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The Bogeyman

macrumors regular
Mar 15, 2012
137
7
Under your stairs
Sorry to be dense here. Do you mean the "Watch" app? How do you shut it off? Does it affect the operation of the watch?

Thanks

The companion app on the phone. The big app which says "Apple Watch" on it. Just double-tap the home button and swipe right until you find the open app, then flick up to close it.
 

chumpy34

macrumors 6502
Jun 28, 2010
319
247
This is exactly why I am holding tight and waiting for the next 14nm iPhone before considering an Apple Watch.

The always on connection is a better hog, or at the very least battery life impacting to a noticeable extent

Going 14nm should give a huge battery life bump to the iPhone 6S and equalize any concerns about Apple Watch drain.

I was charging my iPhone 6 at the end of each day or there about...with my watch on my wrist now, it's giving me 1.5 to 2 days of battery on my phone! I am not using it as much and can do quite a few things on my watch so for me this is a huge plus...

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Can someone explain how the Watch works when it comes to receiving texts and emails even when you leave your phone home? I was at my GF's and left my phone at my house, still could receive texts/emails!!!!

1) Are the texts only iMessages? or all texts?

2) Does this work on any wi-fi network or only those that my Phone has accessed before?

3) Does my phone (when at home) have to be on?

Very cool feature I didn't know existed, I can leave my phone at home now and still be connected.
 

MacFan23

macrumors 6502a
Feb 17, 2010
504
667
The battery drain is likely a result of people who got their watch on Friday spending so much time playing with their new toy.

Once people start to calm down and start using them in a more normal way, I expect the reported battery problems to go away.
 

starnox

macrumors 6502
Apr 15, 2005
363
67
I was charging my iPhone 6 at the end of each day or there about...with my watch on my wrist now, it's giving me 1.5 to 2 days of battery on my phone! I am not using it as much and can do quite a few things on my watch so for me this is a huge plus...

----------

Can someone explain how the Watch works when it comes to receiving texts and emails even when you leave your phone home? I was at my GF's and left my phone at my house, still could receive texts/emails!!!!

1) Are the texts only iMessages? or all texts?

2) Does this work on any wi-fi network or only those that my Phone has accessed before?

3) Does my phone (when at home) have to be on?

Very cool feature I didn't know existed, I can leave my phone at home now and still be connected.

Are you sure? I'm pretty sure they have to be on the same wi-fi network
 

kuhroo25

macrumors member
Aug 2, 2010
38
1
I had been using a Pebble for about two years before the Apple Watch and never noticed a significant impact on the battery. Yesterday was my first full normal day wearing the apple watch, and I still had 75% on my 6+ at 4:30PM. This is a huge improvement! Maybe the Pebble was draining more than I thought.
 

Xytal

macrumors regular
Mar 30, 2010
172
52
My battery life has improved as I am using my iPhone 6 much less. Absolutely loving my Sports Watch after 2 days of use.

I just experienced this, can some one let me know how this works? I left my iPhone at home, rode my bike to my gf's house with my Watch on, when I got to her house and inside (she has wi-fi) my Watch started dinging and I was seeing incoming texts and could send replies as well as emails too.

Is this because my iPhone has been on this network before? But how freaking cool is this? I can start leaving my phone home more often now and still be in touch/contact. Dang Apple!

P.S. My other watch, a Sports with black band which said 4-6 weeks, just got charged to my cc and is preparing for shipment! Wooohooo!

I believe it works like that, I have yet to test myself until I get my watch. But I've heard that the watch imports known Wi-Fi networks from the phone. You can't add any yourself, but it gets them from your phone.

If that's the case, you are correct, and in certain respects you can forget your phone if you know you're going to be in a location that will have Wi-Fi you have been connected to. But in between those two areas, your watch won't really work.
 

topmounter

macrumors 68030
Jun 18, 2009
2,607
973
FEMA Region VIII
This should have a positive influence on Apple's stock price once people that have purchased an iWatch find that they need to upgrade from their current iPhone 5/5s/6 to an iPhone 6+ for the increased battery life. Pure genius :apple:
 

Robert M.

macrumors 6502a
Jan 4, 2010
761
163
Turn on the exercise app, do an hour of jogging, watch the battery deplete by at least 20%. For me, this is the biggest drain. But still, I got around 17 hours of battery life yesterday (around 4 standby). Without exercising I'm sure it would hit 20 hours.

