bgoncal
commented
4 days ago Hi, the watch App will first try to use the iPhone as preferred route to runt the action followed byt trying to reach out HA directly via the API in case the iPhone route fails. So you don't need the WIFI enabled on your watch if your iPhone is always nearby.
I just tested streaming one of my cameras to the watch over wifi and over bluetooth and both seems to perform in a similar way.
@bgoncal: The documentation for the capabilities on the Apple Watch companion do not incude any details about what, if any, standalone capabilities the watch app may have. Most important to us: If someone executes a complication on the Apple Watch will it communicate directly with HA, or do all communications have to go via bluetooth through the iPhone?
To clarify: No one in our household has WiFi currently enabled on our Apple Watches, partly to conserve battery and partly because we do not have any 2.4ghz WiFi setup. However, I would like to setup some complications to stream video from a selected camera directly to the watch. I imagine this would be better if directly over WiFi between the Apple Watch and HA. Before I go to the trouble of setting this all up I'd like to know if it will in fact make things work faster/better.
Related: What capabilities are available via the watch when the paired iPhone isn't turned on?