Notice it
before you lose it.

Your Apple Watch monitors the Bluetooth link to your iPhone. When the link drops and a short grace period passes, it alerts you with a tap and a notification. No location data is used.

Yes, it works even when the app isn’t open. That said, it doesn’t guarantee constant, instant background alarms — it’s an active guard that typically detects a dropped link within a few to a dozen-odd seconds.

It watches something different. Omamori looks only at the Bluetooth link between your Apple Watch and iPhone: the moment it drops, a grace period you choose (3–30 seconds, 6 by default) starts counting, and when it runs out your Watch alerts you with a tap and a notification. That usually means you know within a few to a dozen-odd seconds of the link dropping, though it doesn’t guarantee an instant alarm in every case. It also stays quiet when you part on purpose: not while your Apple Watch is charging or during the quiet hours you set, and while your iPhone is charging it alerts 10 minutes after you part. There’s a 7-day free trial, so you can compare it against how you actually use your devices.

Neither. It never uses location or GPS, and there’s no account to register. The only permissions it needs are Bluetooth and notifications.

The alert did arrive. A haptic alone never lights an Apple Watch; the screen comes on when you raise your wrist. But in Theater Mode, and while you are asleep (Sleep Focus), raising your wrist is set not to wake the screen. Tap the screen or press the Digital Crown instead — the alert is also waiting in Notification Center. We send it as a time-sensitive notification so it can reach you during a Focus, but your Focus settings have to allow this app. You can also check afterwards whether it rang: it is in the app’s history.

Four things account for nearly every case. 1) Omamori was swiped out of the iPhone’s App Switcher — iOS never relaunches an app that was closed that way, so the Watch can’t reach it. Open Omamori once on the iPhone and it works again (leaving it in the background afterwards is fine). 2) The Watch says it isn’t connected — then the buttons don’t respond and the screen says why. 3) Notifications are off on the iPhone — a locked or backgrounded iPhone is rung through a notification, so without permission there is no sound. Allow notifications and their sound in Settings → Notifications → Omamori. 4) The iPhone is on silent or in a Focus — a ring while locked follows the silent switch, so you get vibration only. To check the sound itself, use the test button on the Find screen in Omamori on your iPhone.

No — it watches your iPhone only. Omamori works because the app on your iPhone opens a Bluetooth path that your Apple Watch holds on to, and it watches that path drop. Anything that can’t run the app has no such path, and AirPods use Apple’s own system, so another app can’t even tell which pair is yours. For AirPods, turn on “Notify When Left Behind” in the Find My app; the case itself can play a sound on AirPods Pro 2, Pro 3, AirPods 4 (Active Noise Cancellation) and AirPods 5 (with the wireless charging case). For keys and a wallet, an AirTag is the right tool.

No. It watches only your own iPhone — the one this Apple Watch is paired with. After you unpair, it pairs with no iPhone until you tap “Pair” on the Watch. When you change phones, open Omamori on the new iPhone, then tap “Pair”. If the Watch finds itself paired with an iPhone other than your own, it says so, and “Pair” switches it back.

No — it’s a one-time purchase. After a 7-day free trial, buy once and use it forever with no extra charges. Your iPhone reminds you the day before the trial ends. If it ends without a purchase, your Apple Watch turns the guard off and tells you with a notification (buy it and the guard turns back on by itself). Ringing or vibrating your iPhone stays free after the trial.

Yes. The watch-face display shows the current state and the time it was last confirmed. The app also keeps a record of every time you were away from your iPhone — when, for how long, and whether the alarm rang — so you can look back. It stays on your devices and is never sent anywhere.

Bluetooth is affected by your body, walls and a crowded 2.4GHz band, so the link can drop for a moment even with the phone right there. First try a longer grace period on the Watch (12–15 seconds). Beyond that, watching pauses automatically while your Apple Watch is charging, it waits 10 minutes before alerting while your iPhone is charging (5, 10 or 30 minutes, your choice on the Watch), you can set quiet hours per weekday, and you can pause by hand for 30 minutes to 3 hours. Whenever it is paused, the Watch tells you which rule is holding the alert.