Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
but like I said the 2:30h cycling workout yesterday didn't drain the battery much. I dont have the excact numbers but ended the day with 50%.
 
  • Like
Reactions: xDKP
comparison is not fair but i didnt use LPM today and went to the gym in the morning for 1h. Already at 54 % (yesterday I finished the day with 50%) at 12 pm.

Maybe I will use LPM in the morning + gym (i dont need the AOD there) and turn it off at work.
To set up a plan would be nice
 
Doesn't work with Shortcuts though. What a fail!

I usually set my iPhone to low power mode automatically when the battery drops to 30%. Want to set that for the watch. Turns out you can't. 🙄
 
Doesn't work with Shortcuts though. What a fail!

I usually set my iPhone to low power mode automatically when the battery drops to 30%. Want to set that for the watch. Turns out you can't.

Dann that would be nice. I would have set it up from 4-7 am (I’m in the gym and don’t need AOD) and then again after work from 4-8 pm
 
  • Like
Reactions: matrix07
Sounds like a useful addition, thanks for reporting on it, I was also curious but haven't had a chance to give it a try - I like my always-on-display and background measurements of heart rate and other metrics.

But eventually, I came to the conclusion that AW battery is still super mediocre. They promise you 18hr battery life with realistic use, so when you first get it and don't do much, and make it last ~30hr, you think: "Whoah, we rollin!", and you start thinking it's not so bad, and come up with ways to extend the battery life, like turning AoD off, blood oxygen measurements etc, not using cellular. But the battery is so small that its degradation is felt very acutely, like now my 10 month old AW7 is at 88% of initial capacity and it's showing, I pretty much have to put it on charger twice a day, morning and evening before bed (I do sleep tracking). So now I'm thinking - I'll just use it to the max and let the battery degrade even further until I can replace it under AppleCare+ before my two years are up, I'd rather do that than take away from my AW experience.

TLDR: Low power mode is nice, but I'd really want to see an AW that can reliably last for several days to begin with, otherwise it feels a bit like trying to cure cancer with herbal teas.
 
  • Like
Reactions: xDKP
Update:
Like I said I charged it to 100% yesterday around 10 pm. Slept with it, but low power mode on at 5 am and now it’s 7 pm. Just completed a 2:30h cycling workout and it’s still at 53%.

With a 10 min charge I can go 2 days without a problem!
Great news, it’s about freakin’ time a feature like this was added since they can’t improve battery life from year to year. I thought I was on watch os9 since I was on the beta but just realized I wasn’t (?) weird but updating now, it’s taking a while but I look forward to trying this low power mode out. Sounds like a really useful and welcome feature for me!
 
  • Like
Reactions: xDKP
Sounds like a useful addition, thanks for reporting on it, I was also curious but haven't had a chance to give it a try - I like my always-on-display and background measurements of heart rate and other metrics.

But eventually, I came to the conclusion that AW battery is still super mediocre. They promise you 18hr battery life with realistic use, so when you first get it and don't do much, and make it last ~30hr, you think: "Whoah, we rollin!", and you start thinking it's not so bad, and come up with ways to extend the battery life, like turning AoD off, blood oxygen measurements etc, not using cellular. But the battery is so small that its degradation is felt very acutely, like now my 10 month old AW7 is at 88% of initial capacity and it's showing, I pretty much have to put it on charger twice a day, morning and evening before bed (I do sleep tracking). So now I'm thinking - I'll just use it to the max and let the battery degrade even further until I can replace it under AppleCare+ before my two years are up, I'd rather do that than take away from my AW experience.

TLDR: Low power mode is nice, but I'd really want to see an AW that can reliably last for several days to begin with, otherwise it feels a bit like trying to cure cancer with herbal teas.
I agree with this, sorry to hear about the 88% experience, my AW7 is also about 9-10 months old and even though it says 100% capacity, I can totally relate to this experience, charging it morning and night, sigh.
 
  • Like
Reactions: xDKP
I wonder what LPM does to GPS on S8? Does that mean it goes back to iPhone?

EDIT: Found it. Limited GPS tracking.
 
actually kind of funny that the since the AW5 we have AOD which should not affect battery life compared to the older versions IS now somehow praised as a feature to be turned off in battery saving mode and saves a boatload of battery....

On my Ultra i will turn off raise on wrist, that seems to eat battery. I might end up turning off AOD as well at depending how much LTE is eating the battery (i will use it as a standalone device with cellular)

Plus i have a privacy concern, working closely with people i dont want them to see personal incoming messages from the wify/kids on the display, so will see how and what, i survived 4 year with my AW4 withouth AOD.

Testing it now on my AW4, Battery was at 97% battery life is at 83% let`s see how the drain is the next few hours, not really necessery for my AW as i charge it daily and dont sleep with it.
 
Last edited:
I agree with this, sorry to hear about the 88% experience, my AW7 is also about 9-10 months old and even though it says 100% capacity, I can totally relate to this experience, charging it morning and night, sigh.
This absolutely the issue, my AW4 lasts me for 4 years now since it has been released, battery life at 83% i can get a 5th year out of it, currently charging it overnight and wear it till 10 pm when i go to bed. battery life ranges between 35~50~% still after a day but depends on how many excersizes i record, so far never had a day where i could not get through the day without a battery top up charge.

