How to make your Apple Watch battery last longer
For some heavy Apple Watch users constantly checking their wrists, Apple's wearable device may not quite provide the 18-hour battery life the company advertises. For Apple Watch addicts, AppleInsider offers a handful of simple things you can do to squeeze some extra time out of your battery.
To prevent this from happening, we recommend disabling the functionality by heading into Settings on your Apple Watch application for iPhone, followed by General. Now click Wake Screen, then flick the switch next to Activate on Wrist Raise to Off.
Once complete, you'll need to tap the display (or press the power button) whenever you want to view the time.
Want to find out if your Apple Watch is running the latest firmware? All you have to do is navigate into the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, press My Watch, select General, then hit Software Update. If a new software version is available, you will be prompted to download and install it.
Your Apple Watch battery must have at least 50 percent capacity, and it must be connected to a charger, for the update to install.
Thankfully, Apple has built a Power Saving Mode into the Apple Watch, which disables the heart rate monitor and adjusts the refresh rate for a slew of other sensors, so that power-conscious users can preserve battery life.
To activate it, open up the Apple Watch application on your iPhone, select My Watch, tap General and turn on Workout Power Saving Mode.
If you'd like to turn off alerts, open the Apple Watch application on your iPhone, click My Watch, locate and select Notifications and press Mail.
Now you're going to need to tap Custom and slide the toggle next to Show Alerts from On to Off.
Using this menu, you also have the facility to deactivate notifications for individual inboxes and keep them on for VIPs.
Disable Wrist Raise
If you live a particularly active lifestyle or tend to talk with your hands, there's a good chance the Wrist Raise feature -- which illuminates the screen when it thinks you've moved the watch to view the time -- is falsely activating. This takes a significant toll on battery life as it's constantly subtracting from the "90 time checks" Apple insists you can get out a full charge.To prevent this from happening, we recommend disabling the functionality by heading into Settings on your Apple Watch application for iPhone, followed by General. Now click Wake Screen, then flick the switch next to Activate on Wrist Raise to Off.
Once complete, you'll need to tap the display (or press the power button) whenever you want to view the time.
Ensure your Apple Watch is running the latest software
This may seem like a given, but upgrading to the latest software is something many users fail to do. Apple has an extensive history of tweaking algorithms to increase battery life and bundling them into downloadable firmware releases. To make sure you're getting the maximum amount of hours from your device by default, be sure to upgrade to the most recent build.Want to find out if your Apple Watch is running the latest firmware? All you have to do is navigate into the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, press My Watch, select General, then hit Software Update. If a new software version is available, you will be prompted to download and install it.
Your Apple Watch battery must have at least 50 percent capacity, and it must be connected to a charger, for the update to install.
Pick a minimal watch face
Using a minimal watch face has been proven to reduce battery consumption, so it would probably be a good idea to ditch the animated butterflies, in favor of something a lot more simple. When selecting a new face, your main priority should be finding one that has as much black space on the screen as possible.Turn on Power Saving Mode while working out
While engaging in continuous physical activity -- like a workout -- the Apple Watch continuously monitors your heart rate to provide an accurate live reading of how many calories you've burnt. What most people are unaware of, though, is that using the sensor actually puts an immense strain on the device's battery.Thankfully, Apple has built a Power Saving Mode into the Apple Watch, which disables the heart rate monitor and adjusts the refresh rate for a slew of other sensors, so that power-conscious users can preserve battery life.
To activate it, open up the Apple Watch application on your iPhone, select My Watch, tap General and turn on Workout Power Saving Mode.
Reconsider Mail notifications
The average consumer receives more emails per day than any other message (Slack and other work-related communication platforms are an exception), and repeatedly pushing those notifications to a watch consumes a lot of power -- so ask yourself, "Do I pay much attention to mail that arrives on my wrist?" If your answer is no, disable it right away.If you'd like to turn off alerts, open the Apple Watch application on your iPhone, click My Watch, locate and select Notifications and press Mail.
