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Apple Says Apple Watch Series 3 Lasts Up to 7 Hours When Streaming Apple Music Over LTE

Scottsoapbox said:
3 hours of battery working out! ROFL!

This is why you will never see a triathlete with an apple watch.
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What other option do you have for streaming music and workout? I have a Gear S3 which has been rated very good for battery life and I don't get a lot longer than this if streaming over LTE with Spotify and working out. I think I'm at about 4 hours just doing some extrapolation. If I needed to go longer, I'd just listen to downloaded playlists. I expect a triathlete doesn't have to stream their music.
 
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I'm running a Series 1 Watch, with a goal of "closing the rings" every day this year - so far so good, but I'm starting to run into issues of the battery depleting before reaching my daily calorie burn goal, having to spend time recharging when I'm close to running out of hours/minutes to complete the goal. That's _without_ any music, LTE, etc - so while I'd like a Series 3, I'm suspicious about whether it can keep up with not-heavy usage daily. I recharge it every night, wear it all day - and not always around a charger. Apple really needs to get the Watch up to a _minimum_ full 18 straight hours heavy use on one charge. Great product, technology limitations acknowledged, need more battery. (How about a "battery band", straps that hold additional power delivered thru the "diagnostic port"?)
 
this low battery life is why I don't want to stream music from my watch. Together with the other things I'm doing, it means my watch will be dead before the end of the day.
The old music app in Watch OS that gave you to option to play music via the watch/Airpods or iPhone was better.
 
840quadra said:
I would say that anyone trying to swim with AirPods in, has other problems to worry about.

Without streaming music you get 4-5 hours, and more if you don’t have it in workout mode. But again, Apple is conservative so I would expect people see more, even when streaming music.
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I was only thinking about the bike and run portion obviously. How long does it take you to bike 56 miles and run a half marathon?

Seems like 4-5 hours is pushing it for many people doing marathons and many causal runners doing half marathons.
 
Scottsoapbox said:
I was only thinking about the bike and run portion obviously. How long does it take you to bike 56 miles and run a half marathon?

Seems like 4-5 hours is pushing it for many people doing marathons and many causal runners doing half marathons.
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I commented on what you posted, that's all thats obvious.

I don't recall seeing Apple market the AW3 as being the ultimate Triathlon accessory, so I really don't know what you were on about to begin with.
 
"Apple says battery life varies by use, configuration, cellular network, signal strength, streaming quality settings, and many other factors."

Just like an iPhone..

7 hours on the :apple:Watch seems good, as it's acceptable usage over cellular.

xDKP said:
Didn’t say power reserve mode. The training app build in, has a low power workout mode for really long sessions
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I wonder if u can turn this on regardless of a work out, just to get more battery life. Although part of an app you gotta open, that shouldn't really be an inconvenience.
 
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xDKP said:
Didn’t say power reserve mode. The training app build in, has a low power workout mode for really long sessions
Click to expand...

My apologies. I can’t for the life of me figure out how to get to that mode, though?
 
ctdonath said:
I'm running a Series 1 Watch, with a goal of "closing the rings" every day this year - so far so good, but I'm starting to run into issues of the battery depleting before reaching my daily calorie burn goal, having to spend time recharging when I'm close to running out of hours/minutes to complete the goal. That's _without_ any music, LTE, etc - so while I'd like a Series 3, I'm suspicious about whether it can keep up with not-heavy usage daily. I recharge it every night, wear it all day - and not always around a charger. Apple really needs to get the Watch up to a _minimum_ full 18 straight hours heavy use on one charge. Great product, technology limitations acknowledged, need more battery. (How about a "battery band", straps that hold additional power delivered thru the "diagnostic port"?)
Click to expand...

To put your mind at rest, I have had Series 3 Watch (no LTE) for over 2 weeks. I close my rings on majority of the days (target is 600 calorie burn daily) and by the time I am ready to sleep, I still have over 50% charge left... I think you will be pleased with the battery life with Series 3. This is my personal experience.

My wife has Series 0 and her battery life has improved with the latest Watch OS... It's not good as mine, but her battery used to be close to 10% by end of the day, but it is closer to 30% now...

Hope this helps.
 
ctdonath said:
I'm running a Series 1 Watch, with a goal of "closing the rings" every day this year - so far so good, but I'm starting to run into issues of the battery depleting before reaching my daily calorie burn goal, having to spend time recharging when I'm close to running out of hours/minutes to complete the goal. That's _without_ any music, LTE, etc - so while I'd like a Series 3, I'm suspicious about whether it can keep up with not-heavy usage daily. I recharge it every night, wear it all day - and not always around a charger. Apple really needs to get the Watch up to a _minimum_ full 18 straight hours heavy use on one charge. Great product, technology limitations acknowledged, need more battery. (How about a "battery band", straps that hold additional power delivered thru the "diagnostic port"?)
Click to expand...

I don't think you will have a problem. In 2 years with a Series 0 watch, I can only remember a couple of times where my battery was a problem. I charged it at night and left it on the rest of the time. Most days it still have half charge when I put it on the charger. This thread is talking about using LTE and streaming music. That is a completely different matter.
 
actcyclist said:
this low battery life is why I don't want to stream music from my watch. Together with the other things I'm doing, it means my watch will be dead before the end of the day.
The old music app in Watch OS that gave you to option to play music via the watch/Airpods or iPhone was better.
Click to expand...

7 hours of streaming is low battery life? 1/2 of your waking hours? True, it’s not a full day, but 7 hours seems pretty solid to me, and it’s almost surely an underestimation.

