Battery Life Is Great... Here's How to Improve It

[MICHAELSD]

On my second full day with the Watch, mine is at 15% with roughly 4 hours of use and 7 hours of standby. This was with the screen on full brightness and all features/notifications turned on. I wouldn't be surprised if it reached 4.5-5 hours before dying; this would put it in-line with pre-iPhone 5 iPhones which is pretty impressive considering its size.

Here are some tips I've compiled from reading the forum and through my own testing/common sense:

Disable "hey Siri" for marked improvements. This feature barely works for me but is useful when it does . Not a huge loss. The microphone not constantly listening while the Watch is on should make a difference.

Disable notifications from apps you don't care about it, even if they barely send them.

Disable the heart rate monitor caloric readings for workouts. The difference between using the heart rate monitor and not using it for caloric readings is negligible.

While I've yet to test these, I believe they could push the Watch to get over 5+ hours of usage which should be plenty. Any more usage throughout the day and you may have a bigger problem with addiction .

Update: Also, disabling always-on location service apps on your iPhone could help. As well as the ten-minute heart rate readings. Seems pointless anyway: take measurements when needed.

 

[Newtons Apple]

On my second full day with the Watch, mine is at 15% with roughly 4 hours of use and 7 hours of standby. This was with the screen on full brightness and all features/notifications turned on. I wouldn't be surprised if it reached 4.5-5 hours before dying; this would put it in-line with pre-iPhone 5 iPhones which is pretty impressive considering its size.

Here are some tips I've compiled from reading the forum and through my own testing/common sense:

Disable "hey Siri" for marked improvements. This feature barely works for me but is useful when it does . Not a huge loss. The microphone not constantly listening while the Watch is on should make a difference.

Disable notifications from apps you don't care about it, even if they barely send them.

Disable the heart rate monitor caloric readings for workouts. The difference between using the heart rate monitor and not using it for caloric readings is negligible.

While I've yet to test these, I believe they could push the Watch to get over 5+ hours of usage which should be plenty. Any more usage throughout the day and you may have a bigger problem with addiction .

Hmmm. I like this things and use the HR sensor and Siri all the time. Still putting on the charger at the end of the day at 30-40% remaining. This includes at least one exercise period with constant HR for about 40 minutes a day.

4 hours of use on the watch is a lot.

 

[MICHAELSD]

Hmmm. I like this things and use the HR sensor and Siri all the time. Still putting on the charger at the end of the day at 30-40% remaining. This includes at least one exercise period with constant HR for about 40 minutes a day.

4 hours of use on the watch is a lot.

I've yet to test myself but I'll probably disable "Hey Siri" when out in public since I'm not going to say that out loud and I'll compare the heart rate caloric readings to what it's like without it. It worked perfectly the first day but I've been having issues with it. (It's not disabling Siri, just the "Hey Siri" feature.) I do believe disabling notifications for as many apps as possible helps the devices communicate less.

 

[MrGimper]

I'm using it during a 15-16 hour period each day, and still charging at the end of the day with 45-55% battery remaining

In fact, I've upped the screen brightness to 100% because I have so much battery spare lol.

 

[Crazy Matt]

I have hey Siri on, brightness at high, haptic at high, prominent haptic on, bold text on, raise wrist on. Get 20-40 notifications/texts a day, check time frequently. I do not have the battery % complication turned on on any of my faces. Here's where I was at when I went to bed last night. 38mm SS. I have not done the 1.0.1 update.

 

[Aniseedvan]

I've turned off the battery % complication and so far at 75% after being off charge since 8am ish. iI was in my bag for hour at the pool, but still seems to be an improvement over yesterday.

 

[Crazy Matt]

I must have got a "secret special edition" designed for Tim Cook himself! Lol JK, but here's where I'm at today. Off the charger at 7am. 38mm SS.

 

[tdll13]

I don't get how people are getting such good battery life. This is my 3rd full day with the watch. Today I have only used it for one workout period of 60 minutes and to check time and incoming text messages. So in five hours of wear time I'm at 60%. This is basically the results I have gotten each day. It enters power reserve mode around 3-4pm. What gives?

