AW2 battery horrendous, or defective?

[spinedoc77]

I'm coming from Android wear where typically I'd see close to 2 days, even with always on display and working out. So I'm still getting used to the AW and am experiencing horrendous battery life, just something I can't fathom Apple would release. I'm hoping it's user error and I can adjust something.

Today I took the AW2 off the charger at 9am, went to the gym and worked out for 1.5 hours. 1 hour weightlifting and 30 minutes treadmill. I did not stream any kind of music from the watch. It was connected to my 7+ which was in my pocket the entire time. From what I understand the GPS doesn't turn on unless it's out ranged of the phone so I'm not sure if this was the issue. After the gym, around 12pm the AW2 was at 64%, about an hour later I got home and it's at 58%.

Yesterday I worked, took the AW2 off the charger at 8am. Looked at it maybe 2 or 3 times per hour, played with it maybe half dozen times for a couple of minutes. Got home at 8pm and it was at 8%.

So my question is, does this seem normal? It seems like it may last a "work day" if I don't work out, but it certainly won't last me the entire day if I work out in the morning. And even if it lasts me all day at work, if I want to go to a social event, dinner or late night stuff it won't last me. I'm convinced my unit maybe is defective because this doesn't make sense for it to have such terrible battery life.

 

[noobinator]

Try to un-pair / re-pair. That doesn't sound right on your day with little usage.

 

[testcard]

Worth trying an un-pair and re-pair cycle with your Watch. This can fix a multitude of issues and takes less than an hour.

 

[44267547]

I'm coming from Android wear where typically I'd see close to 2 days, even with always on display and working out. So I'm still getting used to the AW and am experiencing horrendous battery life, just something I can't fathom Apple would release. I'm hoping it's user error and I can adjust something.

Today I took the AW2 off the charger at 9am, went to the gym and worked out for 1.5 hours. 1 hour weightlifting and 30 minutes treadmill. I did not stream any kind of music from the watch. It was connected to my 7+ which was in my pocket the entire time. From what I understand the GPS doesn't turn on unless it's out ranged of the phone so I'm not sure if this was the issue. After the gym, around 12pm the AW2 was at 64%, about an hour later I got home and it's at 58%.

Yesterday I worked, took the AW2 off the charger at 8am. Looked at it maybe 2 or 3 times per hour, played with it maybe half dozen times for a couple of minutes. Got home at 8pm and it was at 8%.

So my question is, does this seem normal? It seems like it may last a "work day" if I don't work out, but it certainly won't last me the entire day if I work out in the morning. And even if it lasts me all day at work, if I want to go to a social event, dinner or late night stuff it won't last me. I'm convinced my unit maybe is defective because this doesn't make sense for it to have such terrible battery life.

I'm not trying to make you feel your Apple
watch 2 is defective or anything, but it seems Series 2 has had not the best reported battery life. The screen brightness, heart rate monitor and 'Hey Siri' can also contribute to a decrease in the battery.

But for your battery life to be at 8%, seems
Extreme for a 12 hour duration. I don't believe this is normal. I believe you just purchased it, which give you the 14 days to exchange or return. As others have mentioned, try re-pairing. Report back and let us know if anything changed.

 

[Long Run Nick]

I had similar issues when I got mine a week ago. I tried a simple power off and then back on. It worked. My battery is going down about 1.5% per hour. With GPS/HR outdoor running using about 15% per hour.

 

[berggren.anders]

I had a similar experience, and started a test where I test different things and write down the battery each hour (https://www.reddit.com/r/AppleWatch/comments/54eqd8/all_my_series_1_battery_observations_continuous/).

For me, power cycling (rebooting) once a day helps. It get's me an idle drain of 1-2%/h. If I don't, I get a significantly larger idle drain, around 4-6%/h. I hope watchOS 3.1 fixes this.

 

[spinedoc77]

Thanks guys, I repaired it and will see how it goes. My screen is at 50% brightness. I do have the HR sensor on though. I'm going to limit background apps to 3 or 4 as well. If not then I'll have Apple take a look at it.

 

[Mr.Blacky]

Just out of curiosity, whatˋs your usage- and standby time on your watch?

 

[spinedoc77]

I had similar issues when I got mine a week ago. I tried a simple power off and then back on. It worked. My battery is going down about 1.5% per hour. With GPS/HR outdoor running using about 15% per hour.

1.5% per hour would be phenomenal.
[doublepost=1476394766][/doublepost]

Just out of curiosity, whatˋs your usage- and standby time on your watch?

Not sure, it doesn't show anything only says "Usage times will be shown after Apple Watch is fully charged"

 

[lordofthereef]

To help you with your gps question, thisnisnnever going to be on outside of outdoors activity selection (or a third party app). You can walk away from the phone as much as you like.

