Can ST notify me if I leave home without my Apple Watch?

I usually put my Apple Watch on the charger in the morning as I get ready, and sometimes I forget to put it back on my wrist before I leave for work. Is there some way I could use SmartThings location to notify me if my phone leaves and is not connected to my Apple Watch? I think I need to somehow setup my watch as a separate user from my phone, but not sure if that’s possible.

I’m aware there are apps that will notify me on my watch whenever it disconnects from the phone. But, I’m looking for something that does the opposite and haven’t found anything.

I’ve been trying to figure out how to turn my new Apple Watch Series 3 into a presence device (mostly so I can leave my phone at home and still have SmartThings switch to away/home as I leave/return). If we can figure that out, it’d be a simple webCoRE piston to get your alert.

Anyone have any ideas? The SmartThings app for the watch isn’t up for the task yet, but I thought about Life360 or Skylark or maybe a Workflow app linked to IFTTT (and then to a virtual presence DTH). Just found out @ady624 has a webCoRE app that has a presence option. I’m going to start playing with that, maybe a watch app is something that could be added in the future.

I did some web searches and couldn’t find anything about it. I’m not sure your plan would work with a non-cellular Apple Watch, I know my plan wouldn’t, so we’re only a week into having the watch that would do it.

Thoughts anyone?

Could possibly add a watch app - it just is too early to say - the API has not been out for too long, my v1 watch(es) currently suffer from popped up screen(s). Maybe I’ll go buy the v3 :wink: time for a new watch :wink:

YUP! I love my v1, but I’m stoked about the v3 (wife has hers, I don’t have mine yet).

I honestly don’t want to set my watch up as another presence sensor for the exact reason of if I don’t want to wear it or forget it at home my stuff wouldn’t switch over to away like it should. I’m wondering how the apps function with the LTE version of the watch. I’ll find out in a week or so when I finally go get one. Time to upgrade from the original Apple Watch.

I could implement logic where both the watch and the phone share the same device but know which one is on the move and stick to that :wink:

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@ady624, @fightingmajor , @JMZ
Any progress on this old thread from you VERY smart people. I am pondering getting my wife an Apple Watch 3 for Christmas.

I can’t find any life360 abilities, or a way to notify her if she forgets either phone or watch at home. She currently forgets her phone frequently, hence thoughts of watch.

I could possibly compare her presence fob against the phone and ping her, but if phones at home does no good. So I was thinking watch would allow her to at least get message. I’d have to spring for the cost of LTE version and it’s connection fees vice a WiFi version.

Thoughts?

I have not found a way to do it yet.

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So far, the Apple Watch doesn’t have a distinct identity from your phone for most purposes, so you can’t easily track it that way.

( there used to be a third-party app, lookout, that would notify you if your phone and your watch were too far apart – – but it doesn’t work with iOS 11! :disappointed_relieved:)

There are some other things you can do if you really want to, but they would all involve additional devices.

For example, you could put the watch and its charger on a smart scale and get a reminder when you leave the house if the weight on the scale is still high enough to indicate that the watch is there. (You can do the same thing with a tiny pressure Mat if you find one that has the right sensitivity.)

Here’s something similar one community member was working on to remind him to hang up his keys:

If you have the charger inside a nightstand drawer you could put a contact sensor on it and be reminded if the drawer was still open when you left the house. (Assuming you leave it ajar at night.)

You could put the watch and charger next to a motion sensor in a box that you have to reach over to remove the watch and get a reminder if that hadn’t happened.

Of course all of these assume that you will remember to take your phone with you, because that’s the only way you’re going to get the notification. :wink:

Otherwise, you would have to combine a sensor on the front door with lights blinking or a spoken notification as you go out.

In other words, at the present time there aren’t any features of the watch itself that you can use. But if you just treat it as a physical object in a certain location of a certain weight, the same way you would do with keys, there are a number of different approaches you could use to remind yourself that you had left it behind.

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@fightingmajor and @JDRoberts, Thanks for the replies,

I could possibly do a comparison of life360 presence (phone) VS key fob (which stays in her purse 100%) if key fob leaves and life360 doesn’t then ping her via text.
If she had a LTE version of the watch then she would get the text. So at least that gets me covered for phone left behind.

That’s assuming she wears the watch all the time. I feel she would be pretty diligent about that since she seems to rarely forget her current fitbit band.

I’m going to ponder on it more.

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@JDRoberts is right. I have the LTE version, and in Life360 and other apps it just shows my iphone location, not my watch location (even when I’m miles away from it). Wish they’d at least let you choose to favor the watch’s location if it is worn (which it can tell obviously) and when it is no longer connected to the phone via bluetooth. At least that’s what I’d do.

If I do find something I’ll be sure to post it.

Thanks for the reply.
I too find it sad that apple didn’t at least design it to notify you if your phone is out of range.

From what I’ve read it gives you a red X or something on the screen. So it knows, why not vibration and such to bring it to your attention. Maybe they felt it would be too annoying if you got frequently alerted as you walked around the house or work?

I think I’m going to try the key fob gone, phone home route. I used to do something like that when she got home and would have her WiFi off from work. Triggered when key fob arrived home but phone not connected to WiFi.

At least she’ll get a text on her watch, not that it would matter since she can supposedly use the watch to read her messages, and take calls away from her phone. At least she’ll know she left it at home and it’s not lost.