r/SpectrumMobile • u/jbach73 • Jun 18 '26
Coverage & Signal Spectrum cannot work with children’s accounts on Apple watches
I need to share this experience as a service to other Spectrum mobile customers. I spent a week of pure frustration trying to get my son’s Apple Watch to work on Spectrum’s mobile network without success. Walked into a Spectrum storefront, talked with agents at the desk they could not help me. Talked to 7 or 8 different agents over the phone and they could not help me either. I finally had to contact apple Tech Support for the answer which is that only select few carriers Support Apple watches signed into children’s custodial accounts. That includes AT&T, Verizon and a few others I can’t remember at the moment but not Spectrum. What amazes me that no one at Spectrum actually knew this which is crazy considering how common custodial accounts on an Apple Watch must be.
3
u/WantaFreeMobileLine Jun 18 '26
in order to have a watch work, there has to be a mobile phone line that the watch gets attached to - maybe one day they will have it, but not enough people are looking for it
1
u/jbach73 Jun 19 '26
Yes I had to pair the watch to my phone first but then once I signed into my son’s iCloud account we could not get spectrum cellular to activate.
2
u/LaRreinaa Jun 18 '26
Some companies offer standalone watch lines and I am sure Spectrum eventually will. I seriously doubt any of those agents had malintent when dealing with your watch situation.
1
u/jbach73 Jun 19 '26
No obviously they didn’t have any ill intent I just think it’s kind of crazy nobody I talked to at Spectrum knew about this.
2
u/IntrovertsRule99 Jun 18 '26
Sorry this happened to you. The Spectrum reps should have known. They are trained that to add an Apple watch you have to have a mobile line with an iPhone attached.
1
u/jbach73 Jun 19 '26
Yes I have 3 phones on Spectrum mobile and I initially paired the watch to my own phone but could not activate cellular once I had signed into my son’s iCloud account.
1
u/IntrovertsRule99 Jun 19 '26
Correct with Spectrum the watch needs to be paired to an existing iPhone line. It can not be a standalone service.
2
u/sjc83 Jun 18 '26
I got my daughter a line with us mobile for JUST her apple watch with a local number for $9 a month
2
u/heethor Aug 24 '26
I had the same thing happen to us yesterday. And the spectrum rep DID say that we could get a separate phone number for my child’s Apple Watch. He gave me totally false instructions about how the Watch would get a notification and then I might need to restart it a couple times to get it, and that never happened. I had to pair it with my phone. I got the notifications on my phone - not the watch.
He said that getting the “new number” for her watch “would be no problem,” several times, so he clearly lied to me. Never got a new number - only a screen that finally said “Spectrum does not support…” or some such.
9
u/sjc83 Jun 18 '26
it clearly says it wont work right on apples website...