Phone notifications over WiFi?

My wife just purchased a Fenix 5S (Firmware v8) and is so far enjoying it. One of the primary reasons she got it is that her job has her often in places she is not allowed to bring a phone but is able to bring a watch. She had hoped that she would be able to receive notifications (primarily text messages) over WiFi, as there is a uniform network across her entire workplace.

We’ve tried a number of things, and while we can get her watch to display notifications when it’s attached to her phone (iPhone X, IOS 11.3) via Bluetooth, we’ve not had luck using WiFi only.

Are we missing something? Did we misunderstand the functionality of WiFi connectivity between the watch and the phone?

thanks!

0 tiefflieger666 over 6 years ago

Yes - you miss understanding the WiFi connectivity.

First - not all Fenix 5 have a WiFi (only the Sapphire models has it) and second and the most important: the communication between phone and watch is only through Bluetooth.
In other words - you need a “working” phone (on, within mobile or WiFi coverage) in the near of the watch to be able to receive notifications to the watch. Without phone - no notifications.

0 TrippyZ over 6 years ago

WiFi, if this model has it, is only for communication between the watch and Garmin Connect website for the purposes of synchronisation of activities and information. Notifications exist only on your phone and are delivered to the watch solely via bluetooth.

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

As others have said, this does not work with Garmin watches. Notifications will only work via Bluetooth. It's possible, Google's WearOS has it and I wouldn't be surprised if Apple had somethings similar, so in theory Garmin could implement it. You might contact them and try requesting it. But I wouldn't hold my breath for Garmin adding it. For one, this would probably have significant impact on battery life: any time your watch lost Bluetooth connection, it would start looking for WiFi and generally WiFi would have to be on the whole time.

If this is primary reason she got the watch, you might want to look elsewhere. But you will find that it's always a trade off - the watches that have this will not be as good a sports trackers and will last a whopping day on one charge, if you're lucky.