iPhone 12 Pro Max Apple Watch vs. iPhone battery.

[BR4DOKYBrazil]

I bought an Apple Watch Series 6 recently and, as I already knew, it is necessary to leave bluetooth always activated, including WiFi if you want to unlock using a mask. Can you tell me if, currently, both bluetooth and WiFi on all day will consume notably more battery from my iPhone? In the past, bluetooth was a drum villain. I don't know if this is different now! Thank you!

 

[ian87w]

I bought an Apple Watch Series 6 recently and, as I already knew, it is necessary to leave bluetooth always activated, including WiFi if you want to unlock using a mask. Can you tell me if, currently, both bluetooth and WiFi on all day will consume notably more battery from my iPhone? In the past, bluetooth was a drum villain. I don't know if this is different now! Thank you!

On all my previous Android phones, I always have WiFi and bluetooth on, and battery life is never an issue (related to WiFi and bluetooth). I would imagine it’s not an issu on iPhones either. The screen itself will use more power during normal use than WiFi and bluetooth.

 

[now i see it]

If it was an issue, millions of people would be complaining about it. Haven't heard a peep.

 

[BR4DOKYBrazil]

On all my previous Android phones, I always have WiFi and bluetooth on, and battery life is never an issue (related to WiFi and bluetooth). I would imagine it’s not an issu on iPhones either. The screen itself will use more power during normal use than WiFi and bluetooth.

If it was an issue, millions of people would be complaining about it. Haven't heard a peep.

Thank you very much, guys! What you said is a great truth: I've never really seen anyone complaining about the battery when activating bluetooth and wifi due to a wearable device!

 

[Barbareren]

I bought an Apple Watch Series 6 recently and, as I already knew, it is necessary to leave bluetooth always activated, including WiFi if you want to unlock using a mask. Can you tell me if, currently, both bluetooth and WiFi on all day will consume notably more battery from my iPhone? In the past, bluetooth was a drum villain. I don't know if this is different now! Thank you!

Yes, it does consume more battery. I’ve had an Apple Watch for years, and especially having to leave WiFi on all the time now due to unlocking with a mask on (why Apple, why???). With Bluetooth only the battery life has been noticeably weaker on my X/XS and now 12 mini, but not enough for me to ditch the Watch. However, the watch’s battery life is really bad now, and I’m pretty sure that has to do with having to keep WiFi activated on the watch. I’d really like to hear an explanation as to WHY that’s necessary! Why isn’t it enough to simply have it connected to the phone through Bluetooth and use the phone’s WiFi or data like I do with any other feature or app? It makes zero sense to me. When I’m out and about, the watch isn’t connected to any WiFi network anyway, so what the fx@k is the actual point???

 

[now i see it]

Here's why WiFi is enabled:

About Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and cellular on your Apple Watch - Apple Support

Learn about Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for your Apple Watch and how your watch uses both. And learn how cellular on GPS + Cellular models fits in.

support.apple.com

 

[Barbareren]

Here's why WiFi is enabled:

About Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and cellular on your Apple Watch - Apple Support

Learn about Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for your Apple Watch and how your watch uses both. And learn how cellular on GPS + Cellular models fits in.

support.apple.com

Thanks, I read the whole thing. It doesn’t answer my question, however.

 

[Barbareren]

Thank you very much, guys! What you said is a great truth: I've never really seen anyone complaining about the battery when activating bluetooth and wifi due to a wearable device!

People aren’t complaining, especially those using the 12 Pro Max, because it doesn’t affect the battery *that much* - depending on your use, but it *does* affect the battery life when data is constantly being sent and received between the iPhone and the Apple Watch through Bluetooth and WiFi. Leaving Bluetooth and WiFi ON in itself doesn’t affect the battery life much, but when you have an active connection with a constant flow of data being transferred back and forth, it will of course affect the battery life. Although that will be less noticeable on the Pro Max compared to other iPhones with smaller batteries.

 

[BR4DOKYBrazil]

People aren’t complaining, especially those using the 12 Pro Max, because it doesn’t affect the battery *that much* - depending on your use, but it *does* affect the battery life when data is constantly being sent and received between the iPhone and the Apple Watch through Bluetooth and WiFi. Leaving Bluetooth and WiFi ON in itself doesn’t affect the battery life much, but when you have an active connection with a constant flow of data being transferred back and forth, it will of course affect the battery life. Although that will be less noticeable on the Pro Max compared to other iPhones with smaller batteries.

Thank you very much, Barbareren! Today will be a day I will really test if affect battery life.

 

[ericwn]

It will be interesting to read your findings later. Personally I don’t have issues with the battery life on my iPhone hence never tried to run it with WiFi and Bluetooth off for ages.

