Anyone else having problem activating galaxy watch 4 as standalone?

See if your watch is actually registered. Mine wasn't that's why it wouldn't connect. 

Sorry I was offline for a while the companion mode is a feature through them you have to have the phone operator turn it off.  now with that being said without a phone you are limited because you need a phone to change the watch faces. so what I did was find an old android phone and used it for connection first then just put it in a drawer once the setup was complete. 

still a few bugs to work out (like tracking the watch on google maps) but I am pretty happy with the results so far. I can get ahold of my 10 year old without her having access to a smartphone

I bought a Galaxy Watch 4 with just BT and WiFi (no cellular). It works perfectly but I’d like to be able to communicate with the watch, when it’s not connected to the phone but has access to WiFi. So far, I have not figured out a way to do this. None of the current VoIP apps work on the watch in stand-alone mode. I’ve read some stuff online about side-loading old versions of Google Voice, etc. but it sounds a bit dicey. I wonder why WearOS is so restrictive?

Hi everyone. I am having the same problem.  I told the CSR the information I got here.  They set the account to standalone.  I rebooted the watch and still doesn’t work.  Did you guys have to reinstall the wearable apps and do the setup again?  Were you able to go to the watch setting, manage mobile plan and open it up?  The watch is not able to call, or text but only can do emergency call.  I just need to know if there is anything else need to be done after they set the account to standalone because it is not working for me. and i have been bounce from tmobile, to samsung to tmobile again.

the watch is not activated to the phone number that i signed up for.

Thanks.

I also got the same issue. I ordered 2 different watches on 2 different months via T-Mobile chat with the standalone feature. I specifically asked T-Mobile agents to confirm that I wanted to use the watch independently with its own separate number without having the phone around before I asked them to process each of my purchases.
1. The first watch arrived, setting up was a breeze and I was able to use it as a standalone (had it own number, I could make a call/text when I didn’t have the phone with me). I was happy with it so I decided to get another one and handed the 1st one to a family member after 2 weeks used. However, because that person used the iphone and the galaxy watch 4 cannot be used with iphone, I contacted T-Mobile to setup that Samsung standalone line on her apple watch and agreed to pay an additional $5/month (because they said the plan for apple watch is different and more expensive). We kept the 1st Samsung watch as a Bluetooth only to play around.
The 2nd one came and I can never be able to activate the mobile plan. The screen keep getting stucked at the stage “Connecting to your service provider” (see picture below). Yesterday I spent 10 hours with T-Mobile from text to call, was being sent from departments to departments and back to the square one. 2 different Tech Supports, 2 customer supports, and 1 supervisor told me that T-Mobile does not offer standalone, independently plan for Galaxy Watch 4??? I asked them then why even right now in T-Mobile website, it still shows 2 plans for you to select (see attached picture as well)? They straightforwardly told me that the standalone only works on older generation of Samsung watch??? Then I asked them why I was able to use the 1st watch (now showed the apple watch in my account) as a standalone before? They told me it’s a mystery that the 1st watch worked because T-Mobile never offer a standalone for it and it will never work as a standalone. I told them to check the usages on the date range before I changed to apple watch and they told me just focus on the 2nd ones??? Unbelievable! What kind of business is that? 10 straight hours wasted for nothing with total 5 different agents and 2 supervisors. 2 of them even told me to use it as a Bluetooth version or change to Digit plan. Standalone was the only reason why I bought the watch, and they told me to use it as Bluetooth or force me to change to Digit plan?

Seeing that many of users here are having the exact same situation as me, it makes me think that T-Mobile is lying to the consumers. They lured the customers to buy their products butT-Mobile does not provide the service that they promised. I will not stay silent for this kind of business. I have everything in written from before I made the purchase to asking for support. I also recorded the conversation with the customer service and Tech support agents. I will fight for my customer rights. 

I was having the same issue and you don't need to go into a store to fix this. Some of the reps just aren't familiar with the device. Go to settings > connections>mobile networks> then scroll to the bottom to the last option (I don't remember what it said cause it changed when I connected it to a network). It will ask if you need to connect to a network and you need to open your phone to connect the watch to a network. The reason some of the reps will tell you they are unable to do this is because they need to activate which line on their end while you open this on your phone. If it stays stuck on a loading screen they just need to refresh the device on their end after you provide them with both numbers from the device imei.

The LTE Samsung watch will work with its own line. You only need the android phone for the software upgrades and a few other things but you do not need a phone line activated for a phone Samsung Watch will work as a standalone phone/watch 

Update - so after working a full day with T-Mobile, we find that the ICCID is not writing from the T-Mobile back end to my Samsung Galaxy Watch.

For the novices out there, that is what I understand to be the esim (electronic sim) identifier that the watch needs to get lte service.

So - Tmobile finally did a ticket to their back office (where the average customer has no chance of talking to) to find out why their system will not write the ICCID to the watch.

