Cricket Wireless is one of the American wireless service providers owned by AT&T Inc., the world’s largest telecommunications company. Apple Inc. has developed and marketed several Apple Watch models that support cellular services. If you have an Apple Watch with cellular, you might be wondering if it can work with Cricket Wireless.
So, does Apple Watch work with Cricket Wireless? Apple Watch does not work with Cricket Wireless because it is not among the cellular carriers supported by the device. Cricket Wireless requires another cellular carrier to work, making it impossible for it to work on an Apple Watch.
Apple Watch only supports one number, which is attached to your iPhone. To have support on an Apple Watch, AT&T has to discuss with Apple Inc. to allow Apple Watch to support two IMEI numbers associated with a single phone number.
Some of the best uses of an Apple Watch with cellular are making calls, receiving calls, sending texts, and receiving messages. You might need a cellular plan on your Apple Watch to make calls or send texts.
Apple Watch is one of the best Apple accessories that offers users a great experience. If you have set up Apple Watch cellular, you can even leave your iPhone at home and still be able to answer or make calls. When you are looking for a cellular carrier for your Apple Watch, you might be wondering if it will work with Cricket Wireless.
Apple Watch does not work with Cricket Wireless because it is not among the cellular carriers supported by Apple Watch. Apple Inc. designed Apple Watch to support certain cellular carriers in certain regions.
Even if a country has numerous cellular carriers, not all of them will be supported by Apple Watch. Cricket Wireless is an MVNO carrier, which means it needs a major cellular carrier to work.
If you want to use Cricket Wireless, you need to connect it to a major cellular carrier already using it. This makes it difficult for Apple Inc. to include Cricket Wireless as one of the supported cellular carriers on the Apple Watch.
An MVNO carrier is a wireless service provider that uses the network of any major carrier in a specific region. In the United States, there are four major carriers: Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T.
Cricket Wireless, as an MVNO network, uses the network of AT&T, and the reason AT&T owns Cricket Wireless is to gain more customers that cannot afford the normal AT&T cellular plans. The Apple Watch already has support for AT&T, hence there is no need for Apple Inc. to include Cricket Wireless as one of its supported cellular carriers.
Major carriers also earn a lot from Apple Watch cellular; hence allowing Apple Watch to have MVNO carrier support will significantly reduce their profits.
Before selecting a cellular carrier for your iPhone, you need to check if it can be used for Apple Watch cellular. Apple has created a list of cellular carriers from several countries and regions worldwide that can work with the Apple Watch.
In the United States, several cellular carriers can work with Apple Watch, and Cricket Wireless is missing from that list. Some of the cellular carriers in the United States that can work with your Apple Watch include AT&T, T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless, Bluegrass, and US Cellular, among others.
Even though Apple Watch cannot work with Cricket Wireless, it has support for some MVNO carriers. MVNO carriers are perfect if you want to save money because they have some of the cheapest cellular carrier plans.
If you want to use your Apple Watch to make calls or send text messages, but you want to do so without spending a lot of money, you should try using Xfinity Mobile and Spectrum. Xfinity Mobile is an MVNO carrier owned by Comcast and uses Verizon’s network, while Spectrum is owned by Charter Communications and uses Verizon’s network.
Using an MVNO carrier on your Apple Watch is great if you want to save money; however, there are several downsides to using an MVNO. One disadvantage of using an MVNO carrier is when the parent network is down, the MVNO carrier cannot do anything until the parent carrier fixes the network.
The reason MVNO carriers are cheap is the lower data priority. Most MVNOs have a lower data priority, hence if many people use them at once, you might experience difficulty making calls or receiving calls because of heavy network traffic.
Most MVNOs do not have customer support, hence if you have an issue with your Apple Watch cellular service not working, you might not have anyone to talk to help solve the problem.
Does Cricket Support Apple Watch SE?
The Apple Watch SE is one of the models developed and marketed by Apple Inc. under their Apple Watch line. Apple Inc. announced the release of the Apple Watch SE on September 15, 2020, and the watches were made available to the public on September 18, 2020. After purchasing an Apple Watch SE and you want to set up cellular service on it, you might be wondering if it has support for the Cricket cellular carrier.
The Apple Watch SE does not have support for Cricket. When you look at the list of all supported carriers for the Apple Watch SE, you will not find Cricket. Cricket, known as Cricket Wireless, is an MVNO carrier and does not have a network. It is owned by AT&T and uses the AT&T network to provide cellular services.
AT&T is one of the cellular carriers that the Apple Watch SE supports, and there is no need to have two carriers from the same company. Cricket is cheaper than AT&T, hence if AT&T were to allow Apple Watch to support both the parent network and the MVNO, most people would choose the MVNO, which might negatively impact their profits.
When you connect your Apple Watch SE with an eligible cellular carrier, you can use it to make calls, receive calls, receive text messages and send texts, among others. Before you can do all this, there are several things you need to ensure are available before you can set up cellular on Apple Watch.
