First bad battery day wifi related?

[Scott-n-Houston]

My 42mm SS has never had even close to a full discharge. It usually discharges at about a 24 - 36 hour pace. In other words, that's its pace for losing juice. When I go to bed after having it off the charger for 18 hours or so, it usually has 50 to 40% left.

Well, today, after just 10 hours it's down to 42%.

I haven't really changed how I use it or my interaction with it other than one thing.

I've been home all day and my phone has been upstairs. We are in a pretty big house (5K or so), so it I'm sure it's been searching between bluetooth and wifi all day. Most of the time, it's probably been on WIFI.

Has anyone else noticed a change in battery use when in this situation vs. having your phone nearby all day?

 

[mattnotley2004]

Yes, I notice a significant increase in battery usage when at work where I'm constantly walking away from my phone.

Unfortunately the Apple Watch does not work on my work WiFi due to many access points. I've read elsehwere the Apple Watch will only talk to the same AP radio as the iPhone is connected, not just by SNID but actual MAC address of the AP.

I'm assuming it's constantly trying to connect but just not happening.

 

[Scott-n-Houston]

Mine works fine when connecting to any AP on the network at home or my office. It's about how the network is setup and if it allows ptp between devices across routers etc.

What I started doing at home is, when I know my phone is going to stay stationary, I turn its Bluetooth off and have it and the watch on wifi only.

The reason is, I've noticed when I'm on the outer limits of Bluetooth, it tries hard to continue using Bluetooth to talk to the phone. It seems to resist moving to wifi for as long as possible. This creates performance issues with getting notifications and I'm pretty sure contribute heavily to battery usage. I am guessing that just staying on wifi is better for the battery than the switching back and forth as well as helps performance. I get notifications immediately.

 

[Aluminum213]

I assume walking away from your phone and the watch constantly looking for the Bluetooth connection while also being on the wifi network is going to drain the battery faster

 

[xraydoc]

I can't say for sure it's the OP's issue, but wifi definitely uses more power than BT.

 

[Scott-n-Houston]

Well, today is the next day. I have had it on wifi only most of the day at home with the exception of a trip to the mall, and after 7.5 hours, I still have 83% left. Basically the same usage though.

I really think that when you're at home, if you're going to push the boundaries of BT distance, just turn BT off and use wifi only. That seems to have made a real difference.

I'm also getting my notifications on time too… no delay like I experienced when I left BT on, but was on the boundary of its distance from the phone.

 

[aluminiumj]

Well, today is the next day. I have had it on wifi only most of the day at home with the exception of a trip to the mall, and after 7.5 hours, I still have 83% left. Basically the same usage though.

I really think that when you're at home, if you're going to push the boundaries of BT distance, just turn BT off and use wifi only. That seems to have made a real difference.

I'm also getting my notifications on time too… no delay like I experienced when I left BT on, but was on the boundary of its distance from the phone.

Really good to know, thanks for sharing - that really makes a lot of sense
I shall remember this when my watch shows up sometime this week (fingers crossed!)

 

[Docsteel]

I posted on this last week... I normally end up at the end of the day (11:00 PM) at around maybe 30% at the lowest, never below except twice, where the power rocketed down from full, deep charge to around 30% by the middle of the afternoon

On both days I was using the phone heavily (not through the Watch), and had the phone right there so it shouldn't have been a blue tooth issue. I am thinking that as others have pointed out every time you lift your arm the watch activates and via Siri attempts to listen and see if you have a request. I suspect this is what might cause days with large drops quickly on some days.

 

[Scott-n-Houston]

I posted on this last week... I normally end up at the end of the day (11:00 PM) at around maybe 30% at the lowest, never below except twice, where the power rocketed down from full, deep charge to around 30% by the middle of the afternoon

On both days I was using the phone heavily (not through the Watch), and had the phone right there so it shouldn't have been a blue tooth issue. I am thinking that as others have pointed out every time you lift your arm the watch activates and via Siri attempts to listen and see if you have a request. I suspect this is what might cause days with large drops quickly on some days.

Interesting. That is probably a good theory. I've had other days where my battery drops much more than some, and that's probably a contributing factor.

 

[SpEe1113]

My 42mm SS has never had even close to a full discharge. It usually discharges at about a 24 - 36 hour pace. In other words, that's its pace for losing juice. When I go to bed after having it off the charger for 18 hours or so, it usually has 50 to 40% left.

Well, today, after just 10 hours it's down to 42%.

I haven't really changed how I use it or my interaction with it other than one thing.

I've been home all day and my phone has been upstairs. We are in a pretty big house (5K or so), so it I'm sure it's been searching between bluetooth and wifi all day. Most of the time, it's probably been on WIFI.

Has anyone else noticed a change in battery use when in this situation vs. having your phone nearby all day?

I would bet it's due to searching for the phone's signal, if one is out of range of your wifi network or the signal is week and you're too far for bluetooth to work then that is likely the case. I experienced something similar but noticed significant drain on my iPhone as it was trying to search for the watch (I believe). Haha, but when they're together it's like perfect harmony...LOL, so I think it just comes down to either keeping them connected on the same wifi network and in range, or via bluetooth (which is obviously much much closer distance).