As far as your battery life, it seems to have gone down faster. But you're definitely not going to get two days out of it if you're working out. It's definitely a charge every day device stil.

 

[spinedoc77]

To help you with your gps question, thisnisnnever going to be on outside of outdoors activity selection (or a third party app). You can walk away from the phone as much as you like.

As far as your battery life, it seems to have gone down faster. But you're definitely not going to get two days out of it if you're working out. It's definitely a charge every day device stil.

I'm ok with charging every night, as long as I can get a full day out of it. Full meaning a workout in the morning, and able to use it until after a late night social event. Maybe not that much every day, but some days that is what I need.

On the GPS question, if I'm out of range of my phone I was under the impression the watch GPS kicks in so I'd rather take my phone with me if I'm mountain biking or exercising and save the watch battery.

It seems better after repairing, turning off Siri, limiting background apps (although I still have 10 of them), and turning Siri and emergency call off. Took it off the charger about 8 hours ago at 100%, and now it's down to 74%, but I've barely used it.

 

[tromboneaholic]

The word is 3.1 beta improves battery life tremendously. Hopefully we'll get it soon, but I'm currently able to make it through the day...

 

[xraydoc]

I hope this isn't normal for the series 2. My original watch, now ~18 months old, still has 40+% left after putting on at 7am and taking off at midnight.

 

[lordofthereef]

I'm ok with charging every night, as long as I can get a full day out of it. Full meaning a workout in the morning, and able to use it until after a late night social event. Maybe not that much every day, but some days that is what I need.

On the GPS question, if I'm out of range of my phone I was under the impression the watch GPS kicks in so I'd rather take my phone with me if I'm mountain biking or exercising and save the watch battery.

It seems better after repairing, turning off Siri, limiting background apps (although I still have 10 of them), and turning Siri and emergency call off. Took it off the charger about 8 hours ago at 100%, and now it's down to 74%, but I've barely used it.

It won't just "kick in" unless you are using the workout. Based on your responses I'm unsure if this is clear or not. You won't innately start using gps by leaving your phone behind. If you're using an app that requires gps (right now this is workout apps only) then yeah, it will go on.

It should last a day for sure. You made it sound like it did but you were expecting two days. Or at least that's how I understood it. The first day I used mine I was down to 54%. The rest of the days have been 70 or higher. Some folks on the forum claim BS on my claims but I'm also only getting 7-9% battery drain in a ONE hour gps run. Don't really know what to say; this is a 42mm device.

If you haven't re paired yet I would start there.

 

[kfury77]

The word is 3.1 beta improves battery life tremendously. Hopefully we'll get it soon, but I'm currently able to make it through the day...

I installed WatchOS 3.1 Beta yesterday morning and the battery life change is incredible. It literally lasts twice as long. I have a new Series 1 Apple Watch and with OS 3.0 I always went to bed with the battery level at about 5% every night... now it last twice as long. The battery doesn't drain much at at all when not being actively used. Very happy about this.

 

[avkam]

One week with a AW S2 42mm. Battery life has been good I think. Normally I charge before sleeping from 20-40% to 80+ %, which is very ideal charging method for a lithium ion batteries. Workout minutes per day has been about one hour or little less.
Edit: I don't wear it while sleeping (flight mode from 11pm-7am).

 

[blwade]

I've been doing the charge for a little bit before bed, sleep track at night, top off while showering/getting ready in the morning with my 42 mm series 2.

There are mornings when I wake up and my watch is at ~95-97% and there are mornings when I wake up (like this morning) and my watch is around ~85% (this is after topping it off at 100% the night before in both cases).

As others have said, restarting the watch regularly seems to help the drain. There is something process that gets stuck after the watch is on for a while that causes excessive battery drain...

Funny thing is, I asked someone I know with a S0 and they said they aren't experiencing this.

 

[spinedoc77]

It won't just "kick in" unless you are using the workout. Based on your responses I'm unsure if this is clear or not. You won't innately start using gps by leaving your phone behind. If you're using an app that requires gps (right now this is workout apps only) then yeah, it will go on.

It should last a day for sure. You made it sound like it did but you were expecting two days. Or at least that's how I understood it. The first day I used mine I was down to 54%. The rest of the days have been 70 or higher. Some folks on the forum claim BS on my claims but I'm also only getting 7-9% battery drain in a ONE hour gps run. Don't really know what to say; this is a 42mm device.

If you haven't re paired yet I would start there.

The GPS kicks in if I choose an outdoor workout and if I'm out of Bluetooth range of my iPhone, from what I understand. I wasn't expecting 2 days, although I wish that were true. I was hoping for a "full" day, meaning a workout in the early morning and all the way through a late night social event, let's say 7am to 11pm would be nice.

