How long should an Apple Watch last?

[akash.nu]

Sorry, but a battery wearing out is not the same as a battery expanding, destroying a part of the device and making it unusable. What kind of logic is that? Why can't you expect a battery getting replaced and then using the device for longer? Where does it state that you can not expect more than 3 years life of a device like the Apple Watch?

You can expect anything. That's your choice. However, to expect a company to meet an unrealistic expectation is probably not the right way to go. Battery expansion is part of the wear-out process. Its natural chemistry and the most common cause is overcharge of the battery. To avoid disappointment, I would always suggest people to read up on said technology, rather than assuming something and draw a comparison/conclusion incorrectly.

Having said that, if you replace the battery in time then, of course, the rest of the hardware will work for longer as long as there are no other issues related to the electronics. But as you had suggested earlier, the best option for the OP is to probably get the battery replaced by a third party at this stage.

I went to get my  Watch S4 last year when the S5 came out but Apple's exchange offer was so low that I have now decided to keep it for as long as it functions and then either pass it down to someone or just chuck it in the bin. I am sure I will get at least a couple of years out of it and that is enough value for my money for the aluminium version.

 

[PugMaster]

So, you say it's totally fine and normal for a -say- Series 3 from early 2018 to have a swelling battery that pops the screen off? That would give it a life span of 2 years until it's going to the bin. Nice. You should work for Apple with that mindset.

 

[akash.nu]

So, you say it's totally fine and normal for a -say- Series 3 from early 2018 to have a swelling battery that pops the screen off? That would give it a life span of 2 years until it's going to the bin. Nice. You should work for Apple with that mindset.

I am saying it depends on how the device has been used and how many charge cycles it has been through. Its simple chemistry, not rocket science. I keep my expectations realistic given the size of that battery. My 2013 Macbook Air is still working without issues and I had the battery replaced in 2018. So that's 5 years before it required replacement. The battery didn't swell either. I know people who have been using the same laptop for 10 years. It's all down to usage.

 

[maflynn]

I have a series 0 that still works. Granted the battery usually poops out around 8:00pm, its long stopped getting updates and is not as useful as newer generations.

The watch has latest me almost 5 years, which isn't bad I guess, but then, on the other hand, I still have a watch from high school (what now feels like a 100 years ago), which still works, and only cost me a fraction of what the apple watch cost, and that's the rub for me.

Do I now buy the latest one for 400+ dollars? So far, I've been resistant to spending more money on the watch, but that's just me

 

[Wando64]

I am saying it depends on how the device has been used and how many charge cycles it has been through. Its simple chemistry, not rocket science. I keep my expectations realistic given the size of that battery. My 2013 Macbook Air is still working without issues and I had the battery replaced in 2018. So that's 5 years before it required replacement. The battery didn't swell either. I know people who have been using the same laptop for 10 years. It's all down to usage.

I have never seen a single battery swelling. (I have been using computer equipment since the very first PC)
Never, ever. How lucky am I?
You say: "Its simple chemistry, not rocket science"?
Yes batteries will lose capacity and become useless, but swelling? Never seen one.
The truth is that it is just not supposed to happen, yet it seems to happen in some AWs.

Also, "it depends on how the device has been used"?
I am willing to bet a lot that it has been used by keeping it tied around the wrist and using apps downloaded from the Apple store.
How on earth is anybody going to use a watch any other way? Mining Bitcoins with it?

As for charging it, I see no specific instructions from Apple other than "Position the back of your Apple Watch on the charger." I think it is reasonable to assume the watch has a charge controller built in, otherwise the battery would just explode the very first time you leave it on charge overnight.

I don't mean to be overly antagonistic, but I cannot accept the implication that it must be the user's fault if the battery swells and destroy the watch.
Unless one put their watch in the oven, a swelling battery is not "normal" and it can only be a symptom of a fault or bad design.

 

[akash.nu]

I have never seen a single battery swelling. (I have been using computer equipment since the very first PC)
Never, ever. How lucky am I?
You say: "Its simple chemistry, not rocket science"?
Yes batteries will lose capacity and become useless, but swelling? Never seen one.
The truth is that it is just not supposed to happen, yet it seems to happen in some AWs.

