Thanks for all that but - at least for me - the app and it's notifications are more annoying than useful. Just walking around my house trigger the notifications. I can see it as a very useful app - and do think that Apple should have employed something similar in their own OS - but in all the years I have had iPhone I have only "lost" one (on the roof of my car). I also tended in my car to leave the phone behind because of the cute little shelf that Lexus made (which unfortunately is the same black color as the case I use LOL) but now that my new Lexus has CarPlay (which needs to be connected via USB) I don't use that shelf anymore.
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App that alerts when Watch disconnects from iPhone?
- Thread starter JoeTomasone
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Of course. This app isn’t for everyone. Just those that want to be alerted if the phone is left behind (or walking away from them)... Must be some house, if you’re constantly getting notified that you left your phone behind in it lol.
Phone Buddy saved me today, as I walked out of the office to go home without my phone. I got an alert as I was opening the door to my truck and immediately retrieved the phone. Saved me from a possible return trip to the office in rush hour traffic. That was worth $6.99 by itself.
Just upgraded to AW5 SS. Tried a few of these apps. Phone Buddy is good (with IAP), but I think I prefer watchOUT. I find it works very well (its had a recent update, so maybe its solved the issues Itinj24 experienced).
Plus
- Reacts quickly to leaving phone behind.
- In Watch message about moving away from iPhone there is the option to ring the phone with the phones ring tone (my tone is easier to hear than the standard AW phone ping)-
- Big plus for me, alert on iPhone when moving away from watch! I often took my old watch off when doing manual tasks then left it behind!
Negative -
- For me it alerts a bit too soon. I think to make the app perfect the devolper should give you a few sensitivity options, so you can chose roughly how far from the iphone you want to be before the watch alerts you (though sooner is probably better than later). Edit - you can set sensitivity/range on the app on the watch. How did I miss that!
- Cant set it not to alert on low BT signal when both connected to chosen WiFi.
Plus
- Reacts quickly to leaving phone behind.
- In Watch message about moving away from iPhone there is the option to ring the phone with the phones ring tone (my tone is easier to hear than the standard AW phone ping)-
- Big plus for me, alert on iPhone when moving away from watch! I often took my old watch off when doing manual tasks then left it behind!
Negative -
- Cant set it not to alert on low BT signal when both connected to chosen WiFi.
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Interesting. I’m a huge advocate of Phone Buddy and will be leaving it installed but I’ll check out WatchOut again as a backup with this new update. My favorite Phone Buddy feature is the map that comes up with your phone’s location should you leave it behind.
I tried watchOUT and it works very well both when phone or watch is left behind.
That would be a nice option to not notify when both are on the same WIFI but having the BT alarm will help tremendously. Thanks!
Phone Buddy got a big update recently. Tried it (with IAP), works well, would like the feature to ring the phone with the ring tone from the watch (I use the alarm tone as its easy to hear) as it louder than the stock ping phone from watch.
Also I would like the ability to silence the alarm as it rings for a chosen period of time (selectable by digital crown) and to not notify when both are on the same WIFI.
Also I would like the ability to silence the alarm as it rings for a chosen period of time (selectable by digital crown) and to not notify when both are on the same WIFI.
Was battery drain from having the watch disconnected from the phone or from the app? I forgot my phone one day (without any app) and my watch burned through most of its battery (I presume looking for my phone) before I got home from work. I agree, Apple should have included an app like this from the beginning. There are so many apps included that I don't use or want, while this is something I think is useful (at least for me). Thanks for the information.
Just spoke to the Dev. Asked to send any feature requests so don’t be shy to contact them via the app. They are very receptive.
Also, about the not notify when on WiFi, they had this feature in a previous beta build that didn’t work out too well but they assured me that they are still working on it. It’s an issue with WatchOS.
There’s some battery drain but it’s not terrible. With app running, I usually get 18-20 hours. Without is about 20-22.
Thanks for the feedback. I will contact them if I have any other ideas/feature requests.
Good to hear they are good with feedback, some developers are great (like the people behind FileBrowser for iOS), others are dreadful.
Hope they can sort the WiFi issue, that's the only annoyance - getting notifications in the home. Both devices quite safe there.
Going to buy the app on my partners phone (with IAP) as she has forgotten her phone twice recently. (We don’t use family sharing. strongly believe if an app is good and useful that we should make two purchases to support the developer - though in the same way we push for a refund if an app isn’t as described).
Good thing about getting alerts at home while on WiFi is at least you’ll know if you left your phone or watch behind when you leave home. Would def be better though if you get that notification when you lose the WiFi connection instead because Bluetooth connection would definitely be broken by then. Hopefully the devs can pull this feature off.
