I haven't even been able to update. I try to do the upgrade and it tells me I'm not on WiFi when I clearly am. Dunno what's up.
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Apple Watch Owners Complain of Battery Life Issues With Both Series 5 and Older Models With watchOS 6
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This is why i haven’t bought into the whole smart watch craze yet. I was never a watch guy anyway...but to me watches were always a forever wearable. These new ”smart” watches, although cool in some respects just seem to be so disposable. In the sense that they become more obsolete with each software update.
Upgraded from Series 3 cellular to Series 5 cellular and yes the always on display absolutely destroys the battery life. I was losing about 10-20% more battery than on my series 3 depending what I was doing. Turned off always on and it seems to be back on par. Considering they made no changes to the processor compared to series 4, I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that there's no extra efficiency to combat extra battery needed for an always on display.
But to be fair, even when I had it on, I still never killed the watch at the end of my typical day. Still, I'd prefer not to drain it unnecessarily on a feature I didn't really care about to begin with.
But to be fair, even when I had it on, I still never killed the watch at the end of my typical day. Still, I'd prefer not to drain it unnecessarily on a feature I didn't really care about to begin with.
It took awhile but now I’m seeing great battery life on my S4. I also deleted walkie talkie, cycle tracking, and the noise app. Rebooted the watch after dumping those and installing 6.0.1. I’m dropping 1% of battery every 2 hours.
I don’t think cycle tracking had anything to do with it. But I’m not female so I didn’t need it. But Walkie Talkie and Noise have been known battery drains and neither are useful to me.
I don’t think cycle tracking had anything to do with it. But I’m not female so I didn’t need it. But Walkie Talkie and Noise have been known battery drains and neither are useful to me.
S3 GPS+Cellular.
No battery issues here.
I take it off the charger at 6:00 AM everyday and still have 70% battery when it goes back on the charger at 9:00 PM.
No battery issues here.
I take it off the charger at 6:00 AM everyday and still have 70% battery when it goes back on the charger at 9:00 PM.
I have a Series 3 and had battery life issues for like the first two/three days after 6 came out. Since then, it has been surprisingly decent. Some days are a lot better than others...but definitely more good days than bad. It's getting more and more consistent on the good side as time goes.
I thought about upgrading to a S4, and then they discontinued it. I'm a little skeptical to go to the S5 based on the battery life issues I've been reading about and hearing about from people I know who have it. Interested to see what kinds of improvements they can make!
I thought about upgrading to a S4, and then they discontinued it. I'm a little skeptical to go to the S5 based on the battery life issues I've been reading about and hearing about from people I know who have it. Interested to see what kinds of improvements they can make!
The new Apple Watch Series 5 models come equipped with an always on display, a feature new in 2019. With the always on display, some element of the screen is always lit, even when the wrist is down.
It's a good way to keep an eye on the time or to keep track of a workout without needing to raise a wrist, but its use at this time requires compromising on battery life.
Though Apple says the Apple Watch Series 5 offers the same 18-hour "all day" battery life as the Series 4 model, a multitude of complaints on the MacRumors forums and the Apple Support forums suggest that's not the case.
A 36-page forum thread is filled with battery life complaints about the Apple Watch Series 5, starting from September 20, the day the device was released. MacRumors reader Radeon85, for example, said that he was seeing significant battery drain until he turned off the always on display.Several of us here at MacRumors have the new Apple Watch Series 5 with always on display and have indeed experienced our Apple Watch batteries draining much more quickly than the prior Series 4 models. Workouts, LTE, and other battery draining functions combined with always on can result in major drops in battery life. As described by MacRumors reader Yachtmac:Battery problems don't appear to be limited to the Apple Watch Series 5, which suggests that watchOS 6 is also perhaps impacting battery life. The Noise app may be one culprit, and some users have also cited cellular connectivity, though both Cellular and GPS models appear to be affected by battery life problems.
MacRumors forum member Michael says that since watchOS 6 was released, his Apple Watch Series 4 battery has been dying faster, a sentiment echoed by many other MacRumors readers who have noticed issues since beta. From MacRumors reader Canyonblue737:On the Apple Watch Series 5, battery life can be improved by disabling Always On under the Display & Brightness section of the Apple Watch app on iPhone, but on the Series 4, it's less clear what might be causing problems.