You can still play music stored on the Watch. You can control music playing on an iPhone, but you must select the music on the phone first.
 
skids929 said:
The percentage of people who work out that are triathletes is extremely low, so who cares!
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Well it is the fastest growing sport in America... But you could just as easily replace triathlete with athlete: marathon runners, road biking, and more... or pretty much any collegiate sport (half million of those just at NCAA schools).

For some of us, a work out is more involved than a mile run or taking the stairs. And just because you aren't that way doesn't mean our numbers are insignificant.
 
Scottsoapbox said:
Well it is the fastest growing sport in America... But you could just as easily replace triathlete with athlete: marathon runners, road biking, and more... or pretty much any collegiate sport (half million of those just at NCAA schools).

For some of us, a work out is more involved than a mile run or taking the stairs. And just because you aren't that way doesn't mean our numbers are insignificant.
Click to expand...


Who says my work outs aren't involved? I run 3-4 times per week combined with cross training, and I bike all over the place on a carbon fiber bike..I don't consider myself any of the above. With the exception of my bike I certainly don't see Garmin doing anything that exceeds what the AW does.

Now leave me alone while I go eat some Chik Fila and watch my heart rate spike.
 
skids929 said:
Who says my work outs aren't involved? I run 3-4 times per week combined with cross training, and I bike all over the place on a carbon fiber bike..I don't consider myself any of the above. With the exception of my bike I certainly don't see Garmin doing anything that exceeds what the AW does.

Now leave me alone while I go eat some Chik Fila and watch my heart rate spike.
Click to expand...

How far do you run? 10+ miles a day?

Bikers and triathletes routinely bike 50+ miles per ride. How does "all over the place" compare to that? And you're right that buying a carbon fiber bike does not automatically make you an athlete any more than buying an expensive camera makes you a great photographer.

Garmin has better swim and bike tracking, as well as, in door running than the AW. Its battery lasts 24 hours with GPS and tracks your training load for optimal performance against pro-athlete HR and training data, both of which are important if your workouts routinely go past 3 hours a day.

The AW is fine as an 'activity tracker' to get people moving, but it is not a serious fitness watch. That's why Apple prioritized (for example) screen prettiness over battery life. And I admit that more Americans will be swayed by a mickey watch face animation than endurance race abilities, but don't be surprise when some of the rest of us laugh at it.
 
riverfreak said:
7 hours of streaming is low battery life? 1/2 of your waking hours? True, it’s not a full day, but 7 hours seems pretty solid to me, and it’s almost surely an underestimation.
Click to expand...

7am to 2pm. If the watch dies then, when I'm out, I can't charge it. If I'm at home, it takes 1-2 hours to charge.
It will die before 2pm however if I'm using the watch for anything other than music as well.
 
actcyclist said:
7am to 2pm. If the watch dies then, when I'm out, I can't charge it. If I'm at home, it takes 1-2 hours to charge.
It will die before 2pm however if I'm using the watch for anything other than music as well.
Click to expand...

Well, weird. That’s completely opposite of my experience. I put my watch on at 6am. I wear it all day, typically do a quick run or some weights, listen to some music periodically with AirPods, run some errands on LTE and still have about 40-50% battery when I put it back on the charger at 10pm.
 
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ctdonath said:
I'm running a Series 1 Watch, with a goal of "closing the rings" every day this year - so far so good, but I'm starting to run into issues of the battery depleting before reaching my daily calorie burn goal, having to spend time recharging when I'm close to running out of hours/minutes to complete the goal. That's _without_ any music, LTE, etc - so while I'd like a Series 3, I'm suspicious about whether it can keep up with not-heavy usage daily. I recharge it every night, wear it all day - and not always around a charger. Apple really needs to get the Watch up to a _minimum_ full 18 straight hours heavy use on one charge. Great product, technology limitations acknowledged, need more battery. (How about a "battery band", straps that hold additional power delivered thru the "diagnostic port"?)
Click to expand...

My series 0 was exhibiting the same symptoms and I was having to recharge it after 9-10 hours to even get my stand goal.
The series 3 has been a revelation - getting to the end of the day with 50% left is unheard of for me. This is a 38mm Watch. I use the modular face with my work calendar in the middle and am constantly scrolling through appointments to see where I need to be next, I use the app pennies, hours for tracking my time and omnifocus for tasks. As I use maps both ways on my commute (several routes depending on traffic) the Watch is pinging my the directions as well. Plus usually half an hour of exercise in the week with 1-2 hours of walks on a weekend!
 
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Scottsoapbox said:
How far do you run? 10+ miles a day?

Bikers and triathletes routinely bike 50+ miles per ride. How does "all over the place" compare to that? And you're right that buying a carbon fiber bike does not automatically make you an athlete any more than buying an expensive camera makes you a great photographer.

Garmin has better swim and bike tracking, as well as, in door running than the AW. Its battery lasts 24 hours with GPS and tracks your training load for optimal performance against pro-athlete HR and training data, both of which are important if your workouts routinely go past 3 hours a day.

The AW is fine as an 'activity tracker' to get people moving, but it is not a serious fitness watch. That's why Apple prioritized (for example) screen prettiness over battery life. And I admit that more Americans will be swayed by a mickey watch face animation than endurance race abilities, but don't be surprise when some of the rest of us laugh at it.
Click to expand...



Get a job, and woman that actually likes you and some kids then see if you have time to be a triathlete.
 
It’s slightly o/t but this thread is all over the place anyway (!), but I did nearly a 3 hour walk on Saturday, just tracking the walk, no music, etc and was pleasantly surprised to see I had 80% battery left at the end. My phone was with me (OS maps) but it’ll be interesting to see how long it can go for (hoping to do a 100k walk next year).
 
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