Apple Watch Gets New Mode to Extend Battery Life — But For Kids Only

[MacRumors]

It turns out that Apple's new Adaptive Power mode extends beyond the iPhone.

Starting with watchOS 26, Adaptive Power is enabled by default on all compatible Apple Watch models set up via Apple Watch For Your Kids, formerly known as Family Setup. This includes an Apple Watch that is already set up and updated to watchOS 26.

Apple Watch For Your Kids lets parents set up an Apple Watch — a model with cellular connectivity is required — for a child who does not have their own iPhone.

On the Apple Watch, Adaptive Power can help to extend battery life by adjusting the performance of certain features, according to an Apple support document. Apple says Siri may take longer to process requests, and some animations and scrolling might appear less smooth on the screen, but it is unclear how often this will happen.

Parents can turn off Adaptive Power on the child's Apple Watch, by opening the Settings app on it, tapping on Battery, and scrolling down to Adaptive Power.

Adaptive Power is only available on Apple Watch units set up via Apple Watch For Your Kids.

Adaptive Power mode is also available on iPhone 15 Pro models and newer running iOS 26, and it is on by default on the iPhone 17 series and iPhone Air.

On the iPhone, Apple says the optional setting can make "performance adjustments" when necessary to extend battery life, including slightly lowering the display brightness, allowing some activities to "take longer," and automatically turning on Low Power Mode when remaining battery life reaches the 20% mark.

Article Link: Apple Watch Gets New Mode to Extend Battery Life — But For Kids Only

 

[MacUserFella]

Yes yes, I get it, think of the children, but maybe not… too much

 

[JPack]

This sounds very useful, especially if it can be prevented from being disabled by the child. Most parents are probably deploying such a Watch for emergency purposes only and would rather have max. battery life.

 

[Howard2k]

Why not let the adults use that feature?

 

[aParkerMusic]

Apple Watch For Your Kids lets parents set up an Apple Watch — a cellular model is recommended for maximum benefit — for a child who does not have their own iPhone.

My understanding was that Apple Watch for Kids REQUIRES an Apple Watch with cellular. That said, I don’t think you have to keep the cellular plan active. So, in theory, you could set up the watch and not provide it functional cellular service, but it kind of defeats the purpose of the intended use case. And it would still require the cellular MODEL to set up (at least according to Apple.com).

 

[Joe Rossignol]

My understanding was that Apple Watch for Kids REQUIRES an Apple Watch with cellular. That said, I don’t think you have to keep the cellular plan active. So, in theory, you could set up the watch and not provide it functional cellular service, but it kind of defeats the purpose of the intended use case. And it would still require the cellular MODEL to set up (at least according to Apple.com).

Ya, I had swear I read somewhere it still works without cellular in a limited way. Updated to say required.

 

[nutmac]

Why not let the adults use that feature?

The same reason why the Apple Card that the kid (13 or older) owns cannot be added to the Apple Watch in Family Setup mode.

 

[Howard2k]

The same reason why the Apple Card that the kid (13 or older) owns cannot be added to the Apple Watch in Family Setup mode.

I think you're being facetious, but if you're not, what is the reason? Don't you need to be 18 for Apple Card?

Apologies if I'm misunderstanding.

 

[jdavid_rp]

So Apple is using child labor to test their beta software?

 

[nickosbad]

Even better would be if they gave the option of disabling cellular when school time is active, there’s no real need for it to be on 100% of the time when I know where she is!!

 

[xpxp2002]

That's odd. Apple insisted that Adaptive Power Mode required Apple Intelligence. No Apple Watch has Apple Intelligence-capable hardware inside. I bet Adaptive Power Mode could work on older iPhones. But you know, Apple's gotta upsell you to a new 17.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

Maybe they assume kids won't notice the performance gap?

 

[jimscard]

It turns out that Apple's new Adaptive Power mode extends beyond the iPhone.

Starting with watchOS 26, Adaptive Power is enabled by default on all compatible Apple Watch models set up via Apple Watch For Your Kids, formerly known as Family Setup. This includes an Apple Watch that is already set up and updated to watchOS 26.