Also, "it depends on how the device has been used"?
I am willing to bet a lot that it has been used by keeping it tied around the wrist and using apps downloaded from the Apple store.
How on earth is anybody going to use a watch any other way? Mining Bitcoins with it?

As for charging it, I see no specific instructions from Apple other than "Position the back of your Apple Watch on the charger." I think it is reasonable to assume the watch has a charge controller built in, otherwise the battery would just explode the very first time you leave it on charge overnight.

I don't mean to be overly antagonistic, but I cannot accept the implication that it must be the user's fault if the battery swells and destroy the watch.
Unless one put their watch in the oven, a swelling battery is not "normal" and it can only be a symptom of a fault or bad design.

Believe it or not, I’ve seen enough battery swelling in my life time.

Having said that, I’ve never implicated it was users fault, but the battery swelling is a common occurrence. It’s just the way battery technology works at present, you denying that won’t change the fact. Unless we improve battery technology as a whole. This is a certainty. Just depends on how long the battery has been in use. Now, there could very well be manufacturing defect with a battery but you can’t categorically say that’s the case.

 

[Wando64]

...the battery swelling is a common occurrence. ...This is a certainty. ...

So common that I’ve never seen one.
I am not saying that it doesn’t happen, in fact I said it seems to have been fairly reported on Apple Watches.
This doesn’t make it an intrinsic characteristic of li-ion batteries, it just makes it common on Apple Watches.

 

[nickdalzell1]

The car analogy is actually really bad when it comes to comparing with consumer tech products. Lithium ion Battery gets measured in charge cycles and wears out as the number of charge cycles increase. This also means the smaller the battery is the faster it wears out due to increased charge cycles. So one can’t really compare an iPhone with a watch or a car with a phone or whatever it is keeping the time as a constant. You need to compare the relative time for the same battery capacity.

I don’t understand why people still expect the everyday consumer devices to last for generations?! At most 2-3 years is what the planned life span is for all these devices. Apple goes above and beyond the industry standards to support their hardware with updated software but that doesn’t automatically make them liable for dealing with hardware failures.

Battery is the most consumable thing in all of these electronic devices we use nowadays and the best option is to keep your expectations in check and get the battery replaced within reasonable time.

By the way an old tv or a vcr lasting for 30 years don’t mean a smart gadget should last the same length of time as well. For a start the compares devices aren’t battery operated and not portable. Space and technology is not at a premium there.

It’s really important that we compare apples to apples.

Well, I got both an iPhone 4 and PowerBook G4 that still have functioning batteries so obviously they can at least last a decade+. I just can't accept disposability with the e-waste problem we're piling up with. People need to really be more aware of the problems associated with consumerism.

 

[bobsamm]

Just because you have something old doesn't make it still any good, just means you havn't thrown it out, are we suppose to have a house full of broken or obsolete stuff forever lol.

 

[nickdalzell1]

"Just because something is old doesn't mean you should throw it away."

~Geordi La Forge, Star Trek: The Next Generation "Relics"

BTW Everything in my house works. I stopped buying anything else I don't need. I don't need a new phone, or a new watch, TV or the works. I know how to repair stuff. New things don't really do anything the last few generations couldn't do. Tech is plateauing.

 

[bobsamm]

lo you have a series 5 watch. apple tv 4k, iPad 6, their not that old.

 

[44267547]

Regarding the battery swelling with the first GEN Apple Watch, no one really knows the true extent of how severe it really was, but obviously was recognized enough for Apple actually had to extend the warranty in order to service customers who were experiencing the battery expanding.

The idea is, if the battery does expand, does the customer invest in having it repaired or do they have the expendable income where they can just ‘replace’ the product with a new one. It’s their choice, there’s no right or wrong answer here.

 

[bobsamm]

Regarding the battery swelling with the first GEN Apple Watch, no one really knows the true extent of how severe it really was, but obviously was recognized enough for Apple actually had to extend the warranty in order to service customers who were experiencing the battery expanding.

