Debugging Apple Watch Wifi Apple Watch should connect automatically to any network I was previously connected with on my iPhone.

At my university I need to register devices for network access by providing them with a MAC address. There are no further logins required and the network is open.

I connected to this network with my iPhone and it works. Then I registered another device using the MAC address from settings -> General -> About -> MAC Address.

However, the Apple Watch just doesn't connect.

How can this be debugged?
Unfortunately watchOS 3.x can't connect to a Wi-Fi secured by WPA2-Enterprise.

I have experienced the same behavior in the past with watchOS 2.x as well.

This assumes:


Your university's Wi-Fi is part of eduroam or uses a smiliar Wi-Fi login using your credentials (user name + password)
Your university's Wi-Fi thus uses the WPA2-Enterprise security protocol
You can connect to the Wi-Fi just fine with iOS devices like your iPhone
You use an Apple Watch running watchOS 3.x


With iOS you can enter your credentials. They will get saved and can be transferred to watchOS. The certificate, however, cannot be provided from iOS to watchOS.

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Updated answer

divB has pointed out that the network uses a MAC address filter instead of the WPA2-Enterprise security protocol

Please make sure to provide your Apple Watch's MAC address to your university as well as your iPhone's MAC address.

You can find it on your iPhone:

Watch.app &gt; General &gt; About &gt; Wi-Fi Address