 

[BR4DOKYBrazil]

It will be interesting to read your findings later. Personally I don’t have issues with the battery life on my iPhone hence never tried to run it with WiFi and Bluetooth off for ages.

I remember that, at the time I owned an Xperia Z, or even before that, both unused WiFi and BlueTooth were drum villains. I read on several sites to disable whenever possible, because it drained the battery. I believe that nowadays everything has changed and we should have a more economical WiFi and BlueTooth, even when it is enabled and unused. Before I bought Apple Watch, I still completely turning off WiFi and Bluetooth when it wasn't in use.

 

[BugeyeSTI]

My iPhone X is three and a half years old and the battery is showing 82% capacity, when using my series 6 wifi/bluetooth enabled I end up with 50% on both devices at the end of the day. Sometimes the phone can get down into the 30's-40's but I still have no problem making it all day. My battery health even says "service battery" so when I do get Apple to replace it I'm sure it will do much better. I wouldn't worry about having bluetooth and wifi enabled all day if I were you, I use an app called phone buddy that constantly monitors my watches distance from the phone and warns me if I leave my watch or phone behind. It uses location services constantly and I still end the day with 50% on both devices with everything running..

 

[BR4DOKYBrazil]

My iPhone X is three and a half years old and the battery is showing 82% capacity, when using my series 6 wifi/bluetooth enabled I end up with 50% on both devices at the end of the day. Sometimes the phone can get down into the 30's-40's but I still have no problem making it all day. My battery health even says "service battery" so when I do get Apple to replace it I'm sure it will do much better. I wouldn't worry about having bluetooth and wifi enabled all day if I were you, I use an app called phone buddy that constantly monitors my watches distance from the phone and warns me if I leave my watch or phone behind. It uses location services constantly and I still end the day with 50% on both devices with everything running..

Thank you very much for your help, Bugeye! I'm getting quieter and calmer with your help! I took my iPhone 12 Pro Max and my Watch 6 out of the power at 7 a.m. and I now have 77% on iPhone and 89% on Watch. I believe I have the same drum performance as when I didn't have the Apple Watch.

 

[Klschmann]

I noticed a definite hit to my XS battery with the watch connected, but it's not a huge amount. Back when both were new, I noticed about a 5% additional battery drain over the course of a day to my phone with the watch paired. I am a very light phone user and primarily use the watch for texts and fitness tracking.

Typically I'll end the day with my watch at 60% and my phone around 85% or so. Without the watch I could get 3-4 days before I hit 20% on my phone and that has been shortened by a day or so with the watch. Keep in mind as well that my XS is currently at 94% battery health too which I'm sure also plays a part.

The battery trade offs are worth it though. I would imagine that if you use your phone a ton you may not notice a hit at all, if anything you'll get more out of your phone. If you are a light user like me the hit will be more noticeable.

 

[GSWForever8]

It shouldn't be a problem. On the Apple Watch, it might decrease a bit fast if you do workouts, but I usually charge it while I shower, so it should last you an entire day.

With that enabled, my phone is usually at 30%, since I game on my phone. Apple Watch would be dead if I didn't charge it, but again, the max capacity is 87%.

 

[Devyn89]

Here’s the thing, having a something turned on that will send and receive information in multiple ways (wifi, bluetooth, GPS etc) will take some battery life. Personally it hasn’t been to a degree that I’ve noticed on my series 4 and 11 Pro. Even if it was noticeable I find I pull my phone out less and use my watch to reply to some messages so my phone has slightly less screen on time than it otherwise would.

 

[Tsepz]

I bought an Apple Watch Series 6 recently and, as I already knew, it is necessary to leave bluetooth always activated, including WiFi if you want to unlock using a mask. Can you tell me if, currently, both bluetooth and WiFi on all day will consume notably more battery from my iPhone? In the past, bluetooth was a drum villain. I don't know if this is different now! Thank you!

Cannot remember the last time I actually purposely turned off Bluetooth or WiFi unless I’m trying to reconnect something and I am just restarting either BT or WiFi.

Power usage by BT and WiFi should be negligible at this point, if this was 2008, I would say turn them off, but in 2021? with all the Low Latency and Low Power tech all these devices have, it should not be an issue to leave BT and WiFi on.

 

[BR4DOKYBrazil]

Cannot remember the last time I actually purposely turned off Bluetooth or WiFi unless I’m trying to reconnect something and I am just restarting either BT or WiFi.

Power usage by BT and WiFi should be negligible at this point, if this was 2008, I would say turn them off, but in 2021? with all the Low Latency and Low Power tech all these devices have, it should not be an issue to leave BT and WiFi on.

I really believe that energy efficiency has evolved a lot for both WiFi and Bluetooth!