The idea is, if the battery does expand, does the customer invest in having it repaired or do they have the expendable income where they can just ‘replace’ the product with a new one. It’s their choice, there’s no right or wrong answer here.

But Nick can fix that no need to throw away

 

[sjinsjca]

Hi. They have just come back to me that their consultant called the store where it was inspected and although the notes provided to me at the time said mild scuffing on the case. They now say the screen is cracked!

they don’t know why the Store consultant didn’t note that in the report given to me.

That's evidence that it wasn't cracked at the time. The damage from the swelling battery sounds like it is progressing.

Add safety concerns to your list of gripes, then.

 

[nickdalzell1]

lo you have a series 5 watch. apple tv 4k, iPad 6, their not that old.

True but I have zero intention of ever buying any more new products after 2019. I'm done. I also still have a PowerBook G4, an iPhone 4, and my main iPhone is a 6S.

 

[44267547]

True but I have zero intention of ever buying any more new products after 2019. I'm done. I also still have a PowerBook G4, an iPhone 4, and my main iPhone is a 6S.

After 2019? We’re already into 2020, so that makes your sentence kind of expired.😁

But hey, the 6s is a stellar phone. One of my all-time favorites.

 

[nickdalzell1]

That means my buying new is done. That's the intent of my last post--my last Apple purchase was Nov 2019-My Apple Watch Series 5

 

[mk313]

That means my buying new is done. That's the intent of my last post--my last Apple purchase was Nov 2019-My Apple Watch Series 5

Not to derail the entire discussion, but I'm genuinely interested here, what happens when one of your current devices stops working reliably? I still have an iPhone 5 (that I no longer use), but it doesn't get nearly the reception that my 7 does, lacking certain bands. What happens when your phone no longer gets a reliable signal? Not trying to argue, just curious as to your plans when those type of things happen. Or when new features come out that don't get supported on your current devices?

 

[PugMaster]

I think the point is that yes, technology evolves and yes, we will be forced to replace them after an appropriate amount of usage time. But with appropriate time I hope we all can agree that this is not one year and not two years. If you *want* to get the latest tech, you can, but you should not be forced to toss a good device like the Apple watch after 2 years because the battery expands or something else totally avoidable happens. That is just a waste of resources. And by the way, you don't toss your old phone if you want to upgrade and it still works, right? You either sell it, or give it away, or donate it, or even bring it to Apple to trade it in. At least I hope nobody tosses an iPhone 11 to upgrade to the 12....

 

[nickdalzell1]

Not to derail the entire discussion, but I'm genuinely interested here, what happens when one of your current devices stops working reliably? I still have an iPhone 5 (that I no longer use), but it doesn't get nearly the reception that my 7 does, lacking certain bands. What happens when your phone no longer gets a reliable signal? Not trying to argue, just curious as to your plans when those type of things happen. Or when new features come out that don't get supported on your current devices?

Oh I've considered that as well. 3G is on its way out as I type. I still got an active older 3G-capable Android phone (as well as the iPhone 4 as a backup) but I've got a couple of modern devices (was experimenting at the time) that support VoLTE so for the moment I'm pretty future-proofed if my 6S one day no longer works or gets busted somehow.

But in regards to the possible end of 4G or LTE and gaps in coverage? I am prepared for that in two ways. First, I still have my Google Voice account (and a few dozen wifi-calling app APKs backed up on a server at home and another source elsewhere). I am near wifi 99% of the time I am near my phone or Apple Watch (Or Galaxy Watches should my watch die an untimely death). So most of my calls and web access and app usage is near wifi. GPS you ask? Genius Maps (Android) and NavFree (iOS). Offline. Also got a Garmin Nuvi stored away. What about internet radio? Premium Slacker subscription and Apple Music subscriptions. What if they end up discontinued? 1,000+ MP3s legally purchased and backed up in the aforementioned storage options from my stint with Google Play Music and Amazon MP3 back in '10.

