How to Activate Galaxy Watch 6 Standalone (No Phone)

[Johanna777]

Hi! I bought a Galaxy Watch 6 for my daughter who does not have a phone. I purchased the monthly cellular so she can have calls, text, etc. 

I have spent half the day trying to activate the watch. The Samsung website says this watch can be used alone and no cell phone is needed (unlike watch 4 and 5). There's even a page that instructs you to click on the question mark upon turning the watch on and that will activate the watch by itself (sans phone). That page is here under the "without phone" section: https://www.samsung.com/us/support/answer/ANS00078020/

I spent hours at the AT&T store. I called AT&T Customer Service. No one can figure this out. 

The opening screen does not have a question mark. Help!

Thank you

[LongHiker]

@Johanna777 "There's even a page that instructs you to click on the question mark upon turning the watch on..."

I took a look at the link and it actually says "When your watch powers on for the first time, swipe up and then tap the question mark icon." Did you do the swipe up? 

[Johanna777]

Yes, I did. There is no question mark.

[CaptSpaulding]

I don't know if they've updated the no watch instructions recently, but now when you select instructions for setting up the watch without a phone there's a note that says it's not possible if the watch is running Wear OS, which the Watch 6 does.

[Johanna777]

I just got off the phone with Samsung, and they said the watch should work standalone. The rep was trying to troubleshoot with me, and then we got disconnected. He hasn't called me back yet :(.

[Mark7com]

Your best chance is to activate it through your phone, and then after your watch finishes everything, you can simply remove it from your phone.

[Johanna777]

I tried that, but it doesn't work once removed from my phone :(.

[neilth]

I bought a Galaxy Watch 6 Classic LTE several months ago and added it to my Google Fi mobile plan. I then discovered that both Samsung and Google Fi both strongly state that the watch can be used as a standalone device for calls and texting, and then they both state that standalone texting MAY NOT work, which, in my case, it doesn't. No reason for this problem is provided, which is very frustrating.

[ChaosSaber]

Do you see the blue wear icon at the top, if so, put your finger there and hold it for 3 seconds, that will set it up

[Johanna777]

I did that, but when it calls people, it calls from my number instead of the number that was assigned to the watch.

Also, I can't add contacts without the wearable app.

Were you able to get past this issue?

Thank you!