So I've had the Phone Buddy app for just under a day and can verify it does indeed work. Some quibbles:
So far, knock wood, I'm noticing no change in battery consumption.
UPDATE: The triggering that I thought was due to auto-switch has not recurred. Shrug. Battery life continues to be excellent.
- I have two Watches, an antique Series 0 I wear at night for sleep tracking and alarms, and my new Series 5 that is my new daily driver. I have auto-switch turned on, so my iPhone automatically engages with whatever Watch I'm wearing as soon as I enter its passcode to unlock it. Cool. But, the switching seems to trigger the phone-lost/phone-found process... or at least it did for the one diurnal cycle I've had the app so far.
- After returning from a hike a little while ago, I took everything out of my pockets (including my phone) and tossed my clothes in the washer. Then, in my skivvies, I went upstairs to get fresh shorts and T-shirt. I left my phone behind, and sure enough: my watch soon alerted me that my phone was "lost". Good. So I punched the "ignore until found" button... But the Watch must have alerted me of the lost phone an additional two dozen times in the five minutes I was upstairs. I'm thinking the Bluetooth signal may have been right at the breaking point so the app kept bopping in and out of lost and found modes. If so, not quite a bug, but worth the developer's thought.
So far, knock wood, I'm noticing no change in battery consumption.
UPDATE: The triggering that I thought was due to auto-switch has not recurred. Shrug. Battery life continues to be excellent.
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I was sitting in front of my iMac earlier today, with my watch on and iPhone SE on the desk next to the iMac, and the Phone Buddy alert for lost iPhone went off and 2 seconds later, I would get another alert saying the iPhone was found. It appeared to be stuck in that loop (repeating over and over) and I had to shut the app down etc.
Edited to add: Phone Buddy (at this early stage of testing the new update) appears to be working better than the previous release. However, I have noticed much more battery usage with the Apple Watch complication in active mode, and background app refresh turned on with the app. I will monitor usage tomorrow while at work.
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I have an S4 that I use for workouts and sleep and an S5 I use as my daily driver and haven’t seen the switching issue.
As for the the other thing, I get that too and I’m pretty sure it’s because I’m at the border of the Bluetooth connection distance. I confirm this by checking my connection in the control center. Every time I get a lost notification, I was on WiFi and when it was found I was on Bluetooth and it would keep doing this because of the type of connection between phone and watch. I did a lot of beta testing with this app using line of sight and obstructions. It was very consistent in sticking with the alert when there is no doubt Bluetooth was disconnected and reconnected.
I tried (latest version of) Phone Buddy today. It worked like it should but, it was a major drain on my s5 battery. I don’t know how some here can say they haven’t noticed a battery drain, when Phone Buddy requires Location Services to be running all the time. I also had background app refresh turned on for the app?
The app notes state an estimated all day loss of 5-10%, which isn’t even close to what I saw today. I lost 12% battery in less than 3 hrs and it was down 25% by 10am.
Since the app is based on BT connection, the developer should allow the user to keep location services off if wanted, and rely on real time distance alerts. Granted, no map ability with location services off would be available. However, me still has the ability to PING either to assist in location.
I like the app but, I can’t abide with such heavy battery drain. If i am doing something wrong, let me know.
The app notes state an estimated all day loss of 5-10%, which isn’t even close to what I saw today. I lost 12% battery in less than 3 hrs and it was down 25% by 10am.
Since the app is based on BT connection, the developer should allow the user to keep location services off if wanted, and rely on real time distance alerts. Granted, no map ability with location services off would be available. However, me still has the ability to PING either to assist in location.
I like the app but, I can’t abide with such heavy battery drain. If i am doing something wrong, let me know.
I had bad battery drain from this app in older versions. Now I’m getting no less than 18 hours (some days 20 or even the occasional 22) on the watch which I’m ok with since that was Apple’s advertised battery life To begin with. I have everything on my S5 enabled (AOD, Noise, Raise to wake, background refresh, etc). Try a reboot maybe? I guess it also depends on individual usage.
I get excellent battery usage without Phone Buddy. Once I install it, it starts draining my battery with location services constantly running. Like you, I have everything turned on except BAR for every single app.
I tried rebooting twice today and my battery drain continued.
I took my watch off the charger at 5am and I’m at 72% now, 7 hours later. 4%/ hour with PhoneBuddy (and all other S5 features) running. This is actually the best I’ve seen yet. I’m on pace for a 25 hour battery time. Granted this isn’t a daily thing but I wonder what’s causing the huge delta in battery life. I didn’t use my watch any different today.