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Orangeman13

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 3, 2015
777
657
im just curious if this helps or hurts your Apple Watch battery.

Thanks!
 

Freakonomics101

macrumors 68030
Nov 6, 2014
2,739
1,798
Nope! Definitely hurts the overall life of the battery. I’ve never seen my watch go below 50%.

End of day I’m at (minimum) 70%. 8 AM to 12 AM.
 

Ntombi

macrumors 68040
Jul 1, 2008
3,798
1,602
Bostonian exiled in SoCal
Not on purpose, and it hasn’t happened yet. This morning, mine got down to 2% before I could charge it. That was the lowest it’s been, but I often get the 10% warning.

I wear it as close to 24/7 as I can, even in the shower (not recommended, but I do it for my safety), so sometimes I don’t plan well and can’t charge it before it gets too low.

Best for the battery is to not let it get too low.
 

akash.nu

macrumors G4
May 26, 2016
10,818
16,897
I never let it drain out completely just for the sake of it. I just use it without thinking much about battery life throughout the day. On my workout days I have around 40-50% left at the end of the day and on other days I have between 60-70% left. So yeah it’s fine for everyday use.

However, I’m on a weekend break now and chose not to carry it because then I had to carry the charger as well which I couldn’t be bothered with.
 

ManicMarc

macrumors 6502
Jul 1, 2012
487
149
Occasionally yes when doing a long run without my phone and music playing. Despite what people say about it being bad for the battery, unless you do it every day and then leave it at 0% for a days at a time, the effect on the battery will be negligible. Also, when it says it’s empty, it’s actually not, as it still has power to show you the power reserve screen. So Apple is protecting us from doing any real damage.
 

44267547

Cancelled
Jul 12, 2016
37,642
42,491
im just curious if this helps or hurts your Apple Watch battery.

Thanks!

Depleting your Apple Watch once in awhile isn’t an issue, However; on a regular basis isn’t healthy for lithium ion cells. The only reason I would ever deplete the Apple Watch would be battery recalibration if the watch battery was frozen at a certain percentage.
 

mrex

macrumors 68040
Jul 16, 2014
3,458
1,527
europe
Occasionally yes when doing a long run without my phone and music playing. Despite what people say about it being bad for the battery, unless you do it every day and then leave it at 0% for a days at a time, the effect on the battery will be negligible. Also, when it says it’s empty, it’s actually not, as it still has power to show you the power reserve screen. So Apple is protecting us from doing any real damage.

Yeah, just use the damn machine.. Why worried about something that cost around 79$(?) if you ever need to replace it under it's lifespan you use it. Full cycling is not a good idea to procedure often with modern batteries and decrease the lifespan of the battery.

But don't leave the Li-ion battery at around 0% for days ever.. it may go too empty to start recharging it. Some cells have protection mechanism that not only protect the battery go too empty but also if the voltage goes too low, it won't start recharging and need a service.
 

Mercenary

macrumors 65816
Sep 17, 2012
1,241
626
Stop. Just stop!

Modern batteries are not harmed by letting them run down because they never truly reach zero. When they turn off your devices actually still have around 10% charge and this is to stop damage.

YES. Letting a lithium ion battery completely discharge will damage it but your device will never completely discharge. See above.

Now, if you let it run down and then leave it in a draw for months it will discharge and damage the cells. That is why they say to charge to 80% if you plan on not using it for a long period of time.

Use your device how you like. Charge when you can. Let it run down, don't, whatever you like. It's all good.
 
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zhenya

macrumors 604
Jan 6, 2005
6,929
3,677
Stop. Just stop!

Modern batteries are not harmed by letting them run down because they never truly reach zero. When they turn off your devices actually still have around 10% charge and this is to stop damage.

YES. Letting a lithium ion battery completely discharge will damage it but your device will never completely discharge. See above.

Now, if you let it run down and then leave it in a draw for months it will discharge and damage the cells. That is why they say to charge to 80% if you plan on not using it for a long period of time.

Use your device how you like. Charge when you can. Let it run down, don't, whatever you like. It's all good.

Not my experience in monitoring the exact capacity of batteries in my devices for many years. Often a single deep discharge is enough to drop 3% or more of total capacity that is never recovered.

It’s doubtful there is 10% idle capacity in a battery as small as that in the AW.
 

mrex

macrumors 68040
Jul 16, 2014
3,458
1,527
europe
Stop. Just stop!

Modern batteries are not harmed by letting them run down because they never truly reach zero. When they turn off your devices actually still have around 10% charge and this is to stop damage.

YES. Letting a lithium ion battery completely discharge will damage it but your device will never completely discharge. See above.

Now, if you let it run down and then leave it in a draw for months it will discharge and damage the cells. That is why they say to charge to 80% if you plan on not using it for a long period of time.

Who says 80%? Battery University has made great number of studies of different kind of batteries under several conditions and Li-ion batteries are better to store at 40% in a room temperature for longer time to loss only little bit from their max capacity. This is from the batteryuniversity.com

Estimated recoverable capacity when storing Li-ion for one year at various temperatures. Elevated temperature hastens permanent capacity loss. Not all Li-ion systems behave the same.

Temperature
40% charge
100% charge


0°C
98% (after 1 year)
94% (after 1 year)

25°C
96% (after 1 year)
80% (after 1 year)

40°C
85% (after 1 year)
65% (after 1 year)

60°C
75% (after 1 year)
60% (after 3 months)

I have stored my old android tablets, phones and a laptop around 40% for years and their batteries are still in good condition.
 
Last edited:

ManicMarc

macrumors 6502
Jul 1, 2012
487
149
The key point is the timescales are measured in months and years. Leaving it flat (or as others have said, around 10%) for a few hours isn't worth worrying about.
 

Knight3

Suspended
Oct 19, 2018
280
272
That is why they say to charge to 80% if you plan on not using it for a long period of time.

You may have your info wrong there. If you’re leaving it for long periods of time you should be charging to 40% and not 80%.
 
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