Apple Watch For Your Kids lets parents set up an Apple Watch — a model with cellular connectivity is required — for a child who does not have their own iPhone.

On the Apple Watch, Adaptive Power can help to extend battery life by adjusting the performance of certain features, according to an Apple support document. Apple says Siri may take longer to process requests, and some animations and scrolling might appear less smooth on the screen, but it is unclear how often this will happen.

Parents can turn off Adaptive Power on the child's Apple Watch, by opening the Settings app on it, tapping on Battery, and scrolling down to Adaptive Power.

Adaptive Power is only available on Apple Watch units set up via Apple Watch For Your Kids.

Adaptive Power mode is also available on iPhone 15 Pro models and newer running iOS 26, and it is on by default on the iPhone 17 series and iPhone Air.

On the iPhone, Apple says the optional setting can make "performance adjustments" when necessary to extend battery life, including slightly lowering the display brightness, allowing some activities to "take longer," and automatically turning on Low Power Mode when remaining battery life reaches the 20% mark.

Article Link: Apple Watch Gets New Mode to Extend Battery Life — But For Kids Only

It’s important to note that adaptive power prioritizes foreground experience, primarily by intelligently scheduling background tasks based on predicted foreground app needs from analysis of past user behavior compared to present.

 

[BelgianChoklit]

Why not let the adults use that feature?

I think Apple's worried everyone might start turning on this mode, resulting in slower performance of course and that customers will not understand this is due to the low power mode setting. I think...

 

[dontwalkhand]

I think you're being facetious, but if you're not, what is the reason? Don't you need to be 18 for Apple Card?

Apologies if I'm misunderstanding.

You only need to be 13 or older to be added to someone else’s Apple Card account.

 

[Howard2k]

You only need to be 13 or older to be added to someone else’s Apple Card account.

Thanks

 

[turbineseaplane]

"Kids" also seem to be the demographic they targeted Liquid Glass at.

 

[t0rqx]

Why not let the adults use that feature?

The truth is that Apple is using a strategy called "teach 'em young" this is a strategy where Apple is manipulating the future customers at a young age so they will be less prone to performance degradation of products. Currently the 1st and 2nd generation of the current Apple notice the smallest performance degradation that Apple applies on its product to force customers to upgrade. With the backlash it got, for example battery gate, stagemanager, airpods max ANC downgrades...

With this new feature they train the brain of potential future customers so they can degrade products faster, to receive lesser backlash and let the new generation buy/upgrade faster for growing revenue.

Its totally genius, I just bought another $25.000 worth of shares due to this genius move. 9 trillion dollar valuation.

 

[Andy_2341]

"Kids" also seem to be the demographic they targeted Liquid Glass at.

I personally love Liquid Glass as a young adult. I hated the beta on my iPad mini that I sold off, but the release of Tahoe on my Mac has actually been really good. Things are actually easier for me to see, especially at night.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I personally love Liquid Glass as a young adult. I hated the beta on my iPad mini that I sold off, but the release of Tahoe on my Mac has actually been really good. Things are actually easier for me to see, especially at night.

Glad someone likes it! 🙏

 

[djc6]

Nice, I was just trying to figure out why my kids' Apple Watch SE 2 cellular isn't getting through the day anymore. Its using Family Setup.

 

[cupcakes2000]

Another case of Apple artificially, arbitrarily and not to mention somewhat weirdly in the case, restricting the os to what they decide is best. Queue the ‘but it’s Apples OS’ comments. But why on earth can’t everyone use this feature?! Odd (perhaps obvious) to say the least.

 

[i486dx2-66]

I think Apple's worried everyone might start turning on this mode, resulting in slower performance of course and that customers will not understand this is due to the low power mode setting. I think...

This could actually work in Apple's favor though.

Watch processor performance has been plenty good enough for a long time, and many people aren't buying new watches because their old one is good enough. Giving users a toggle to voluntarily slow it down (letting *them* make the choice to prioritize battery life over performance) is a slick way to bring back those "I like my watch, but wish it had better performance" feelings... which would encourage sales of new watches.

 

[svish]

Don't think I will be using it even if it were available for adults. However cannot understand why Apple is restricting it to the kids mode only.