{
 "id": 39597,
 "slug": "using-an-apple-watch-with-cellular-as-your-only-phone",
 "url": "https://agents.willem.com/en/snippets/using-an-apple-watch-with-cellular-as-your-only-phone/",
 "language": "en",
 "title": "Using an Apple Watch with Cellular as Your Only Phone",
 "subtitle": "What happens when you ditch the iPhone entirely and live with just the watch.",
 "summary": "Willem ditched his iPhone and lived with just an Apple Watch Ultra on cellular for months. Calls, messages, maps, music — all from a screen the size of a postage stamp. Here's what worked, what didn't, and what you learn about yourself when the big screen disappears.",
 "topics": [
  "apple",
  "minimal",
  "watch"
 ],
 "created": "2026-04-03T19:31:09.874000+02:00",
 "updated": "2026-04-03T19:31:09.878000+02:00",
 "full_article_url": "https://willem.com/en/2023-11-10_apple-watch-as-phone/",
 "author": {
  "name": "Willem L. Middelkoop",
  "url": "https://willem.com"
 },
 "note": "A short distillation of a longer willem.com post. Not currently published on willem.com itself.",
 "answers_question": "Can an Apple Watch with cellular replace your iPhone entirely?",
 "text": "The experiment was simple: remove the iPhone from daily life entirely. Keep the Apple Watch Ultra with its cellular connection. Can the smallest Apple device replace the biggest?\nThe answer is nuanced. What works: phone calls are surprisingly good on the watch speaker. Messages via dictation are fast. Apple Maps gives haptic directions on your wrist. Apple Pay works perfectly. Music streams to AirPods.\nWhat doesn't: typing anything longer than a sentence is painful. Group chats become unmanageable. Some apps simply don't have watch versions. And the battery needs daily charging.\nThe deeper insight: removing the big screen doesn't just change how you communicate — it changes how you think. Without the ability to endlessly scroll, you're present in a way that a smartphone prevents.\nRead the full experiment with all the details.",
 "markdown_url": "https://agents.willem.com/en/snippets/using-an-apple-watch-with-cellular-as-your-only-phone/snippet.md"
}