Allow Apple Watch to pair with iPad without iPhone

Let’s get a new critical iPad feature. As of right now an Apple Watch cannot genuinely pair with an iPad in any way. The closest you can get without directly pairing with the phone is the family setup, which lacks many useful features. This would be very useful for many very helpful for many primarily iPad users such as students. An Apple Watch feels incomplete without being normally paired. This would allow many people to have a normal Apple Watch without having to go out and buy a new phone. Let’s make sure that Apple integrates this in one of the next major updates, by making sure it is known as one a very wanted feature.


To make sure this is known open this link or go to the Apple feedback page to let them know why so would be helpful for Apple to integrate this.

Feedback - iPad - Apple

Feedback - Watch - Apple


Some Important reasons to want this much needed feature are:

Complete use of Apple Watch/iPad without needing to buy an iPhone.

Family Setup is much more complete for families that do not want to buy their kid a phone.

An argument you can use is that many iPad primary users will buy Apple Watches, and Apple Watch Family Setup users are more likely to buy an iPad than an iPhone, which in turn makes Apple more money, and fulfills much of the Apple environment.



Posted on Nov 26, 2025 8:47 AM

Reply
4 replies

Nov 26, 2025 2:01 PM in response to David M Brewer

Yeah iPads don’t generally have the phone numbers or cellular plans. With the family setup though, the Watch can have it’s own phone number. So maybe it has to be a Cellular and gps model to work, but they could still integrate the feature. One of my friends has a family setup Apple Watch and an iPad on the same Apple account. If you text or call the phone number for his Watch then it also sends that to his iPad. They could clearly use this to work around it. Though I see what you’re saying. It would probably have to be only models that support a cellular plan on the Watch.

Nov 26, 2025 4:32 PM in response to AppleCommunityAccount

You still need an iPhone under the family plan.


Google:

No, a standard cellular Apple Watch does not have its own phone number for everyday use; it shares your iPhone's number. Your watch acts as an extension of your phone, and calls and texts to your iPhone's number will also appear on your watch, even when your iPhone isn't nearby. However, carriers often assign a unique number to the watch for billing and tracking purposes. 

There is one exception: an Apple Watch can have its own separate number if it's set up for a child using Apple Watch Family Setup, as this allows the watch to operate independently of a paired iPhone. 

Allow Apple Watch to pair with iPad without iPhone

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.