apple watch does not notify left behind when iphone is left behind

Mine is set to tell me and everything is set up correctly but it won’t notify me when I leave my phone behind. I wish there was a fix for this.

Hello - understood and I'm glad yours is working properly. What I ran into with Apple Support is that they escalated the incident to engineering who told them to tell me that "Notify When Left Behind is not a feature available to the Apple Watch - so the fact that mine isn't working is as expected". Mine worked for months and then stopped working awhile back. My wife's phone/watch work in this manner as well as a few of my colleagues who I've spoken to (who have Apple Watches).

I did report it as a bug via the feedback link above, but I guess I'm just disappointed that Apple is just gaslighting me on this: "nope, not a feature, that never worked, don't know what you're talking about"...

Thanks for your note!

Same problem with me, mine is iPhone 14 Pro with watch ultra. I have checked every setting but this feature doesn’t work.

Hello - I posted a similar question in the community, but wanted to give my experience with tech support today. Anyway, when I originally got my Apple Watch Ultra, I configured the "left behind" for my phone to notify me on my watch and it worked fine for a few months. Now my phone doesn't allow me to designate my Apple Watch as the notification recipient (it says "iPhone will be notified" - which seems silly). I reached out to tech support and was told "no, that's not a feature, it's not supported, never existed". I shared a print-screen from my wife's watch/phone that shows the Watch as being the notification recipient and confirmed her setup works fine (just not with an Ultra). I even offered to share in a video session how her watch will buzz/notify when separated via the call, but since engineering insisted this never worked, showing them proof would just be inconvenient.

This is a bug, I don't think Apple engineering wanted to be bothered engaging so they just said "nope, not supported". My cheap Garmin fitbit let's me know when I walk away from my phone (BT gets disconnected) - surely Apple can get their $$$ watches to do the same.

banem wrote:

It is supported, and it is working , but not so good. Notification comes late, and too far away from the location of the phone. Also,when I did got it when I was out with my GPS series 9 connected to a wi-fi via mobile router , not sure if that is only way that it is working for GPS only models.

My GPS Only Apple Watch triggers at about 1/4 mile (0.4KM) away. My Wife's cellular model triggers at about the same distance.

Apple does not read this user-to-user technical support forum for feedback.

But you can send Apple feedback via:

Feedback - Watch - Apple

If enough users send feedback, it is more likely a decision maker will see it, and maybe take action.

Bugs or unexpected behavior can be reported at https://apple.com/feedback and both you and the author are welcome to do so.

I left my phone in my car and walked into a store last week and I was told on my watch that I had left the phone behind. It waited til I was well away from bluetooth distance.

I didn't even know about this until my watch told me I left my phone behind when I was about a mile away. WOW, that's cool! but it hasn't done it since????

It will notify you when the iPhone becomes disconnected from the Watch if the notify is turned on.

However, are you testing this at home? It will not function there. Check the exceptions in the settings when you tap on the "Notify when left behind - on" button.

I kept beating on it and got it fixed. When I went into the "Find My" settings under my Apple ID, the text under "My Location" displayed some weird device. I changed it to be "This Device and cellular Apple Watches". Now when I go back to my "Notify When Left Behind", it now says "Enabled for your Apple Watch".

I don't know if that setting is wrong for the other folks who aren't able to use this feature, but hopefully those steps will help a few?

It is supported, and it is working , but not so good. Notification comes late, and too far away from the location of the phone. Also,when I did got it when I was out with my GPS series 9 connected to a wi-fi via mobile router , not sure if that is only way that it is working for GPS only models.

You said "....says I am disconnected from my phone...."

The description says that you will "Receive a notification each time you separate from this device"

If it displays those words in addition to the little red phone icon then it has fulfilled its promise.

If you only get the little red phone icon then it has failed to do so.

That means...Apple Watch basic diagnostics - Apple Community

OK I will also test this myself as I have never actually left mine behind.

I found on phone under find my location,,,, "except home". I deleted the location and I shall see if it works. When it worked, I was out of town, when it didn't work twice, the phone was left home both times.

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