MacRumors readers have reported some fixes that have helped improve battery life on both the Series 4 and Series 5, such as force restarting the device or unpairing and re-pairing, but there does not appear to be a single solution that has worked for everyone.
Apple has already updated watchOS to version 6.0.1, and that update fixed some bugs, but according to the release notes, it did not address battery life. watchOS 6.0.1 may include some battery optimizations though, as there are some reports on the forums of improvements after updating. From MacRumors reader Haruhiko:Apple has also released the first beta of a watchOS 6.1 update to developers, and that update seems to include some battery fixes. We've heard reports from forum members that watchOS 6.1 significantly improves battery life, and in our own experience, we've also seen better battery life after installing the update. From MacRumors forum member Rogertoh16:watchOS 6.1 is still in the early stages of beta testing so additional optimizations could be added before the software sees a release, and many of the battery life woes associated with watchOS 6 and the Series 5 could be addressed soon.
Are you experiencing battery life issues either with the Series 5 or with an older Apple Watch updated to watchOS 6? Let us know in the comments.
Article Link: Apple Watch Owners Complain of Battery Life Issues With Both Series 5 and Older Models With watchOS 6
It's a complicated issue. I have owned almost every generation of Apple Watch so far, and battery time with my generation 5 watch is the worst so far. In fact, I just came back from an Apple Store where the manager has allowed me an additional month of return policy so I can wait for watch OS 6.1, to see if it is a software issue.
With my gen 4, I usually got 24 hours on a single charge, that is about 4% per hour - but that is reflective of the way I use the watch. With my gen 5, I am getting maximum 18 hours, which, truth be told is what Apple promises, but is far inferior to what I used to get. I am a physician and sometimes work all night. Having to recharge my watch in the middle of my shift is not helpful. Unless something changes with watch OS 6.1, I am returning my gen 5 watch.
Someone suggested I turn off AOD, but that would defy having a gen 5 watch...
First time AW user. Have had my S5 SBSS for 2 weeks now, watchOS 6 out of the box. No issue. Have had on average 20% battery left at bedtime.
Wonder what you’d get by turning of AOD and noise monitoring. Those seem to be the big power drains.
I think battery life is a little worse with 6/6.01 on my S3 with LTE. I seem to have less charge left at the end of the day, but it’s not dramatic. I’ve always charged it every night regardless.
Brand new SSSB Series 5 LTE here with Noise detection, Siri, Cellular and AOD all on running 6.0.1. Took it off the charger this morning at 7am. It's almost noon here and I still have 93% left.
Looking at the comments here with most people not having an issue I get the feeling this is someone spearheading a class action lawsuit to sue Apple over this.
Update: Just put my watch back on charger at 11pm. 16 hours total run time and I had 53% battery remaining with all the extras turned on.
Looking at the comments here with most people not having an issue I get the feeling this is someone spearheading a class action lawsuit to sue Apple over this.
Update: Just put my watch back on charger at 11pm. 16 hours total run time and I had 53% battery remaining with all the extras turned on.
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S4, with noise detection on... I haven't really noticed. I keep the same charging and workout routine as I did before the update, and it still lasts all day. I did, however, notice this morning that it was about 10% lower than I would normally expect after my workout (which happens sometimes... I wear it while I sleep, and some nights am more active, or inadvertently hit the screen or button to wake it up more often). Charging during my shower and commute brought it back up over 95% by the time I got to work though, so it wasn't really an issue.
My S5 took a couple days to stabilize or whatever it has to do in the background now it's ok, been off charger since 430am, worked out for an hour and now it's at 79% so not too bad.
there are 36 pages of users sharing the issue, yet “because I don’t have it nobody does.” Nice.
for my aw4 it doesn't seem that bad, might be slight less but still livable. I have seen in the forums that 6.1 beta should improve things (Unless I am mistaken)
Same. SS4. Not using the noise monitoring. No issues. I did have real issues on one of the ios13 betas but not since. 11 hours so far today and am at 82%.