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Can you make a phone call on Apple Watch? Yes, and it seems I’ve been taking increasing phone calls on my Apple Watch. That has happened because it’s always on my wrist. It’s easy to answer a phone call on it while I’m working at home.
But it’s not always a perfect setup, so there are some things to consider before you answer a phone call on your Apple Watch, which I discuss below.
My video review: Is the Apple Watch 9 worth it?
Posture for phone calls on Apple Watch
I’ve previously written about the importance of headsets to be comfortable on phone calls. But taking a call on the watch means that we’re holding our arm at an angle for an extended period of time. That can feel strenuous on that arm.
Sometimes, when I decide to stay on the Apple Watch for a longer phone call, I actually take it off of my wrist and hold it in front of my mouth to continue the phone call.
Ensure privacy
By default, these phone calls will be on a speaker, so it might not be a good idea to take a phone call on your watch while in a public place. After all, everyone will be able to hear what the other person has to say. I don’t see this to be much of a problem at home, but it certainly could be in a public place.
Know when not to answer the call
My biggest tip, perhaps, when it comes to answering phone calls on the Apple Watch, comes back to knowing when not to answer them. For example, the topic likely shouldn’t be discussed in front of other people and other people are around you. To answer a call, though, you simply click the green button on the watch interface, and now the person calling is on speaker.
Sometimes, I use my Apple Watch as the device to screen the call. That doesn’t mean I won’t answer it, but I might make my way to my iPhone, which is probably not on my hip at that moment. There are certainly incoming calls at times that I expect to take some time, so the Watch can tell me immediately that it’s that person calling, and I can answer the call on my iPhone.
Making a call on an Apple Watch
The easiest way, in my opinion, to make an outbound phone call on the Apple Watch is to just ask Siri to call a specific number or a specific person who’s already in your contacts.
Even when there are multiple people with similar names, she will just ask you which one and you can click on the right name.
Handing the phone call off to another device
Sometimes, you want to hand the phone call off from the watch to your iPhone while you’re already on the call. That’s possible too.
As is often the case, the trick is to click on the three little dots. Once you do that, you get to this screen:
From that second screen, you can hand the audio over to your AirPods, so that’s convenient to know if you’re on a longer phone call, which can be difficult to do on an Apple Watch.
Clicking on Keypad, you can also click on numbers like 1 or 2 when required on phone calls.
Can you answer calls on Apple Watch without phone?
Yes, but you have to have a watch that has GPS and Cellular. And then you need to connect to a carrier and plan – just like an iPhone basically.
So, at the end of the day, the Apple Watch enables us to communicate differently. Sometimes it works well, and sometimes, I might not recommend it as much. But again, it’s another tool in our toolbelt of communication tools.