Cellular Apple Watch buyers call out Verizon's maddening activation block
Apple Watch owners can't activate their cell plans through Verizon -- unless they bought the device from the carrier, or complain at length.
Apple Watch Series 10
Verizon has frustrated Apple Watch users before, but now it is preventing some from connecting to the cell network at all. AppleInsider has been contacted by users reporting having to spend hours on the phone to Verizon support for what appears to be a common issue.
According to one user's summary that others are saying fits their experiences, the issue is specifically over whether an Apple Watch is bought through Verizon itself, or not. An Apple Watch sold by the carrier will activate correctly and without difficulty.
"When Verizon receives product from Apple for their inventory, Verizon logs the IMEI number into their system," writes user Tim. "When you go through... activation, the Watch App looks for the IMEI [International Mobile Equipment Identity] number in the Verizon system, finds it.. and voila, a connection to the Verizon network is made."
However, when an Apple Watch is bought from any other vendor, including Apple itself, its IMEI serial number is not in Verizon's database. Consequently, the Apple Watch will not be activated.
"All the pairing, unpairing, resetting, etc is not going to make a bit of difference," continues the user. "Nor will cancelling the service on that line and starting a new service."
Reportedly, the sole solution is to get the Apple Watch's IMEI entered into the Verizon database.
"I went through 2 Verizon store managers and countless service techs," says the user, "(all of whom demanded to "try" and activate the cellular service before pushing me forward) before FINALLY convincing one to create the ticket [to have an IMEI added.]"
If the explanation is correct, then no cellular Apple Watch bought from any vendor will work on Verizon without assistance from the carrier's engineering teams. That must mean it's a known issue, yet in the support threads seen by AppleInsider, Verizon team members appear to be unaware of it.
As well as those forum entries, and user Tim's report about his phone support difficulties, there are users on Twitter saying the same thing.
Apple Watch Series 10
Verizon has frustrated Apple Watch users before, but now it is preventing some from connecting to the cell network at all. AppleInsider has been contacted by users reporting having to spend hours on the phone to Verizon support for what appears to be a common issue.
According to one user's summary that others are saying fits their experiences, the issue is specifically over whether an Apple Watch is bought through Verizon itself, or not. An Apple Watch sold by the carrier will activate correctly and without difficulty.
"When Verizon receives product from Apple for their inventory, Verizon logs the IMEI number into their system," writes user Tim. "When you go through... activation, the Watch App looks for the IMEI [International Mobile Equipment Identity] number in the Verizon system, finds it.. and voila, a connection to the Verizon network is made."
However, when an Apple Watch is bought from any other vendor, including Apple itself, its IMEI serial number is not in Verizon's database. Consequently, the Apple Watch will not be activated.
"All the pairing, unpairing, resetting, etc is not going to make a bit of difference," continues the user. "Nor will cancelling the service on that line and starting a new service."
Reportedly, the sole solution is to get the Apple Watch's IMEI entered into the Verizon database.
"I went through 2 Verizon store managers and countless service techs," says the user, "(all of whom demanded to "try" and activate the cellular service before pushing me forward) before FINALLY convincing one to create the ticket [to have an IMEI added.]"
If the explanation is correct, then no cellular Apple Watch bought from any vendor will work on Verizon without assistance from the carrier's engineering teams. That must mean it's a known issue, yet in the support threads seen by AppleInsider, Verizon team members appear to be unaware of it.
As well as those forum entries, and user Tim's report about his phone support difficulties, there are users on Twitter saying the same thing.
Thank to @VerizonSupport, my wife no longer has a working cell phone because of repeated activation attempts for her new Apple Watch. No way to fix it except to "wait" and hope despite it being. Verizon mess up.
-- Paul Weaver (@Mvestor)
Verizon has not commented. However, recently a Galaxy Watch Ultra 7 user took to Reddit to say they couldn't activate their device because Verizon said it was too new, and not on their system yet.
Activating a cellular plan is only one aspect of setting up a new Apple Watch. Read the AppleInsider guide to the whole process.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
Also, I just went through the transfer of my Visible service from my 15 Pro to my 16 Pro and it was a piece of cake following the very clear transfer instructions posted online with no bullshite "activation fee" that Verizon charges just to move your existing service to a new phone. Also a breeze getting my Apple Watch reconnected again, too.
The only remedy that works some of the time, if you're lucky, is to do everything you can directly through Apple, and preferably in the Apple Store. Unfortunately, even Apple cannot always fix the problems the carrier has created and some people don't have an Apple Store to go to. During my last trip to the Apple Store about a month and a half ago I witnessed an Apple store employee having to tell a customer that they would have to go to their carrier. It was sad and painful to witness.
That said, the last few trips to the Apple store that involved carrier related dependencies (Verizon), with Apple Watches no less, went off pretty well for me without any major issues. These all involved upgrades or battery replacements (which are actually a full swaps of the Apple Watch with direct replacements). The process that has worked for me is described here:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/119601
As you can see, even Apple cannot guarantee that you'll get away without having to contact your carrier. I've been successful following Apple's advice 3 times in a row and with Verizon no less. No activation fees. I'm lucky I guess. No divorce so far.
Edit 1: When I upgraded to Apple Watch Ultra from Apple Watch 5 I removed the Verizon account from my old watch, as suggested by Apple. When I activated my new watch I was prompted to install a cellular plan on my new watch from my iPhone. As part of the process Verizon added the new watch to my account and removed the old watch from my account that was linked to my iPhone. No activation fee was incurred and the new watch was working on cellular within minutes. This was done from my iPhone 14 Pro Max. I subsequently received a text from Verizon confirming the new Apple Watch being associated with my account. They must have seen both IMEIs but somehow they figured out what I wanted during the initialization process on my iPhone.
Edit 2: The process I used to replace the Apple Watch that's associated with my iPhone relies on the "My Verizon" app. Here's Verizon's process that uses their app that I used to move my Verizon to my new Apple Watch:
https://www.verizon.com/support/knowledge-base-219982/
In my case Verizon had no prior knowledge at all of the IMEI number in my new Apple Watch that I bought in the Apple Store. This conflicts with the statement in the article that Verizon was only activating Apple Watches that contained IMEis it already knew about. It's been a few weeks since I went through this process. Maybe Verizon screwed something up since I was able to make it work. The My Verizon app dependency may be a contributor to the problem other users are seeing???