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Apple Watch Series 4 and 5 Will Recalibrate Maximum Battery Capacity With watchOS 9

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With watchOS 9, Apple is adding a new recalibration feature for the Apple Watch Series 4 and Apple Watch Series 5, according to the watchOS 9 release notes. The recalibration will result in a more accurate estimate for maximum battery capacity.

apple-watch-series-5.jpg
After updating to watchOS 9, your Apple Watch Series 4 or Series 5 will recalibrate and then estimate its maximum battery capacity more accurately.
Click to expand...
Following the watchOS 9 update, Apple Watch Series 4 and Series 5 owners who have noticed battery life being misrepresented should be able to get a better read on how long their device will last.

Apple has previously introduced recalibration functionality for the iPhone 11 to make iPhone battery life estimates more accurate, but there has been no similar feature made available for the Apple Watch until now.

The recalibration process will happen during the update and will be complete once it's installed.

Article Link: Apple Watch Series 4 and 5 Will Recalibrate Maximum Battery Capacity With watchOS 9
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2022/06/22/watchos-9-apple-watch-4-5-battery-recalibration/
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I don’t think recalibration will change the fact that my 2 year old series 5 barely lasts 12 hours with light usage (battery health reports as 78%). Instead of paying $79 for a new battery I’m getting a G-Shock
 
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My Series 5 is already 86% just under 1.5 years. Wonder if it'll be higher or lower after recalibration.
 
I mean, it’s a decent metric for people that want to know the overall health of the battery. However, I doubt most users will probably not pay attention to this feature, as they only seem to care when their Apple Watch is down to sub ~10%, which isn’t also healthy for lithium-ion to reach that low consistently.

On a side note:

I can’t believe we’re already reaching watchOS 9. Seems like yesterday when watchOS was first introduced in the April 2015 launch.
 
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Battery calibration won't help that much for a series 5 with battery <90%.
In another year or 2, it's time to either get a new battery (provided WatchOS still supports S5) or get a new iWatch, most likely the latter, even if the S5 is more than adequate for my basic needs.
If the newer iWatch finally includes something like a blood pressure monitor, then it's possible time for an upgrade.
 
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Launch Apple Watch 4 and my battery health is still at 93%. Bet that will mysteriously change for the worse after recalibration.
 
Not applicable to my S5 since I will not be downloading iOS 16 until next Summer, at the earliest.
 
My Series 4 is at 80% battery health. Doesn't affect any of my day-to-day: I still can workout in the morning, wear it all day at work, and still do more activities in the evening before it starts to get close to 15-20%. When it starts affecting my daily activities, I'll just pay to get the battery replaced. The feature set of the Series 4 meets all my needs.
 
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My series 4 has been at 81% for months. It suddenly started draining with minimal usage in 12 hours, where before I was getting 24-36 hours. The watch will also shut down at 3-4%. I hope the recalibration works.
 
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Ha! my S5 is at the depot for battery wear right now after hitting %79. Battery life was really awful, wouldn’t last half an hour on a workout with cellular enabled, I had to make sure to bring my phone. I wonder what it would have been like after calibration
 
Sure, why not. My S5 hits low power warning at about 7pm every day now. This is my 4th watch (s0,1,4,5) and right now unless Apple significantly improves battery life it will be my last. Such a disappointing product.
 
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I just sold my series 3, not because battery was bad, but because I was starting to see a good bit of lag, texts weren't really syncing as read properly (sometimes a text would show up that I had responded to hours, or rarely, days prior), and of course Apple is discontinuing support, so figured I should get as much as I could for it before the nail is officially in the coffin.

Anyway, I am wondering if battery woes are because the newer models genuinely had a worse battery life, or if it's just because I am not a power user. Really hoping that explorer edition rumor is true. And that it falls into a price point between aluminum and stainless.
 
I wonder how much lower it will be showing pushing people to upgrade their watches to Apple Watch 8. Apple knows the 4-6 watches are the sweet spot momentarily.
 
wwooden said:
My Series 4 is at 80% battery health. Doesn't affect any of my day-to-day: I still can workout in the morning, wear it all day at work, and still do more activities in the evening before it starts to get close to 15-20%. When it starts affecting my daily activities, I'll just pay to get the battery replaced. The feature set of the Series 4 meets all my needs.
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Exact same situation for me.
 
Relentless Power said:
I can’t believe we’re already reaching watchOS 9. Seems like yesterday when watchOS was first introduced in the April 2015 launch.
Click to expand...

Indeed, it does seem like just yesterday when the Apple Watch was introduced! I have a Series 4 that is still running quite well. I don't know how it is that after all these years, my Watch is at 93% battery health; it's quite high!
 
Relentless Power said:
I mean, it’s a decent metric for people that want to know the overall health of the battery. However, I doubt most users will probably not pay attention to this feature, as they only seem to care when their Apple Watch is down to sub ~10%, which isn’t also healthy for lithium-ion to reach that low consistently.

On a side note:

I can’t believe we’re already reaching watchOS 9. Seems like yesterday when watchOS was first introduced in the April 2015 launch.
Click to expand...
The first AW is now only capable of showing only time. I think Apple is obliged to indicate in capital letters on the box that the time of those maintenance and the shelf life of the battery often does not exceed about 4 years.
 
Apple should just do push notifications saying "your current toy sucks now, go buy a new one. " 😆 And have it persistent like those OS updates.
 
HappyDude20 said:
For a $79 battery replacement fee does the Apple Store change the battery or just give you a new AWS4?
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I had the battery replaced in my AW S4 in March of 2021. I had a significant scratch on the screen when I sent it off. Apple sent back to me a new AW S4, of course with a new battery and pristine screen. A big win-win in my case and opinion.
 
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