Not great, but not terrible. Still, I'd love one that lasts for a few days. I actually feel asleep with mine last night, and the low battery warning woke me up! :eek: :D lol
 

djzapp

macrumors newbie
Apr 4, 2009
26
0
Laveen, AZ
iPhone 6 Plus & Dexcom G4 CGM

I have been using a Dexcom G4 CGM. This is my blood sugar monitor that connects to my body and through bluetooth to the Receiver and then bluetooth to my iPhone. I have seen more battery drain with the device connected. I expected this, just like I expect the Apple Watch to cause some type of drain. Even though they both are low-energy bluetooth devices.
 

roop27

macrumors member
Mar 22, 2011
82
51
London, UK
Being an android user with a moto 360 i find my battery on my note 4 to be significantly increased. I'm sure Apple will fix any issues with a software update.
 

bunnicula

macrumors 68040
Jul 23, 2008
3,816
817
Me too. I think the extra drain that the watch uses (which may not be too much) is compensated by the fact I've been looking at it (and therefore turning the screen on) less.

Maps directions turn by turn is particularly good on both as the phone's GPS but screen is not on, whereas the watch only needs to tap me at relevant points.

Overall, I'm very satisfied.

I was thinking the same. I believe this will even out for a good many people once they settle in to using the watch normally. I have to think that people are in "tinker with my new toy" mode. I know I was on launch day and I got worried about battery life. Yesterday? It was great. It's been great all day today, too.
 

NEBaghead

macrumors member
Oct 21, 2009
71
3
Omaha, NE
Yesterday, I noticed my iPhone battery was a lot lower than normal. Today it seems about normal. I was on the companion app a lot yesterday adding apps and doing different configurations, so I will chalk it up to that.
 

dagamer34

macrumors 65816
May 1, 2007
1,359
101
Houston, TX
This is exactly why I am holding tight and waiting for the next 14nm iPhone before considering an Apple Watch.

The always on connection is a better hog, or at the very least battery life impacting to a noticeable extent

Going 14nm should give a huge battery life bump to the iPhone 6S and equalize any concerns about Apple Watch drain.

While I understand your optimism, radio power doesn't become more efficient, just because the CPU does. In fact, most of the time the CPU is idle doing very little when background tasks like this are happening.

Know what would drain battery life significantly, using location services constantly.
 

chumpy34

macrumors 6502
Jun 28, 2010
319
247
I believe it works like that, I have yet to test myself until I get my watch. But I've heard that the watch imports known Wi-Fi networks from the phone. You can't add any yourself, but it gets them from your phone.

If that's the case, you are correct, and in certain respects you can forget your phone if you know you're going to be in a location that will have Wi-Fi you have been connected to. But in between those two areas, your watch won't really work.

True on the in-between but that really is a pretty cool feature and one I didn't know about. I can see a life with my phone glued to my hip more an more now. Just used Apple Pay on my watch at Whole Foods and had a crowd of 7 cashiers around me OOHING and AWWWWING. Was awesome!

----------

Are you sure? I'm pretty sure they have to be on the same wi-fi network

Yup. As my iPhone had used that wi-fi before it then worked on my watch even though my phone was at my house 5 miles away. Super cool! Text/Email! No calls though...
 

Keirasplace

macrumors 601
Aug 6, 2014
4,059
1,278
Montreal
Well it is connected to the Watch and has to keep going backwards and forwards to receive data etc.

Going going backwards and forward with Bluetooth LE for a device that'S this close is a negligible amount of usage of power.

If people are getting push notifications to their phones (when before they were polling), well that will obviously have an impact. The may also be using more GPS, fiddling with their watch more (its a brand new toy ;-). If the communication between the watch and the phone is WIFI instead of bluetooth, that would use more power (but it would also drain the watch faster). I always find funny how people are not really conscious of their own usage pattern, especially in a new device.

