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Apple Releases watchOS 9.1 With Battery Life Improvements and Matter Integration

The battery life on my 3 year old Apple Watch Series 5 has lately been pretty shoddy. The battery health is only at 85% so not to the threshold Apple recommends replacement. Hopefully this update will help my situation. I plan to replace my Apple Watch next year so I just need it to last until then.
 
Me watching this download happen

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CaryMacGuy said:
The battery life on my 3 year old Apple Watch Series 5 has lately been pretty shoddy. The battery health is only at 85% so not to the threshold Apple recommends replacement. Hopefully this update will help my situation. I plan to replace my Apple Watch next year so I just need it to last until then.
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If by "lately" you mean "since I updated to watchOS 9", that's not particularly surprising. It seems like each major watchOS update seriously hurts battery life; then they gradually claw those losses back with each minor update - by watchOS N.2 or N.3 the battery life is finally as good as it was on the previous (N-1) major release (or reasonably close to it, at least)

Honestly after going though that for several iterations, I now just put off updating until the N.1 release at a minimum (and, sometimes, until the N.2 release).
 
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sjsharksfan12 said:
The Apple Watch takes a long time to download. Hopefully it's done soon so I can get another stand hour in. I hate the rule that it has to be connected to the Charger to work. It's Bluetooth for a reason.
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You can just manually add one in using the health app. If you walked about for a minute during the hour you had the watch off, add that 1 minute walk as a workout and it will add a stand bar.
 
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canyonblue737 said:
they fixed the bug that prevented the Apple Watch airplane mode from turning on and off when Airplane mode was selected in the iPhone control center screen and sync was on. It worked when activated from the watch. This is now fixed. (I use this a TON)
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YAY! Looks to have been fixed!

On my recent trip abroad, the inability to have this mode sync was driving me bonkers.
 
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My biggest question: suppose I have the battery-saving workout feature enabled that reduces GPS update frequency, and I’m hiking in the middle of nowhere.

How is that going to interact with the Backtrack feature?

Is it reasonable to hope for the best of both worlds? That I get more battery from reduced pinging, but that the pinging isn’t so much reduced that I won’t be able to find my way back?

b&
 
aardwolf said:
That is seriously ridiculous. Series 7 watches are basically the same hardware, but Apple won't let them save battery life by taking less frequent heart rate readings? Shameful...
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"Basically the same hardware"? Interesting. In order to know this in a meaningful way to back up the rest of your statement would require access to all sorts of internal design documents, and you'd likely be breaking NDAs posting here.
 
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It’s also fair to say Apple has had the S7 a year longer to develop Watch OS 9 on, so it is reasonable to expect the same options available that are on the S8, especially battery saving features. Also fair to say the S8 is more similar to the S7 than to the Ultra.
 
aardwolf said:
That is seriously ridiculous. Series 7 watches are basically the same hardware, but Apple won't let them save battery life by taking less frequent heart rate readings? Shameful...
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I owned a series 7 and just convinced a good friend of mine to pick up another new series 7 days ago as it was cheaper. Now I feel bad for him cause of Apple’s practice
 
farkingdom said:
I owned a series 7 and just convinced a good friend of mine to pick up another new series 7 days ago as it was cheaper. Now I feel bad for him cause of Apple’s practice
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Also why my S7 is still on Watch OS 8. Battery life is phenomenal & I don’t need to sweat BS like this & be a Watch OS 9 beta tester.
 
CarlJ said:
"Basically the same hardware"? Interesting. In order to know this in a meaningful way to back up the rest of your statement would require access to all sorts of internal design documents, and you'd likely be breaking NDAs posting here.
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It’s been confirmed that the S6, S7, and S8 SiP underpinning the last 3 Apple Watches are identical, even using the same internal identifier (so the S6-S8 are just external marketing names and meaningless when it comes to the hardware) https://www.macrumors.com/2022/09/12/apple-watch-s8-chip-features-same-cpu-as-s6-and-s7/
 
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CarlJ said:
"Basically the same hardware"? Interesting. In order to know this in a meaningful way to back up the rest of your statement would require access to all sorts of internal design documents, and you'd likely be breaking NDAs posting here.
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Do you really think it requires special hardware to take someone’s pulse less frequently? 😂
 
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for me I guess it worked

1 hour workout on my indoor bike I tend to lose about 6-7% but today It only lost 2%. will have to test it on a walk though
 
Apple are getting worse for software locks… the Series 6 to Series 8 is effectively the same chip. And as far as I can tell this power saving feature literally just reduces GPS and HR measures, hardly need 'sPeCiAlLy DeSiGnEd ApPlE sIlIcOn' for that to be an option on older models. And it isn't just watchOS... I feel like Apple media and the community need to call them out on these issues more, like the stage manager situation. The Apple pundits in particular are a bit too soft on these things
 
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Yeah, honestly, we the Apple customers made Stage Manager on other iPads happen after they tried to be greedy with it, I think there’s a chance of getting the power saving mode on Watch 6 and 7 if enough people badger them about it…and let’s not forget battery percentage making it to the older iPhones after not being available at launch, either.
 
OMG, Music download while the watch is OFF THE CHARGER????

Be still my beating heart.

So obnoxious before. Glad it's fixed :)
 
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Honestly, if the S7 and S8 are almost the exact same watch, why can’t they both get the battery life update?
 
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Is it confirmed that it’s not in the S7?

From the watch if I go to Settings, Workout, I have Low Power Mode at the top, and beneath that if I scroll I have the secondary “Fewer GPS and Heart Rate readings” option.

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For. clarity - I have an S8 - this is what it looks like.
 
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