Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
AW Series 7 battery life worse then S6
- Thread starter shady16
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
After 26 hours since it charged to 100% I now have 79% left of my battery but that is using theatre mode for the whole time.
Still impressive, just over 1% per hour in theatre mode. Note this is using 8.1 that I upgraded to while it was charging yesterday evening. My AW 5 never got under 2%/h even with theatre mode
Still impressive, just over 1% per hour in theatre mode. Note this is using 8.1 that I upgraded to while it was charging yesterday evening. My AW 5 never got under 2%/h even with theatre mode
When I first got the S6, my battery drain was ~2.5% per hour (= 40 hours of life)
With my S7, I am running at ~3.4% per hour (=29 hours of life).
The only real change in usage was that I have Outlook and Zero on my watch face as complications. I have deleted them and going to try to test again.
With my S7, I am running at ~3.4% per hour (=29 hours of life).
The only real change in usage was that I have Outlook and Zero on my watch face as complications. I have deleted them and going to try to test again.
After deleting Outlook and Zero, switched to only stock complications with a darker watch face... battery is still draining at ~3.4% per hour. No idea what is going on with my watch tbh!
My series 7 also uses about 10%more battery than my series 6 with similar setup and usage but, I still have plenty of reserve battery when I put it on the charger at night.
Try reinstalling the OS and see if that helps? That might remove remnants.
Definitely worse battery life here too.
I’m always promoted to charge before bed, but wasn’t with my Series 6 which was down to 91% capacity.
Compounded with the slow/no charging issue that I’m having, it’s really hard to time it in a way that my battery is charged enough to last the night and the next day.
I don’t mind having to charge my watch 1x a day, but now I’m having to squeeze in another charging time often.
I’m always promoted to charge before bed, but wasn’t with my Series 6 which was down to 91% capacity.
Compounded with the slow/no charging issue that I’m having, it’s really hard to time it in a way that my battery is charged enough to last the night and the next day.
I don’t mind having to charge my watch 1x a day, but now I’m having to squeeze in another charging time often.
Battery life is about the same if not slightly worse. I didn’t do any exact measurements but it feels slightly worse - I expected it with the bigger screen and brighter display but I’m such a light user that I could get 2 days if I wanted (even with exercise). At least… I think I can. I charge several times a day (I sit a lot) so my watch rarely sees <60%.
Been keeping an eye on the health too, so far 100%. And yes, it would bug me if I saw 99% after purchasing but I’ve gotten iPhones from Apple that were 97% from factory. Battery wear is rarely a constant curve (at least in my experience). You can drop a few %s in a few months and sit at the same % for 6 months.
Been keeping an eye on the health too, so far 100%. And yes, it would bug me if I saw 99% after purchasing but I’ve gotten iPhones from Apple that were 97% from factory. Battery wear is rarely a constant curve (at least in my experience). You can drop a few %s in a few months and sit at the same % for 6 months.
The trick here is to turn off all the sensors, activity, selected notifications, mindfulness, washing hands, AOD, etc that you are not using and then it won't drain as fast. Sounds dumb but that's seems to be the case. All depends on what is important to you, everyone's battery usage will vary. 
I’m always surprised how well this works.
On my first full cycle after restoring and current running at ~2.7-2.8% per hour. The only settings I didn’t re/enable are unlock iPhone and Mac with Apple Watch. Also haven’t added any cards for Apple Pay yet. Otherwise default settings (Bascially everything on) with 2-3 hours of workout, etc.
30 hours (<3%/hr) before getting to low power mode (10%) is fantastic. With fast charge (when showering), I can basically wear it 24/7/365!
Last edited:
Spoke a bit too soon!
Drained from 100% -> 0% and got 32.5 hours, or 3.1%/hr. Not bad, but a far cry from the 2.6%/hr I used to get on the Series 6.
Give it some time. If this is wildly different from the advertised battery life, you can take it to Apple and get it investigated.
Still quite a bit more than their 18 hour advertised.
My comparable stats on the S6 were also based on the first cycle after a restore - so like for like in that regard.
Cycle 2 just finished - 34.5 hours of life (3AM - 1:30PM), about ~2.9%/hr. A bit more sleep time in this cycle so that could have helped a bit.
About 10-15% worse than the S6, but acceptable given the larger and brighter AOD display.
Last edited:
I also have a 6 - 44 and a 7 - 45, both set up the same, and the 7's battery is far worse than the 6 that I used for more than a year. After a recent AFib scare, I had them both on at the same time and they both read exactly the same for pulse and AFib so I'm good with the accuracy. I can go a little more than a day with the 7, 2 days with the 6. Given that both of these watches are set up the same, I don't get why there is such a pronounced difference.
I've had a better battery life and battery health experience with my Series 7 compared to my Series 5, but the Series 6 is the only Apple Watch that I never purchased.
I’ve also had the best battery life ever with my 45mm Series 7.
I’ve found the biggest battery consumer after cellular to be the background blood oxygen testing.
I’ve found the biggest battery consumer after cellular to be the background blood oxygen testing.