How to fix cellular and cellular data not working on Apple Watch

In this troubleshooting guide, we’ll walk you through all the possible solutions to follow if cellular phone calls, texts, and cellular data (4G, LTE, 5G) are not working on your Apple Watch and you can’t stay connected with friends and family when away from your iPhone or a known Wi-Fi network.

Aside from the apparent lack of cellular connectivity, you may see some error messages such as ‘No Connection‘ or ‘Plan Not Available.’ These problems typically occur due to system glitches, bugs in watchOS, insufficient cellular coverage, a lack of data allowance in your mobile data plan, or a change to your existing plan. The following solutions should address these issues.

Make sure you’ve a cellular model

This tip is for people who are new to the Apple Watch.

The Apple Watch comes in two versions: GPS-only and GPS + Cellular.

You can use cellular connection to stream music, make calls, text, and do other internet-dependent tasks on your Apple Watch only if you’ve the GPS + Cellular model and have set up a cellular plan on it. If you’ve a GPS-only Apple Watch, you can do all these things only when your watch is connected to your iPhone (within Bluetooth range) or in an area with a known Wi-Fi network.

To check, look at the bottom side of your Apple Watch (shine your iPhone’s flashlight to see the tiny text) and look for ‘LTE‘ or ‘Cellular‘ written there. You can also open the Settings app on your watch, and if you see a “Cellular” option, that means your Apple Watch supports this.

Note that the latest Apple Watch Series 11, Ultra 3, and SE 3 support 5G, while previous models supported 4G/LTE.

Turn on cellular data on Apple Watch

This is again a fundamental tip, but do a quick check before proceeding further.

1. Go to watchOS Control Center by pressing the Side button, tap the cellular icon, and make sure Cellular is enabled. This ensures you can get phone calls and SMS texts on your watch when away from your iPhone.
2. Then, tap Cellular Data Options and check that Cellular Data and Data Roaming are enabled. This will allow your watch to connect to the Internet using mobile data.

Apple Watch will use cellular data only in these conditions

Cellular connectivity consumes more battery, and thus your Apple Watch uses it only when it’s disconnected from your iPhone or not in an area with a previously connected Wi-Fi network.

When cellular connectivity is enabled on your Apple Watch but not in use, its icon will appear in white color in watchOS Control Center. And when the cellular connection is in use, the icon appears green.

If you want to force your Apple Watch to use cellular data while being near your iPhone, go to watchOS Settings > Bluetooth and turn it off. Then, turn off Wi-Fi as well. Now, your watch will use cellular data.

Check if cellular data is working on your iPhone

Cellular data on Apple Watch is an extension of the cellular connection (and in many cases, the cellular plan) on your iPhone. Open Safari, YouTube, Netflix, or another app on your iPhone and check if cellular data is working. If it does, that means cellular should theoretically work on your watch as well, but some glitches are preventing it. Follow the remaining solutions to address this.

Enable cellular data for a specific app

If 4G or 5G cellular data doesn’t work with a particular Apple Watch app, but works with everything else, go to Settings > Cellular and make sure the switch next to that app is enabled. This is similar to managing cellular data for specific iPhone apps.

Turn Airplane mode on and off

1. Open watchOS Control Center, tap the Airplane icon, and wait for 10 seconds.
2. Tap the Airplane icon again to restore wireless 4G or 5G connectivity.

Restart your Apple Watch

Cellular data troubles on your watch may be due to temporary issues. Simply turn your Apple Watch off and back on to fix this.

Check for remaining data allowance

Just like the iPhone, cellular data on Apple Watch will stop working if you don’t have any remaining data allowance for the day, month, or whatever your billing cycle is. Consider buying a data booster pack to resume services.

Have you paid your bill or recharged your prepaid plan

There is also a slight possibility that you forgot to pay your cellular bill or that your prepaid plan expired. Check your carrier app and make the payment if needed.

Note: Do you use more than one cellular Apple Watch? Check with your carrier if they allow setting up multiple watches with a single plan.

Update carrier settings

In case cellular data has stopped working on your Apple Watch after a new watchOS update, go to iPhone Settings > General > About and allow any new carrier updates you get an alert for. These alerts can also appear on your iPhone Home Screen or elsewhere; remember to install the latest update.

Update your Apple Watch

If 4G, LTE, or 5G is unable to work properly because of bugs in the operating system, then updating your Apple Watch to the latest version of watchOS 26 will address the issue.

Erase your Apple Watch and set it up again

If the solutions above haven’t fixed the issue, unpair your Apple Watch using the Watch app on your iPhone, and choose to keep the cellular plan. After the watch is erased and unpaired, set it up again, and retry using cellular data by sending an iMessage, using Siri, or downloading an app from the watchOS App Store. It should work flawlessly.

Remove and re-add the cellular plan on Apple Watch

If even erasing and resetting the watch didn’t help, remove the cellular plan from your Apple Watch, erase it again, and then set up your watch and the cellular plan. Remember to do this only if cellular data is working on your iPhone, but just not on your watch.

1. Make sure Bluetooth is enabled on both your Apple Watch and your iPhone.
2. Open the Watch app on your iPhone and tap Cellular from the My Watch tab. Then, tap the info button ⓘ next to your cellular plan, followed by Remove carrier Plan. You can also Remove All Cellular Plans by tapping General > Reset.
3. Unpair the watch from your iPhone.
4. Set up the watch again, along with the cellular plan.

Get help from Apple or your carrier

Lastly, if you still can’t make cellular phone calls, send & receive SMS texts, or use mobile data, the problem could be something serious related to the cellular plan itself or the watch hardware. Contact your carrier (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, etc.) and then Apple Support for help.

Which solution worked for you to fix this problem?

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