 

[Crazy Matt]

I don't get how people are getting such good battery life. This is my 3rd full day with the watch. Today I have only used it for one workout period of 60 minutes and to check time and incoming text messages. So in five hours of wear time I'm at 60%. This is basically the results I have gotten each day. It enters power reserve mode around 3-4pm. What gives?

A couple of posts above shows how I typically end my day around 50%. However, one day I used it to track an outside bicycle ride for 2 1/2 hours, I ended that day with 13%. So given my typical numbers that 2 1/2 hour ride ate up around 40% of my battery.

 

[papbot]

I've yet to test myself but I'll probably disable "Hey Siri" when out in public since I'm not going to say that out loud

As far as I understand it "Hey Siri" only works when the screen is active. At least that's the way it has been for me on two different watches. Unless you're constantly raising your arm and wrist it shouldn't make much of a difference. But it won't hurt. One thing that did make a big difference for me was to enable "Reduce Transparency" in the Accessibility settings on the watch app on my phone. I noticed the improvement the first day. It also makes notifications much easier to read. I've also read that enabling "Reduce Motion" can also improve it but I have not done that.

 

[Unconsoled]

I have yet to get mine below 42%. I put it on at 5am, run at least a half hour and listen to music on my BT headphones, texts, alerts, brightness on full, prominent haptic on. Take it off at about 10pm. I am more than impressed with battery life.

 

[Dukecitydawg]

I don't get how people are getting such good battery life. This is my 3rd full day with the watch. Today I have only used it for one workout period of 60 minutes and to check time and incoming text messages. So in five hours of wear time I'm at 60%. This is basically the results I have gotten each day. It enters power reserve mode around 3-4pm. What gives?

Had the same problem until I wiped the Watch and did not install third-party apps (and did not activate the Activity function, which I don't use anyway). Yesterday my watch tanked before 2 PM. Today I am at 71% seven hours into the day. Still not amazing, but a lot better.

 

[wvuQuentin]

My first day was terrible where it seemed to have some app with location services running all day (Runkeeper or Strava). Today, after turning off some notifications and deleting some useless apps that autoinstalled, I'm at 74% after over 11 hrs since the last charge and 1hr and 23 minutes of usage. Very pleased with the battery so far.

 

[MoodyM]

What does Reduce Transparency do?

 

[Pez555]

On my second full day with the Watch, mine is at 15% with roughly 4 hours of use and 7 hours of standby. This was with the screen on full brightness and all features/notifications turned on. I wouldn't be surprised if it reached 4.5-5 hours before dying; this would put it in-line with pre-iPhone 5 iPhones which is pretty impressive considering its size.

Here are some tips I've compiled from reading the forum and through my own testing/common sense:

Disable "hey Siri" for marked improvements. This feature barely works for me but is useful when it does . Not a huge loss. The microphone not constantly listening while the Watch is on should make a difference.

Disable notifications from apps you don't care about it, even if they barely send them.

Disable the heart rate monitor caloric readings for workouts. The difference between using the heart rate monitor and not using it for caloric readings is negligible.

While I've yet to test these, I believe they could push the Watch to get over 5+ hours of usage which should be plenty. Any more usage throughout the day and you may have a bigger problem with addiction .

Aren't you defeating the point of owning the Apple watch by disabling all of these?

Call me crazy but I would rather have these features enabled/switched on and actually use my watch.

The daily charge doesn't bother me in the slightest as it's just an extra plug next to my iPhone charger which I already charge every night anyway.

 

[MICHAELSD]

Aren't you defeating the point of owning the Apple watch by disabling all of these?

Call me crazy but I would rather have these features enabled/switched on and actually use my watch.

The daily charge doesn't bother me in the slightest as it's just an extra plug next to my iPhone charger which I already charge every night anyway.

You still have Siri, you still have important notifications, and you still have caloric tracking. This is for power users that run through the battery before the end of the day.

Also, disabling always-on location service apps on your iPhone could help.