Phone Buddy Review

Whatever the situation, losing your device can cause a lot of hassle and headache. So Phone Buddy – Phone Lost Alert is a lifesaver A notifier app for Apple Watch, it alerts you when the Bluetooth connection between your watch and device has been lost.

The app features can alert you when you accidentally leave your iPhone behind or if you misplace it. Phone Buddy is very effective in preventing the loss of your iPhone because you will more or less be immediately alerted when your phone isn’t in range.

We tested the app on a Series 2 Apple Watch and even though it’s an older model the app works perfectly every single time.

And it was more than a few times, as we forget where our iPhone is at least 3 times a day - and each time we received a ping.

Setting up Phone Buddy is easy too. After downloading the app to your iPhone you have to install the app onto your watch by opening the “watch app” on your iPhone. Scroll until you find Phone Buddy and then press install next to it. You can tweak some of the features on the watch, but the iPhone app is where you control most of the settings. You’ll need to established a connection between your watch and iPhone, and this is done through Bluetooth. The app walks you through the steps too, and it couldn’t be much easier to set up.

We used the Phone Buddy for a good amount of time, and ran into no faults or tech issues. Once connected to the Apple Watch you are able to set a distance alert, and this is where the iPhone app shows the current signal strength between your phone and watch.

You can set a distance alert - for example if the signal strength goes below 30% - then you get notified. You are also able to choose how long below that signal strength before you’re alerted.

The app can also keep an eye on your watch battery and alert you when it gets low. For such a simple app it’s packed with features, as you can turn the “watch left behind alert” on and off.

You can set the alert sound to a loud siren or a subtler alarm too, and if you happen to lose your iPhone you can get an alert as soon as you come in range of it. There’s a battery full alert, and you can turn off the alerts easily when charging.

The app even has a hugely useful mapping system so you can visually see where you are and the location of your iPhone. Not only does Phone Buddy alert you that you’ve left your iPhone behind, it also sends an alert to your phone should you leave your watch.

The app certainly rivals Apple “Find My”, because that’s not able to instantly notify you about leaving your phone behind - unlike the Phone Buddy. Because the app requires constant Bluetooth connection it could be considered a battery killer - but we were able to run our Watch and iPhone all day with it connected. That’s about nine hours, and we still had between 20-35% battery life remaining.

If you turn off the Apple Watch, the Active Mode will be disabled. When you turn on the Apple Watch again, you have to make sure to open the Phone Buddy app to re-enable the full functionality. If you still experience unreliable Bluetooth connection between Apple Watch and iPhone though, you can restart the watch.

It would also be useful to have a Bluetooth issue alert, as when this happens you. The Bluetooth signal strength can also vary due to a number of different factors and other devices around you.

This really has nothing to do with the app itself though, and down to radio waves that are our of our control. You can use the “Custom Threshold mode” to update your signal according to your environment though, and that negates the issue.

At just, $4.99, the Phone Buddy Lost Alert is a nice investment. Once installed you’re far less likely to leave your iPhone behind, and then running back to the cafe in a panic (for example).

From using the app, it’s clear the developer has put a lot of effort in to make sure the user interface and usability are perfect. We wouldn’t be surprised to see Phone Buddy featured in Apple’s top ten paid apps fairly soon.