You are ready for your morning run, except that you have forgotten to bring your iPhone. Apple enthusiasts still have their Apple Watches at the ready, but can you still listen to your workout music with your Apple Watch and your Airpods?
If you use your Airpods with your Apple Watch, do you need your iPhone?
Is it possible to use Airpods with an Apple Watch without an iPhone?
Even though your iPhone may not be nearby, you can use your Airpods with your Apple Watch. It is necessary to have a Wi-Fi connection to stream music.
In a gym with free Wi-Fi, you may be able to stream music, however on a run in the field, you likely will not be able to do so.
When your Apple Watch is connected to Wi-Fi, it can perform a range of tasks.
The Apple Watch is multi-functional, enabling users to send and receive messages as well as stream music.
Even if you are not able to access your iPhone, you can still accomplish most of these tasks.
You must have access to a wireless or cellular network to do these things.
There is at least the convenience of pairing the Apple Watch with your Airpods or Airpods Pro.
It is sufficient if you have previously paired your AirPods with an iPhone or iPad linked to your iCloud account.
It may seem intimidating, to begin with, but it isn’t – at least, not once you become familiar with using these Apple devices together.
You do not need to apply a great deal of effort in pairing these products together.
You should have no problem obtaining a W1 or H1 chip if your device possesses these features.
What is the procedure for pairing AirPods with the Apple Watch?
When paired automatically, do they have a way to be manually paired?
When using your Airpods with your Apple Watch, what happens if you are too far away from your iPhone?
Can songs be downloaded to the watch itself?
Here are the answers to your questions.
Connecting AirPods to an Apple Watch via an iPhone or iPad
Most of the time, AirPods can be paired with an iPhone or iPad when the devices are located close to each other.
If you are pairing them for the first time, you will have to place them next to one another.
The Apple Watch and Airpods will also need to be paired through a series of steps.
You first need to put your Apple Watch into pairing mode by following the instructions that came with it.
Tap Settings on your Apple Watch and then Bluetooth.
This will cause your Apple Watch to search for nearby Bluetooth accessories.
Select your Airpods and locate them.
Please enter your PIN or passkey if prompted.
How to manually pair your Airpods with your Apple Watch
Is it proving difficult to pair your AirPods with your Apple Watch? There is no guarantee that the two will automatically pair, so you may need to do so manually.
To locate this icon, look for the airplane icon on the face of your watch.
This indicates that Airplane Mode is on.
The Airplane Mode can be turned off by tapping Settings and then selecting Airplane Mode.
You can also unpair your Airpods if your device is fully charged and turned on, and you can see them in the Bluetooth area of your device’s settings, but there is no connection.
Unpair them by tapping Settings, then Bluetooth.
Click the Information (blue I within a circle) button next to your accessory.
Click the Forget Device button.
You may now re-pair your Airpods.
What You Need to Know About Wi-Fi
When you decide to leave your iPhone in the car at the gym, you will need Wi-Fi to stream music.
These streaming services cannot be accessed without it.
Using your iPhone’s cellular connection to access audio streaming is not possible if you are outside of the range of your device.
How to download songs to the Apple Watch
It is possible to download music onto your Apple Watch if you have a certain amount of storage space available.
If you would like to have your Apple Watch locally synced with your playlists and podcasts, you need simply select the Apple Watch app (and you do not have to use iTunes).
Depending on which Apple Watch you own, you will have a different amount of storage space.
This is an outline of the internal storage capacity included with each Apple Watch:
- Apple Watch original series – 8 GB
- Apple Watch Series 1 – 8 GB
- Apple Watch Series 2 – 8 GB
- Apple Watch Series 3 – 8 or 16 GB (GPS + cellular)
- Apple Watch Series 4 – 16 GB
- Apple Watch Series 5 – 32 GB
- Apple Watch Series 6 – 32 GB
- Apple Watch SE – 32 GB
You can sync more songs and podcasts to the newer Apple Watch models thanks to the much larger internal storage.
Closing Thoughts
The capability to use Airpods with an Apple Watch without an iPhone or iPad nearby does exist, but either you need an active Wi-Fi connection or you must already have your audio synced to the watch.
If you have one of the newer Apple Watch models, you may be able to store quite a few songs and podcasts on the watch.
Now you can sync up your favorite playlist and enjoy your trail run or hiking in the woods without having to worry about your iPhone.