In the mean time, I have just gotten tired of the run around.  Being a 20 year (yes since 2003 of Sprint) I finally lost my patience and went over to the V Store (you will have to figure it out).  They set me up with an account, their system wrote the ICCID to the watch and in an hour I had a new account, with two phone numbers and a stand alone Samsung Watch 4.

It is absolutely great!!!!  When the watch gets out of range of my phone’s bluetooth and wifi, it automatically switches to the carrier lte service.

All the BS about this not being a stand alone watch preached by half the tech department at T-Mobile is total hogwash.

The watch now does exactly what I needed - it is never off line (unless it runs out of battery).  I will be purchasing a watch for my Mother with Alzheimer's and will be tracking her with the Google Find My Device App.  Contacted Life360 and trying to find out if they will port the app to Wear OS.

Again - for all the people who are believing the stories being told by T-Mobile.  The Samsung Watch 4 is capable of stand alone.  THE ISSUE IS WITH THE CARRIER PROGRAMMING AT T-MOBILE.  The issue is definitely that their system will not identify the account and send out the ICCID to the watch, therefore the watch will never be able to connect to their network.

Just a side note for those of you naysayers.  Turn off your bluetooth and wifi on your phone.  The Samsung watch will convert to emergency calls only.  Dial 911 and apologize for the test call.  What happens, the watch goes to emergency stand alone mode and by default becomes a STAND ALONE unidentified watch device on the lte network.  Because it is emergency, the phone will connect to 911 on the lte network (but of course it doesn’t have ICCID so can’t be identified to connect to the back end of T-mobile).  

To bad - so sad T-mobile - you are losing great customers that are trying to help you get it straightened out.

I got it fixed!  Chat just unpaired from my number and then put the watch on the $5 stand alone plan. 

Pull sim card out of phone and your watch will work if its connected with digits. T-Mobile doesn't want the watch to be stand alone and will tell you its a glitch that your watch did

I was with Verizon and got the galaxy watch 4 lte . It was 100% stand alone for a week! I could call my phone from the watch . I could call my watch from my cell phone too ! Everything was amazing! But then they tied the phone number together without asking me. 🙄  it totally was NOT worth it anymore.  I tried to unhook it from the phone numbers.  But all their technicians only messed up the eSim cards . It was also force locked out ! It is a carrier thing to save money,  but charge you extra ! They allow watch 3 , and others to be true stand alone,  but not watch 4, and 5/ pro. It's not worth buying lte anymore 😕  !! Save your money and buy real stand alone watch.  It is so much better/ worth it ! Don't ever let them tie the numbers together in numbers share , they also don't give you a choice!! This is also Samsung's fault! The battery wears out fast in stand alone.  But we should get a choice as the consumer!! They are trying to save face on an inferior battery . I got rid of my watch 4 . It's just not worth it !

Date: 2023 March

Problem: The Samsung Watch 4 LTE could not connect to the T-Mobile network as a standalone device with its own phone number, independent of a Samsung phone on a non T-Mobile phone network.

Solution: Previously the store assigned me the requested cheaper ($10) priced DIGITs plan but it turns out the watch could not function under this standalone plan unless I already had or would purchase a new T-Mobile phone plan. The correct solution for a standalone wearable plan without any existing or new T-Mobile phone plan is only the more expensive ($25) “Magenta Wearable Standalone” plan. 

Background / More Details: I don’t have T-Mobile on my Samsung phone but a competitor. The watch successfully paired to the phone (via Bluetooth) but when looking for a mobile network while paired thru the phone, it tries to use the phone’s mobile network. This is what the cheaper ($10) plan expects - a phone on the same network as the watch - so from the start, this path would never work for me. 

After I left the store with the incorrect plan and with everything untested (got places to be!), I attempted to connect the watch LTE later at home. After several attempts I called the national T-mobile support  number (ie somewhere offshore where English is spoken) for help. Two hours was wasted re-doing obvious checks where at the end they told me the watch could not be used standalone. The correct answer they should have told me is that the chosen cheaper ($10) plan would not allow the watch to be standalone unless the phone was on the T-Mobile network.

The store was revisited the next day and the more knowledgeable manager, after several attempts, correctly determined the chosen cheaper ($10) plan was the culprit, and the solution is to switch to the more expensive ($25) “Magenta Wearable Standalone” plan. Once the plan was switched, the phone was able to correctly find the T-Mobile network without issue or further delay. The watch was called to verify correct operation. 

DIGITs was not needed. I asked about a “Companion” setting mentioned in prior posts but they said this is not a term they heard of. (Maybe it was relevant a year ago but not now?) Apparently not many come to this particular store and perhaps even call into the national support (based on their unsuccessful attempt to help) trying to have the Watch 4 activated with a Samsung phone without T-Mobile as the phone’s network. About 4+ hours was spent to come to a solution. 

Hope this helps lessen the suffering in someone’s similar attempt. Good luck!