Apple watch usage/standby times

[dictoresno]

My watch claims to have one hour of use and sits at 90%. All I've done was check time a few times and respond to like one message in the 3 hours I've been wearing it. What constitutes usage for the watch? If I wasn't actually using it but there is no background data being used, what caused this. The phone was turned off for about one hour out of those three so maybe it was actively trying to search for the phone?

 

[Bargle]

There is a downward spiral of looking at your watch, checking the usage, looking at your watch, checking the usage, freaking out about battery drain, checking the usage again...repeat.

Just accept that it is perfectly normal in the first few days for the battery to "drain quickly" mostly because people are playing with their watch a lot. Even when they think they aren't. My advice to everyone? Don't put the battery complication on your watch face, it will just make people OCD. I use my watch for a daily workout, driving directions, checking and responding to texts and on my 38 I end the day with 30-50% battery. relaaaaaax.

By all means, play with it, but after a few days you'll start to treat it like a watch and the battery life will miraculously improve.

 

[dictoresno]

True. I turned it off oh my phone so I should do the same on the watch lol

 

[Rok73]

3 hours wearing it and still 90%? What's your problem?

 

[dictoresno]

3 hours wearing it and still 90%? What's your problem?

Not a problem but was just saying I didn't "use" it for an hour. Maybe just like 15 minutes. Just trying to ask what the watch constitutes as usage time.

 

[Cpt. Gilgamesh]

It's a foreign idea, but when it comes to worrying about the battery, just "don't". The first day, I watched the battery on the Watch and eventually I convinced myself to habitually not notice it anymore. I've never ran out of battery once and I don't expect to. And that's a full day of replying to people, making a phone call, and working out with almost 40% left when I put it on the charger this evening.

If you do 15 min of full, continuous use, it's very realistic to go down to 90%. The Watch's credo (I believe) is that it aims to accomplish a lot in a very little amount of time. In return, it uses the battery much quicker than a phone (since it is so small). Instead of having to open your phone to check a message and reply to one, the Watch simplifies the process so that this can be accomplished in mere seconds much more conveniently. So I think as you get into the groove of things and treat the Watch as more of a reference and quick solution tool much like a real watch, the battery no longer becomes an issue. Maybe that will change as time progresses, but you'll fall into the groove of things. I know I did.

So many time/watch puns.

 

[Mac2me]

I get what you are asking. If you have heart rate as one of your glances, I'm pretty sure that is working in the background taking readings every so often so when you go to it it will give you a BPM of so many minutes ago. Notifications and using apps especially 3rd party where it's going back to your phone account for some of the usage. Alarms, phone calls, messaging. Every time you lift your wrist and the screen lights would count. The actual timekeeping too. Music playback. I'm not sure it's really a measurement of actual time but wonder if it's more of a percentage of battery used up compared to the estimated 18 hours and then expressed in hours and minutes, with the rest falling into the standby mode. I have to believe that some watch functions use up more battery power than others.

 

[Honey Badger]

My advice to everyone? Don't put the battery complication on your watch face, it will just make people OCD.

This reminds me of when I turned off the battery percentage from showing on my iPhone next to the battery icon. With the percentage, I used to plug my phone in every day and sometimes multiple times a day for fear of running out of juice. I mean you see 60% say and you just want it back up to 100%. After getting rid of the percentage, I stopped paying attention to the battery level until it turns red (20% left) and gives a notification, which can sometimes take days. So much nicer just to not really even think about the battery level every day.

I already removed the watch battery percentage from glances...think I will take your suggestion and remove the battery complication from my watch face too and just wait for the low battery watch notification, which rarely happens because I almost always make it through the day with room to spare and then plug it in on my nightstand when I go to sleep...thanks!

 

[Mac2me]

I think it's OK to mentally be aware of your battery level. When I first got my watch it was maybe 3/4 charged and I didn't recharge it just started using it and figuring out how to find and do things on it. Went to charge it that night and noticed at some point the next morning when I saw the battery level that I didn't think it must not have been fully charged when I took it off the charger. The percentage seemed to low for the amount of hours off the charger given what I had been doing with the watch. At end of that evening I put it on the charger, saw it get up to a high percentage level and then as we checked it periodically to see if it was reaching 100% noticed it started a rather rapid discharge. Had read online that if things seemed funky to do a hard restart and we did and from that point it's been OK.

 

[kayno]

My watch claims to have one hour of use and sits at 90%. All I've done was check time a few times and respond to like one message in the 3 hours I've been wearing it. What constitutes usage for the watch? If I wasn't actually using it but there is no background data being used, what caused this. The phone was turned off for about one hour out of those three so maybe it was actively trying to search for the phone?

I know this post is old but I was having issues with my series 2. noticed that when I wasn't doing anything with it, It was recording almost as many hours of usage as it was standby. the battery would last the whole day but would be down to about 28% by like 11pm/12am from a 9am day. I thought it was odd because I wasn't doing much on it besides glancing at occasional notifications and time or responding to the occasional text. Well I just did the latest update and have maintained the same type of usage and now from 9am - 10:30pm now I have 81% battery and about 2hr 50 mins of use and over 13hrs of standby. I dont know if there was a bug in the last OS but this is a tremendous improvement to the battery life.