[doublepost=1476455239][/doublepost]Today it's been decent. I took it off the charger at 7:30am. No workout, I've only glanced at it maybe a dozen times but have not played with it at all. HR is on, but most everything else is off, brightness about half. It's 3 hours later and I'm at 97%, woohoo. So far the only variable I'm afraid of is working out, otherwise the re-pairing seems to have helped.

 

[Julien]

The GPS kicks in if I choose an outdoor workout and if I'm out of Bluetooth range of my iPhone, from what I understand....

.....Outdoor Walk, Outdoor Run, Outdoor Cycle or Open Swim.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

The GPS kicks in if I choose an outdoor workout and if I'm out of Bluetooth range of my iPhone, from what I understand. I wasn't expecting 2 days, although I wish that were true. I was hoping for a "full" day, meaning a workout in the early morning and all the way through a late night social event, let's say 7am to 11pm would be nice.

[doublepost=1476455239][/doublepost]Today it's been decent. I took it off the charger at 7:30am. No workout, I've only glanced at it maybe a dozen times but have not played with it at all. HR is on, but most everything else is off, brightness about half. It's 3 hours later and I'm at 97%, woohoo. So far the only variable I'm afraid of is working out, otherwise the re-pairing seems to have helped.

REMOVE ALL APPS FROM DOCK and don't worry about any other settings. I do a 30min run in the morning(7am) daily, and by the end of the day(6pm) with normal usage, I'm always above 50%, many times still in the 70% range.

The only way I've been able to achieve that battery life, is removing all apps from the dock. Even with Weather, Calendar, Battery, Messages, and Email as my complications on the watch face, battery is still good. I also have background refresh for all apps enabled.

 

[Resqu2]

Op do you have a 38 or 42mm? My 42mm S2 comes off charge at 6am and doesn't go back on charge till 3 days later. This includes a 45 minute run one day and a bike ride the next day. I take calls and respond to lots of text using Siri. I average a 25% drop in battery each day. I charge it ever 3 days so I don't risk running out of battery late in the 4th day. My wife's 38mm would not go 2 full days but one long 15 hour day is no problem for hers.

 

[canvasback13]

i have only had my AW2 for a day, but battery life seems significantly better than my AW1. I charged it around 11am yesterday, set it up and didn't recharge till 4pm today. I was at 68% after almost a day and half with moderate usage.

 

[drnycallstar19]

I have the Apple Watch 2 and the battery is great for me. The first day I noticed that there was a heavy drain, but i also noticed that the green light for the heart rate monitor was always on. Reset the watch (just turned it off and back on) and it's been great ever since. I have a standby of 10 hours and 21 minutes and Usage of 2 hours and 37 minutes today and I'm still at 70%.

 

[spinedoc77]

REMOVE ALL APPS FROM DOCK and don't worry about any other settings. I do a 30min run in the morning(7am) daily, and by the end of the day(6pm) with normal usage, I'm always above 50%, many times still in the 70% range.

The only way I've been able to achieve that battery life, is removing all apps from the dock. Even with Weather, Calendar, Battery, Messages, and Email as my complications on the watch face, battery is still good. I also have background refresh for all apps enabled.

Really? Wow, I'll give it a try. I'm assuming the docked apps stay somehow resident in memory sucking up battery or something? Also do complications decrease battery life? It makes sense, but I never thought about it. I max out my complications, including HR with cardiogram. But if I turn off complications then that kind of takes a large part of the utility of the watch away.

For the record I'm pretty happy today, but at the same t ime I feel there was a trade off in getting good battery life. Off charger at 7:30am, now it's 10pm and I'm at 71%, very nice. But I didn't use it all day, other than glancing at some alerts, I'd say I probably looked at it 5 or 6 times per hour. So while it seems like good battery life, when you factor in that there is no always on display, and if you count up the seconds I used it, it's suddenly not that good.
[doublepost=1476497185][/doublepost]

I have the Apple Watch 2 and the battery is great for me. The first day I noticed that there was a heavy drain, but i also noticed that the green light for the heart rate monitor was always on. Reset the watch (just turned it off and back on) and it's been great ever since. I have a standby of 10 hours and 21 minutes and Usage of 2 hours and 37 minutes today and I'm still at 70%.

Did you turn off the HR sensor? Or just restart? It would stink to lose the functionality of the always on HR sensor.

 

[jonnysods]

For me there's a huge decrease in battery life over the gen 1. So much so that I try to use my phone for Runkeeper instead of using my watch as it's toast after a 1 hour bike ride even though my phone is with me.

Hoping 3.1 is life changing.