it up. We went in the next morning and were told our order had been cancelled! The watch was there, they wouldn't let us look at it and wouldn't sell it to us! They couldn't uncancel the order. I stormed out and vowed I would never return again...

Month 2 - While in Montreal, we went to the Apple store and got two Apple watches and an iphone. We got the family plan set up but decided to wait till we got home to get local numbers and set up the cellular part. Bad mistake!  We talked to Virgin Plus and they swore they could do it. Nope. So that was a month of back and forth with them and finally cancellation of account before it started.

Month 3 - Rogers. First call was a breath of fresh air. Talked to a tech person who said it would be no problem. Knew exactly what we wanted, said she could do it and would mail off our sim card the next day and have the two watches activated. Yaaaay. But nope...got the sim card, got the two watch plans, but nope they couldn't do it. Could only connect one watch to the iphone. Nobody other than the first person I talked to knew anything about it. The bottom line is Rogers does not do it even though they say they do.

It has been a week since I talked to the first person at Virgin. Tomorrow I will go to the Telus store. Supposedly they can do it. If not, I'll have to return to the Bell store. At least I know they can do it now, even if they don't.

[thussy]

If you're looking to set up Family Setup for an Apple Watch in Canada, you should know that only Bell and Telus support it right now. Keep in mind though, their business plans won't work for this, and neither will their sub-brands like Koodo and Virgin. If you’re on Rogers, you're out of luck - they don't support Family Setup at all.

Now, let me tell you about my experience setting up my kid's watch. The cool thing is, I managed to do it all without stepping foot in a store. Here's what I did:

My phone was originally on a Rogers plan, but I went online and signed up for a Bell phone plan. I already had an iPhone with an eSIM, which made things easier. About an hour after signing up, I got a confirmation that the plan was ready, along with a QR code for an eSIM. I called Bell and asked them to port my existing Rogers number over. Another hour later, I restarted my phone, scanned the QR code to install the eSIM, and just like that, my phone was on Bell with our old number.

Then came the fun part - setting up the watch. I opened the Apple Watch app on my iPhone and removed my kid's watch, which reset it. When I re-paired the watch to the iPhone, it asked if we wanted to do Family Setup and add data to the Watch. I said yes, and it brought up a Bell screen where I could confirm the extra cost and pick a number for the Watch.

Now we can call our kid whenever we need to, keep track of where they are, and feel much more comfortable letting them walk to their activities on their own. It's been a relief to finally get this working.

[slepoide]

Ok, so I have a Rogers Sim card in my phone at the moment. The crazy part is they gave us two watch esim plans as well and still couldn't get it to work. Anyway, I was going to just cancel one watch plan and go with another carrier. Apparently you can do that.  Now I think its probably better just to cancel Rogers totally and start over with Telus or Bell...online or instore.

[slepoide]

I should add we have the family plan part set up .... it's just the cellular part that wont work

[thussy]

Bell used to do watch-only plans. They don’t anymore. The other carriers don’t have watch only plans.

We had a Watch/iPad data plan at Rogers and they sent us an eSIM for it. But there is no way to set it up independently without going through your iPhone and then it throws the carrier doesn’t support Family Setup error.

[slepoide]

Thanks. Yeah, I'll just start fresh with Telus and then Bell as a last resort! lol