Apple Watch Impacts iPhone Battery Life... One Way or the Other

[AbsoluteMustard]

I noticed when I use a running app or something that used GPS on the watch, the phone GPS stays on even when I am not using the app.

The phone would drain from GPS use. When I am done with a GPS app I restart my phone. After that the GPS is off on phone and battery life is normal.

This is some software item that should be fixed soon.

 

[TEBnewyork]

I'm doing better with battery on iPhone. With watch I check phone much much less.

Stats from today.
 Watch usage 3 hours 15 min
Standby time 11 hours 43 min

36% remaining

IPhone 6+
Usage 4 hours 45 min
Standby 14 hours 38 min

68% remaining

Seems to me that the Bluetooth always on takes less battery than looking at incoming text / emails on phone.

 

[doelcm82]

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

You know what they say: Fools rush in and get to enjoy the latest device for a full year or more, where wise men kvetch and moan.

 

[gotluck]

Easy to say without any comparison to the competition. The biggest excuse for Apple is probably the 20 other smartwatches that perform even worse in every single way. I bet you excuse those, though, huh?

Perform worse in every single way? Give me a break... I mean sure prefer the apple watch, but geez... I'd love to see the breakdown of how other smart watches are inferior in every way. Especially since Apple watch doesn't have cellular connectivity and some others do. That functionality allows for completely different use cases.

 

[amirite]

Perform worse in every single way? Give me a break... I mean sure prefer the apple watch, but geez... I'd love to see the breakdown of how other smart watches are inferior in every way. Especially since Apple watch doesn't have cellular connectivity and some others do. That functionality allows for completely different use cases.

Could you give a reason for why the Apple Watch should have cellular? Normal people aren't replacing their phones with smart watches yet.

 

[gotluck]

Could you give a reason for why the Apple Watch should have cellular? Normal people aren't replacing their phones with smart watches yet.

So I can go to the store without my phone. Or play sports, or do anything without having to bring my phone , or having put it somewhere without having to worry about it getting stolen or whatever

Ideally I want an ocean ready cellular watch, so I know when I'm missing business calls while playing hooky surfing. My job is reactive and better response time without having to go to the car to check my phone would be fantastic.

Not saying this is normal, but it we are talking better, how could you argue wifi/bt only is better? And I wouldn't be replacing my phone either, it is still complimentary

 

[Mactendo]

So in order to be used with a phone both things have to constantly have wi-fi turned on?

 

[Lacasse]

Question...

Do apps loaded on the watch require the phone version of the app to be running? If so, maybe there's an offending app? Perhaps the Developers are the culprits? I figure that In time they will refine their apps ...

 

[citi]

So in order to be used with a phone both things have to constantly have wi-fi turned on?

No.

 

[iSee]

Can we get some actual data instead of random impression? This is basically a non-story with people sharing their unmeasured feelings. MR fail.

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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

Something only people who didn't buy the first gen iPhone say. Come on.

 

[DirtySocks85]

So far I think that my iPhone battery life may be marginally reduced. Not enough for me to regret using the Watch.

 

[Uccle]

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...

Just to clarify a little. Yes, the watch can do the following when it is on a wifi network already known by the iPhone even if the iPhone is not present or is turned off (the watch can not sign into a new wifi network on its own..it gets the setting from the iPhone):

“Send and receive messages using iMessage (only)

Send and receive Digital Touch messages

Use Siri”

Excerpt From: Apple Inc. “Apple Watch User Guide.” Apple Inc., 2015. iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.

 

[ChrisA]

I bet a LOT depends on how far the watch is from the iPhone. If the phone is in a purse across the room or in a back pocket 8 inches from your wrist. The blue tooth connection might've to ramp up the power for the greater distance connection.

 

[Keirasplace]

Yeah, please continue to make excuses for Apple. They thrive on fan boys blindly defending their every misstep. How could you possibly take Apple's side when it is quite obvious that this first gen Apple Watch is half-baked both hardware wise and especially software wise?

Your use of the word "fanboy" is all that's needed to disregard your post. Bye.

 

[Dingerz]

I thought so too.. HOWEVER - I turned my screen brightness down to 0% and my battery on my iPhone 6 lasted from 9am until 11pm. My watch had 30% battery left.

The screen brightness is THE SINGLE biggest factor in battery drain. The watch has awesome battery.

 

[Keirasplace]

Can we get some actual data instead of random impression? This is basically a non-story with people sharing their unmeasured feelings. MR fail.
on.

We get the same "feels" everytime a new Iphone is released. Most times its people getting background notifications, background app refreshes, new settings and higher or different usage that leads to battery "issues". Same old story.

 

[usarioclave]

No real difference for me and my 42mm stainless.

I have to say, Siri on the watch is much more useful than Siri on the phone.

 

[Keirasplace]

Question...

