Curious about wildly different Watch discharge values.

[romanof]

My days, especially since Covid, are usually routine and about the same, but my watch seems to think that they vary wildly during the week. I always charge about 8pm, then put it back on thirty or so minutes later. But, at the end of one day the battery may be in the red, charge-wise, but the next end-of-day may show it at 48 percent.

During a week of storms, I never left home, just puttering around the house and I kept a log of end of day battery levels. They were 22, 12, 46, 39, 51, 17 and 38. Most of the time was just sitting at the keyboard, or on the couch with my iphone always with me.

No big deal, just curious, but can anybody give an explanation for such wild discharge results?

 

[cateye]

The only thing I can think of is that your phone and your watch are in constant communication. A day where you were receiving a lot of messages, or notifications, or other information, even if you were using your phone to process those items, might still result in information/updates being silently pushed to your watch. That communication will have a penalty in battery life.

...But even as I say that, I ask myself: would that account for a swing as low as 12 and as high as 51? That seems a stretch. So I'm as confused as you are.

 

[jz0309]

My days, especially since Covid, are usually routine and about the same, but my watch seems to think that they vary wildly during the week. I always charge about 8pm, then put it back on thirty or so minutes later. But, at the end of one day the battery may be in the red, charge-wise, but the next end-of-day may show it at 48 percent.

During a week of storms, I never left home, just puttering around the house and I kept a log of end of day battery levels. They were 22, 12, 46, 39, 51, 17 and 38. Most of the time was just sitting at the keyboard, or on the couch with my iphone always with me.

No big deal, just curious, but can anybody give an explanation for such wild discharge results?

I am not observing that, I see deltas in maybe the 10% (so +/- 5%) range at most, and when there are real big deltas there is always a reason for that (eg 2hr walk with GPS etc).
What model watch/phone and OS versions are you using? what's the current battery health? do you have cellular, and if so, what is the coverage at your home?
And in general, check background refresh settings for every app

 

[romanof]

My watch is a 7 cellular, phone is a 14 pro, both up to date.

Now as to usage, I am a boomer, not a Millennial or later, so my iPhone is just that, a phone, not a device for social connections. After a lifetime career tied to both wired and flip phones ringing at all hours, 24,7,and 365, I would not care if I never heard one ring again.

A few messages and even fewer calls per week. Actually, I find my watch far more useful than the phone, but you can't have one without the other. The cell tower is only a mile and a half away. I can see it from the front yard. Close enough to give my Mac 40mb down with wireless internet. Full bars on the phone, although that has never meant much on any phone I have had.

If this problem was on my Mac or Linux box, I could easily track down what was using power, but for the iphone and watch, I have no clue.

But as the watch has never hit 0 before charge time, it is not a big deal - just a wonder at the strange variations in battery usage.

Edit. Yesterday it was 39% at charge time. Now, about an hour till it put it on the charger, it is down to 16. Both days are/were the same as to activities. I am obviously doing something different with the watch - just not sure what as yet.

 

[arc of the universe]

you wrote:
"I always charge about 8pm, then put it back on thirty or so minutes later."

assuming that your daily battery charge drops anywhere below 50%, then only charging for 30 minutes a day will not give the Watch back to 100% full charge every day.

in my case, i wear my Watch 24/7, except for around 60 minutes just before i go to bed each night.
i have found if i only keep it charging for 45 minutes, then the next day my battery charge gets down to around 15% in which case i definitely need to keep it charging that night for a full 60 minutes.

before i take the Watch off its apple official charger cord, i always check the battery percentage to ensure its 100%.

 

[romanof]

Same here. I leave it on until I get the message about fully charged on my phone. Or tap the table and make the watch display the charge value. Usually fully charges in 30 or 40 minutes.