But the problem is just the capacity/size of the battery, hence i go with the Ultra. No matter what after 3/4 years you need to replace the battery anyway and then you dont have applecare anymore.

so realistically with applecare you want to have the battery replaced within 2 years IF they allowed.

The device can last 4/5 years on the original battery but by the time it has degraded quite a bit, so unlike a iphone you cant really have a flawless experience for a 4/5 year period on your investment at least in my personal experience.

PS i think since AOD and fast charging the battery life has worsen quite a bit and i think that is why AW users of the AW3 and below have really good battery life because less sensors et, but a slightly less efficient cpu
 
Without LPM I’m averaging around 4,5-4,75% drain per hour. Is that too high?
 
Well, loss of AOD is pretty significant in itself, isn't it? You go from from wearing an actual watch to wearing a useless black rectangle on your wrist ... 🤔

You turn your wrist and it wakes right up, or you can tap the screen. I turned off AOD on my Series 6 several months ago to increase battery life and I can still see the time whenever I want.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AlexMac89
You turn your wrist and it wakes right up, or you can tap the screen. I turned off AOD on my Series 6 several months ago to increase battery life and I can still see the time whenever I want.
Not if you're riding a bike and glance down at your wrist to see the time but it's a black screen. Or in the middle of a meeting at work and want to check the time discreetly without twisting your wrist. Or riding a crowded train and holding a hand strap, etc. I found myself in plenty of situations since I got the first Apple Watch where I wanted an AOD ... but if you don't find it annoying, more power to you! Pun intended, of course. lol
 
Not if you're riding a bike and glance down at your wrist to see the time but it's a black screen. Or in the middle of a meeting at work and want to check the time discreetly without twisting your wrist. Or riding a crowded train and holding a hand strap, etc. I found myself in plenty of situations since I got the first Apple Watch where I wanted an AOD ... but if you don't find it annoying, more power to you! Pun intended, of course. lol
for the first point i recommend a bike computer. Life is so much easier with that
 
  • Like
Reactions: mavis
I know you weren't replying to me, but this comment makes no sense. Not needing to see the time on your watch 24/7 doens't mean that you don't need to see the time on your watch at all.
and equally, wearing a watch doesn’t mean that the wearer should have to make do with compromises which using any kind of low power mode would entail. Each of these positions on the matter make exactly the same amount of [no]sense.

It’s plainly obvious that turning off a set of functions, whether it’s packaged as low power mode or not, will extend how long the the watch will last between charges. It’s not some kind of miracle. Personally, I made my watch last for four (yes FOUR) days at a music festival - by switching off various functions, keeping it mostly on theatre mode and, (prepare to have your mind blown) turning it off for 8-10hrs a day while I was resting or sleeping. Incredible!
 
I can’t get updated to 9.0, anyone have an idea why? Or what I need to do? The iphone Watch app Shows the update as if it’s downloaded but it’s not installing. Last night for at least 1-2 hours it was also in this state but it had a progress bar showing and “preparing update”… and still nothing happened and evidently it’s not updated.

Sorry kinda off topic for this thread, but reading here I’d really like to try low power mode!

The watch and phone are both on their chargers and right next to each other.

Edit: Fixed after repeated efforts including turning devices on and off again, waiting, etc.
 
Last edited:
actually kind of funny that the since the AW5 we have AOD which should not affect battery life compared to the older versions IS now somehow praised as a feature to be turned off in battery saving mode and saves a boatload of battery....

Why would AOD not affect battery life??
 
I actually don't see myself using low power mode. It disables the heart rate monitoring and that could be a life saver. I have a Series 3 and a Series 5 and I can usually get either of them to 30-36 hours (or more) a good percentage of the time. The simplest way to do this is put it in Theater Mode. The variable in getting that much life are my workouts, which are usually running on a treadmill at home.

I'm getting an Ultra and will probably do that the majority of the time too. I'm hoping I can put that on in the morning and with Theater Mode I'll hopefully get to the next evening, even with a workout each afternoon. I'll wear the 5 overnight for sleep tracking while the Ultra charges.
 
I actually don't see myself using low power mode. It disables the heart rate monitoring and that could be a life saver.
Yes, I noticed this as put it in low power mode the other night, I like to get a handle on my minimum hr which comes just before I wake up.
I also have noticed that my resting hr is a few bpm less, I’ve not been doing anything different so I’m wondering if the algo has been tweaked.
 
I did a 50k hike, I believe it was well above 8h. I was stupid enough to leave AOD on, and at around 47k I got the dreaded low battery notification. I turned off AOD and started jogging to the end, and barely made it :D

That's when I realized I don't need AOD at all. The only time I have it on for like 20 minutes is when I'm doing my HIIT. For the rest of my week, it's just raise my hand, take a peek, done. It's a completely unnecessary strain on your battery, really.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.