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Battery life - not impressed

CmdrLaForge

CmdrLaForge

macrumors 601
Original poster
Feb 26, 2003
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around the world
:( Used my Apple Watch 42 mm for the first full day today and I am less then impressed by the battery life.

Took it on this morning at 7am - at 8 pm tonight the watch went into power savings mode. Not great. Of course first day with the watch I used it maybe more then I would usual but not to much as least not as what I would think.

I am wondering if I have a lemon because the reviewers in general did not have any issues in regards to this.
 
CmdrLaForge said:
:( Used my Apple Watch 42 mm for the first full day today and I am less then impressed by the battery life.

Took it on this morning at 7am - at 8 pm tonight the watch went into power savings mode. Not great. Of course first day with the watch I used it maybe more then I would usual but not to much as least not as what I would think.

I am wondering if I have a lemon because the reviewers in general did not have any issues in regards to this.
Click to expand...

heavy use today, played with it a lot. Took it off the charger at 4:30am. Its now 3:46pm and I'm at 54%
 
CmdrLaForge said:
:( Used my Apple Watch 42 mm for the first full day today and I am less then impressed by the battery life.

Took it on this morning at 7am - at 8 pm tonight the watch went into power savings mode. Not great. Of course first day with the watch I used it maybe more then I would usual but not to much as least not as what I would think.

I am wondering if I have a lemon because the reviewers in general did not have any issues in regards to this.
Click to expand...

Apple said up to 18 hours. You don't have a lemon.
 
What sort of things did you do with it? Did you go for long runs, use the activity tracker, check notifications a lot, or play music and take calls? So far, I've had the watch on for 5 hours and it's used 18% (it's a 38mm), which seems pretty good so far.
 
I've been using mine pretty heavily today testing stuff (Workout, navigation, apps etc) and am still on 57% so i'm really impressed.
 
After one day of use you're wondering if you have a lemon because review people didn't have issues and you do?

After ONE day?
 
jjlannoo said:
heavy use today, played with it a lot. Took it off the charger at 4:30am. Its now 3:46pm and I'm at 54%
Click to expand...

Thats sounds much better then my own experience.

One thing is that I used the activity tracker while walking for about 1:30hours. Maybe that did run the battery down?

Maybe I have a lemon. I will see how it does tomorrow. Maybe I call Apple Support on Monday.
 
Last edited:
Capsicum said:
That sounds like it. Take a look at this https://www.apple.com/watch/battery.html
Click to expand...

Well, yes that could be it. I hope so. What I just read what really impresses me is this:

Power Reserve
Up to 72 hours

If your battery gets too low, Apple Watch automatically switches into Power Reserve mode so you can continue to see the time for up to 72 hours. Testing conducted by Apple in March 2015 using preproduction Apple Watch and software with 4 time checks (4 seconds each) per hour. Battery life varies by use, configuration, and many other factors; actual results will vary.
Click to expand...

I am wondering how long the watch will work if I put it into Power Reserve when the battery is at 100%.
 
I'm surprised to hear this. I took it off the charger at 5:30am est. It is now 5:00pm, and I still have 58% left. This is the 38mm
 
Eighteen hours of usage and four charges, all partial, I'm suitably impressed for the tiny space they had to work with.

Apple has done a good job of compromise. Every product is a series of compromises to bring to market a well balanced device.
 
That doesn't sound quite right. My battery life is great.

Took it off the charger at 9am. It's been 8 hours. I've been using it off and on all day. It's at 70%.
 
So . . . second day...

Today is much much better. I didn't use the activity tracker. I put the watch on at 9 am in the morning and this evening at 9 pm I was still at 56% charged after 12 hours !!!

I didn't use the watch a lot but my todays experience is of course just fine.
 
Denziloshamen said:
Three weeks if 10% gives you 72 hours!!!
Click to expand...

Actually, you could get more than three weeks. More like 4-5+ weeks if you kept it in power reserve from 100%. See my explanation below.

CmdrLaForge said:
Well, yes that could be it. I hope so. What I just read what really impresses me is this:



I am wondering how long the watch will work if I put it into Power Reserve when the battery is at 100%.
Click to expand...

Just doing some basic math, but if you can get 72 hours of battery at 10%, you can get at least 720 hours (30 days) of battery in power reserve mode from 100% battery. The reason I say at least 720 hours is because even when my watch was at 3% battery, it still said there were >2 days of battery life if it was in power reserve mode. If that's true, the Watch could actually be used for 50+ days in power reserve mode from 100%. That's simply awesome.

Also, to contribute to the thread: My battery life has been wonderful. Here's the most I've gotten :

From 100% to dead
Usage: 6 hours, 9 minutes
Standby: 1 day, 3 hours.
 
CmdrLaForge said:
:( Used my Apple Watch 42 mm for the first full day today and I am less then impressed by the battery life.

Took it on this morning at 7am - at 8 pm tonight the watch went into power savings mode. Not great. Of course first day with the watch I used it maybe more then I would usual but not to much as least not as what I would think.

I am wondering if I have a lemon because the reviewers in general did not have any issues in regards to this.
Click to expand...

I personally think the battery is a lot better than I expected!!!
 
Hi

First day with mine. Off charger at 7.30 am. Some good use all day. Bit of Instagram, texting, two three min phone calls. Lots of messing with the watch face :)

Now almost 10.30pm and at 14 percent. Traveling for the day tomorrow, first chance to use it as a boarding card :)
In theory will be off charge from 5.15am through to 9pm. Will see how it goes.

Have checked and it does charge from the the portable battery I carry for the phone on my day journey.

Josh
 
CmdrLaForge said:
:( Used my Apple Watch 42 mm for the first full day today and I am less then impressed by the battery life.

Took it on this morning at 7am - at 8 pm tonight the watch went into power savings mode. Not great. Of course first day with the watch I used it maybe more then I would usual but not to much as least not as what I would think.

I am wondering if I have a lemon because the reviewers in general did not have any issues in regards to this.
Click to expand...

look through the forums, there are many people who have had a great battery experience with it. I don't think you have a lemon, but I do think normal usage for you could be considered excessive to other people.
 
CmdrLaForge said:
So . . . second day...

Today is much much better. I didn't use the activity tracker. I put the watch on at 9 am in the morning and this evening at 9 pm I was still at 56% charged after 12 hours !!!

I didn't use the watch a lot but my todays experience is of course just fine.
Click to expand...

Yup, the exercise app/activity trackers drains the battery at an alarming rate.
 
CmdrLaForge said:
I did the math after reviewing the numbers apple states on its site and it could be very well the activity tracker...
Click to expand...

The activities constantly measure your heart rate, which saps battery. If you're brisk walking you will still fill up the activity ring without running the activity app.
 
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