I'm almost 41 years old now. My dad died still using the original iPhone 2G (lucky for him T-Mobile still supported EDGE at the time). I have no clue how long I'll live but rest assured I'm likely to die before all my devices do. I know how to live life offline since I lived the first 15 years without any internet at all. I don't even expect the Internet to be the way it is today 30 years into the future. I don't even know if it will even exist by then. Who knows? Maybe we'll anger North Korea or Russia and it won't even matter?

Either way I'm happy in my current state and I'm a type who, once set in his ways, would rather not change if what I'm using works perfectly fine for my use, and isn't causing others any harm. I remember the mess that iOS 7 did to me (it might seem small to most but I really loved Skeuomorphism and I have managed to keep it both in iOS 13 as well as Android on some older TouchWiz capable Samsung Phones) and I would rather not go down that road again.

Also, features don't really mean much these days. I use my Galaxy S5 and iPhone 6S for only a few things these days. Music playback (often offline due to holes in some rural areas I hike in), phone calls, messages (mainly via wifi, iMessage or Facebook Messenger), some web access, Podcasts (a Go Vegan Radio one that's downloadable for free as MP3 files), GPS navigation (again, offline), and email. That's pretty much it.

But there's a theme lately. Losing features. Headphone jacks are gone, so are IR blasters, and home buttons. I am not interested in losing features and still paying so much. I am also aware of e-waste and what consumerism does to the planet. I can't shirk what I feel is my footprint in the whole scheme. Nothing made today is even doing that much more than my Galaxy S5 did back in 2014. Sure, some of it is faster, might support some apps I don't have any interest for, and the hardware is shiny and different but what is it actually doing? Not that much.

The only thing I might lose by never updating/upgrading is possibly Apple Pay and Siri. Since Apple Pay isn't vital to live, I can use credit or cash again. Siri? is she really that important?

yes, tech evolves and some folks might feel like it's time to move on. But there are always ways to keep what you got, save a bundle, and enjoy your life without having to deal with the chaos of new things and praying it's compatible with say your internet modem or dealing with bugs in later software; TVs for example. Even those as far back as a vacuum tube console from the '60s will still work today--even with HDMI stuff. There's dongles (there's that word again!) that adapt HDMI to composite as well as composite to RF in, and RF to twin lead. Converter boxes exist for that very purpose to keep an older TV out of the waste bin. My solution to bands changing is wifi--it's pretty much everywhere now--your grocery, tech stores, Target, etc. I'm never far away from wifi and if I am, well, there's always voicemail. I expect there will always be a way and a means to keep old tech going.

There's even Raspberry Pis being used as modem emulators for ancient Apple IIs to get online today.

 

[bobsamm]

Sure your not 81 lol, sound like my old man.

 

[ManicMarc]

I have a friend still rocking the original watch from 2015, and my girlfriend wears the 2016 series 2.

 

[calliex]

My series 0 watch still works. The microphone quit working a while back but I still used it for exercise and everything else. Stills lasts 10 hours on a charge. I got the new series 5. My wife wore my old one for about a month and got a series 5. I wore it everyday and exercised with it and worked in the yard with it. Has a few scuff on the face.

 

[44267547]

My series 0 watch still works. The microphone quit working a while back but I still used it for exercise and everything else. Stills lasts 10 hours on a charge. I got the new series 5. My wife wore my old one for about a month and got a series 5. I wore it everyday and exercised with it and worked in the yard with it. Has a few scuff on the face.

10 hours of battery life is impressive for a first GEN Apple Watch. So that’s approximately almost ~2 hours of battery degradation a year if it was purchased in/around April 2015.

One of the keys to keeping the Apple Watch longevity prolonged, is regularly charging it and not allowing it to completely deplete. I don’t have my first GEN Apple Watch anymore, but there’s no doubt it would easily supersede ~10 hours of battery life today if I still owned it.

 

[nickdalzell1]

Sure your not 81 lol, sound like my old man.

Not that old yet, but I do have that mindset since my great grandfather pretty much raised me when I was little. I got a lot of his stubborn attitude and 'set in my ways' way of life. I always admire such a trait myself. I know many today would rather deride folks who stand their ground though. If you're not a consumerist who 'needs' a new device every year you're grounds for 'OK Boomer' remarks. Sad...