Now you're going to need to tap Custom and slide the toggle next to Show Alerts from On to Off.
Using this menu, you also have the facility to deactivate notifications for individual inboxes and keep them on for VIPs.
Comments
It was working great and did everything I needed. I updated because that was the thing to do.
Boy, Jesus, was that a mistake! It tuned into the worst piece of crap I could have imagined. It wasn't until the ill-fated 3.1.1 update that usability was finally returned. (It may have bricked Series 2 watches, but not my Series 0. It saved it.)
I'm NEVER upgrading my watch again! I don't care what features they add. I didn't care much for the new features of 3.0.0 except the speed and IT WASN'T even faster!
At least I can back up my Mac and restore it if something goes wrong. I could do nothing with my watch. I was one week from going back to Apple to ask for my money back under an extended warranty, but 3.1.1 saved me. Lesson learned. No more updates for the watch.
This one, however, not so much, save maybe for the last one. It's not a bad idea, but I'd already figured that one out. I limit email notifications on the watch to the few people on my "vip" sender list. No need for a ping from every spammer out there.
Otherwise, these tips seem to say, the best way to extend battery life of your Apple watch is to not use any of the features on your Apple watch! I suppose that'll work, but what's the point?
One tip it left out was this: As with any computer that's acting funny, a shut down and re-start (e.g., rebooting the computer) can often cure what ails you. I wear my first generation watch most every day, and only on very infrequent occasions have I not come to the end of the day with plenty of battery life left. In those cases, rebooting seemed to do the trick. That, or the faster burn-rate was a fluke and re-booting made no difference one way or the other.
But otherwise, that is what they are saying: use it less
Care to explain what about 3.0.0 turned your watch to crap? Performance? Battery life? Just didn't like the changes?
My iphone 6S Plus seems to die now. I assume it's because I check my watch more often than I used to check my phone, and that uses the phone power??
Another issue since the last update is the activity monitor. Holy balls did my activity increase dramatically, just by updating my watch! At the rate my calories are burning now, I should be slim and trim just in time for the beach this summer! s/ My husband noticed that, too. Seriously, Apple needs to fix whatever got messed up in the last update. sitting at my desk for over an hour and a half this morning has already consumed 5%, and I haven't done too much yet this morning. My watch says I already burned 32 calories and have stood for 2 hours... all while sitting at my desk. Since 5:30 AM, I've been upstairs once, and made 2 trips to the coffee maker about 15 feet away. I'm suspecting that to be the culprit for my battery drain. I'm going to turn off activity tracking to see if my battery life improves. Oh, wait... you can't. The only option is to turn off notifications for it.
I'd noticed that my S2 was not draining as fast, so I started a test yesterday. I ran to a 100% charge yesterday morning a little after 9am. It's now 8:15am - 23 hours later. Charge level is 67%. At this point, I feel comfortable going 2 full days minimum between charges. I'll take in my charge cable tomorrow and let y'all know when it hits the power reserve popup.
You yourself say that it doesn't cause a problem -- because it still has 30-35% charge left at the end of the day.
.... So why all the griping and trash talk?
And, by the way, you've apperently had your watch for awhile. The battery is simply not as strong now as when it was new. Sorry.
I am puzzled what drove the need to publish this article. I have not seen any complaints about battery life on the Apple Watch -- sure the watch has limitations due to battery life but that's why Apple has managed it so carefully (such as not having an "always on" mode like some competitors like Garmin).
I am wondering if the GPS on the series 2 is causing some battery problems for some heavy GPS users?
... BTW, that may end up being the deciding factor on when or if Apple will add an LTE function to the phone (can the battery support it?).
as for battery life -- apple said it plainly, they rewrote watchOS to be more aggressive in speed at the cost of battery life. the days of 50% left on a Series 0 are behind you now.
Apple is going to make my nightly ritual a little easier in the next version with a "Theater Mode" which turns off the Activate on Wrist Raise with a single button on the swipe from the bottom control panel.