The most important thing you need is an eligible cellular service plan from a supported carrier. If you have a cellular plan from a supported carrier, you must change it to include your Apple Watch.
You should note that your Apple Watch SE does not have a SIM slot. When you buy it, you do not have to buy a new SIM card to use with your watch. The Apple Watch has a SIM chip that connects to your iPhone and uses the cellular service active in your iPhone.
Therefore, your iPhone and Apple Watch can only use the same carrier. Since Cricket does not have Apple Watch SE support, you must find a supported cellular carrier. If you have been using Cricket Wireless on your iPhone, you will have to get a supported cellular carrier to set up cellular on your Apple Watch SE.
Some of the Apple Watch SE supported carriers in the United States listed by Apple on their website that you can use include Appalachian, AT&T, Cellcom, C Spire, Spectrum, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless, among others.
After getting a supported cellular carrier with an eligible cellular service plan, you now set up cellular on your Apple Watch SE. If you have already set up your Apple Watch SE, you can go directly to settings and set up cellular.
If it is a new Apple Watch SE, you have to set it up first before setting up cellular. On your iPhone, go to the Apple Watch app,
- tap on the “My Watch” tab
- tap on “Cellular”
- tap “Set Up Cellular”
and follow the instructions on the screen to complete the set.
The instructions might vary depending on the cellular carrier you have on your iPhone, and you might also be required to contact our cellular carrier to complete the setup.
Many users of Cricket Wireless have been asking for their cellular carrier to support Apple Watch connectivity. However, AT&T is yet to provide an update on whether Cricket Wireless will be available on Apple Watch.
Some users have petitioned on change.org to ask Cricket Wireless to support Apple Watch Connectivity. Currently, 558 people have signed the petition, and if you want Cricket Wireless to be available on Apple Watch, you can sign the petition. If enough people sign the petition, AT&T might change its stance and allow people to use Cricket Wireless on their Apple Watches.
Do You Have To Pay Extra Per Month for Apple Watch Cellular?
When you start using your Apple Watch to make calls or send text messages, you will receive a bill at the end of the month. After getting used to paying a bill for one device, you might be wondering if you have to pay extra per month when you add your Apple Watch to your cellular service plan.
You do not have to pay extra per month for Apple Watch cellular. As long as your Apple Watch is paired to your iPhone’s cellular carrier, you will only be required to pay according to your selected cellular service plan. When you receive your monthly cellular bill, the amount you owe will be split into two parts.
One will be for all calls made, text messages sent, and data used through your iPhone, while the other part will be for calls made, texts sent, and data used through the Apple Watch. You will not be charged anything if you have not used your Apple Watch to make calls or send text messages.
When you set up cellular on your Apple Watch, you are adding another device that you can use through your cellular service plan. Supported cellular carriers do not charge extra for using an Apple Watch because they have plans that include the Apple Watch.
You cannot use the cellular service plan you have for your iPhone. Most cellular carriers will ask you to cancel that cellular service plan and get one that is eligible for an Apple Watch. You cannot set up cellular on your Apple Watch without an eligible cellular service plan. It is up to you to select a cellular service plan suitable for your day-day phone use.
You can use the Family Setup if your family has several Apple Watches, and you want to save on costs. Apple’s Family Setup allows Apple Watch users to connect their devices to one iPhone and, therefore, one cellular service plan.
Instead of having a cellular plan for each Apple Watch, you can control how much people spend using their Apple Watches by having one cellular plan. If some of the people using the Apple Watches are minors, you can also use the Family Setup to monitor their activities. Cellular carriers supporting Family Setup include AT&T, C Spire, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular, and Verizon Wireless.
Even though you are using the phone number on your iPhone to make calls, when you receive your monthly bill, you will see two phone numbers on the bill. One phone number belongs to the SIM in your iPhone, and the other one belongs to your Apple Watch.
The phone number assigned to your Apple Watch is for billing purposes only. Open the Watch app on your iPhone to find your Apple Watch phone number
- tap on “Cellular”
- tap on “Cellular Plan”
- tap on the information icon next to your cellular carrier’s name
- tap on “Manage {cellular carrier} Account”
and next to “Watch Line” you will see your Apple Watch’s phone number. If you have several Apple Watches on your cellular plan, the monthly bill will be split into several parts for every device.
Summary
An Apple Watch is a great accessory that you can use to carry out several activities that were only possible on an iPhone. If you have an Apple Watch that has cellular, you can use it to make calls and send text messages.
Before using your Apple Watch to make calls or send messages, you need to have an eligible cellular service from a supported cellular carrier. Cricket Wireless is one of the MVNO carriers in the United States; however, it is not among the supported carriers for Apple Watch.
If you have been using Cricket Wireless on your iPhone, you will have to change to a supported carrier if you want to set up cellular on your Apple Watch. When you set up cellular on your Apple Watch, you must pay according to your selected cellular plan. You do not have to pay extra to use your Apple Watch to make calls or send text messages.