Do apps loaded on the watch require the phone version of the app to be running? If so, maybe there's an offending app? Perhaps the Developers are the culprits? I figure that In time they will refine their apps ...

Crappy apps doing background notifications have been a big battery problem in the past. No one should trust that their push notifications have been done correctly; they should be monitored after every app upgrade. Remember, all watch compatible watch will have to be upgraded with new code before their notifications get to the watch.

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I noticed when I use a running app or something that used GPS on the watch, the phone GPS stays on even when I am not using the app.

The phone would drain from GPS use. When I am done with a GPS app I restart my phone. After that the GPS is off on phone and battery life is normal.

This is some software item that should be fixed soon.

Often its the software on the phone (I don't think its related to IOS) that's not closing up use GPS correctly. I've never had to reboot the phone though. Closing the app is enough (or if you really don't trust this and don't want to reboot the phone, you just remove the app's access to location, that usually clean things up).

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Perform worse in every single way? Give me a break... I mean sure prefer the apple watch, but geez... I'd love to see the breakdown of how other smart watches are inferior in every way. Especially since Apple watch doesn't have cellular connectivity and some others do. That functionality allows for completely different use cases.

Yeah, the use case of carrying a "watch" 110% bigger. That's bigger than most of the mechanical monster watches...

 

[Iconoclysm]

Perform worse in every single way? Give me a break... I mean sure prefer the apple watch, but geez... I'd love to see the breakdown of how other smart watches are inferior in every way. Especially since Apple watch doesn't have cellular connectivity and some others do. That functionality allows for completely different use cases.

The ones with cellular connectivity have horrible battery life/less functionality/are huge.

Sure, it's somewhat subjective but I've been through quite a few smart watches. Let's keep it simple, for those that link to a smart phone, this one has greater functionality and build quality. To call the software and hardware half baked when nothing out there compares on either level is pretty ridiculous. Especially for a gen1 product.

 

[diazj3]

Is anyone seriously surprised by this?

Of course the iwatch would have a negative impact on the phone's battery... (duh!)

On one hand, the constant connection to the watch itself... and on the other, all the processes and data connections the phone has to perform on behalf of the watch. And all this, on top of the fact that the phone could barely survive a whole day of medium-heavy use...

I would've guess most people getting the first gen watch would be aware of this, and be part of the experiment as an early adopter. Same goes for the watch's 2-3 year battery life.

What is a bit surprising (well, not really) is that Apple didn't disclose any of this before the launch, so people became aware of the impact on their phone.

Oh well... business is business.

 

[Soccertess]

Apple Maps was a misstep, MobileMe was a misstep, Apple Pippin was a major misstep.
I don't see the watch being much of a issue as even the iPad first gen, and iPod first gen had problems.

Pippin.. hahaah

and I agree with you. Software bugs will address the bugs and of course 2nd generation will be better, they always are. Watch won't have too many issues...

 

[BvizioN]

Yeah, please continue to make excuses for Apple. They thrive on fan boys blindly defending their every misstep. How could you possibly take Apple's side when it is quite obvious that this first gen Apple Watch is half-baked both hardware wise and especially software wise?

True. Was really hopping the space time bending feature would have been included on the first gen!!

Oh well, second gen it is.

 

[miniyou64]

C'mon guys, cut Apple some slack! It takes a lot of power to stream all your conversations and biometric data to the NSA

 

[daijholt]

This can only be fixed with a more efficient bluetooth technology which I don't see happening until version 2 at least.

Bluetooth 4.0 /LE is the most advanced form of bluetooth that exists and both Apple watch and every iPhone that supports it already has that.

If people are getting bad battery life it's nothing to do with Bluetooth, unless the bluetooth in either their phone or watch is malfunctioning. I've had a pebble connected to my phone 24/7 for 18 months and have never experienced a downgrade in battery life because of it. I have the same situation with apple watch, battery life is exactly the same for me.

I'd say a software error, and i'd also say it could be fixed with a restore, else we'd all be experiencing the problem.

 

[Ramchi]

Is anyone seriously surprised by this?

Of course the iwatch would have a negative impact on the phone's battery... (duh!)

On one hand, the constant connection to the watch itself... and on the other, all the processes and data connections the phone has to perform on behalf of the watch. And all this, on top of the fact that the phone could barely survive a whole day of medium-heavy use...

I would've guess most people getting the first gen watch would be aware of this, and be part of the experiment as an early adopter. Same goes for the watch's 2-3 year battery life.

What is a bit surprising (well, not really) is that Apple didn't disclose any of this before the launch, so people became aware of the impact on their phone.

Oh well... business is business.

Are we saying that Apple is recruiting Quality Engineers who are ready to pay Apple for testing its products (and pay for Apple care as well which is asking you to pay again for fixing the problem)! They must patent this business model for sure!