If someone was in the past checking notifications on their phone several times a day, and now they're not. There is no reason on earth why they should have a bigger Iphone battery usage.

If they were essentially not replying to those notifications all day long, well I can see how adding the watch would use more. Might as well turn off notifications then ;-).

These are probably the same people who insist the watch should be independent from the phone, when their communication pattern has already an impact on their much bigger phone.

Finally, sometimes confirmation bias also has an effect. You're looking for some change, some pattern and you spot it no matter if it is significant or not.
 

Casiotone

macrumors 6502a
Oct 12, 2008
825
111
This can only be fixed with a more efficient bluetooth technology which I don't see happening until version 2 at least.

How can you say that with such certainty? Yes radio communications can be a power-hog, but the amount of data that is transmitted is limited to a minimum and Bluetooth LE is already "Low Energy".

This battery drain problem affecting some users may well be linked to some software bugs that will be fixed in updates and won't require new hardware.

Same thing with the "slow loading" of apps/glances. Considering the small amount of data that apps are allowed to send to the watch (couple of lines of text, layout data and small images) the fact that some take several seconds to load according to some reviews may again be the result of a buggy 1.0 release and may be fixed in updates.
 

Keirasplace

macrumors 601
Aug 6, 2014
4,059
1,278
Montreal
Turn on the exercise app, do an hour of jogging, watch the battery deplete by at least 20%. For me, this is the biggest drain. But still, I got around 17 hours of battery life yesterday (around 4 standby). Without exercising I'm sure it would hit 20 hours.

Not great, but not terrible. Still, I'd love one that lasts for a few days. I actually feel asleep with mine last night, and the low battery warning woke me up! :eek: :D lol

There is no miracle battery that last a few day. To last two days with you current usage pattern, the phone would need to be 35-40% bigger at least. If the SOC/mem/screen power usage improves enough in 3 years, you may get that second day (or they make the watch thinner ;-).

If one lasted a few day, it likely would die in the middle of that other day, or while you fell asleep and forgot to charge it that other day. There is no escaping, you eventually have to charge it.
 

saintforlife

macrumors 65816
Feb 25, 2011
1,045
329
This is why you never buy a first gen Apple product. Let someone else be Apple's beta testing guinea pig. #S-Upgrade-Cycle-4-Life
 

Keirasplace

macrumors 601
Aug 6, 2014
4,059
1,278
Montreal
Yesterday, I noticed my iPhone battery was a lot lower than normal. Today it seems about normal. I was on the companion app a lot yesterday adding apps and doing different configurations, so I will chalk it up to that.

Its the "new device syndrome". People don't seem to realize how much they fiddle with their new stuff all the time. Its a constant at all new device release.
 

CodeSpyder

macrumors 68000
Jun 23, 2010
1,778
1,812
Orlando, FL
I too am finding very little impact on my iPhone 6 Plus, but I haven't been using mail on the Apple Watch. I love using messages on the Apple Watch.
 

Keirasplace

macrumors 601
Aug 6, 2014
4,059
1,278
Montreal
This is why you never buy a first gen Apple product. Let someone else be Apple's beta testing guinea pig. #S-Upgrade-Cycle-4-Life

Really, most people being happy with their device, which is what seems to be the case, is the reason you don't by gen 1? Well, nice to see they're selling the reality distortion field in your neck of the wood.

----------

This is exactly why I am holding tight and waiting for the next 14nm iPhone before considering an Apple Watch.

The always on connection is a better hog, or at the very least battery life impacting to a noticeable extent

Going 14nm should give a huge battery life bump to the iPhone 6S and equalize any concerns about Apple Watch drain.

No its not. It is bluetooth LE, and it is sending micro snipet of data. You can stream mp3 through BT LE from your phone for hours (and that's a hell of a lot more of a drain). Its the phone itself getting/transfering communication data through the Cell or Wifi network that's usually the drain. Especially if it is getting background push notifications (instead of a lot less frequent poll notifications).
 
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