Is this normal? I recently activated cellular on my series 7 watch and since doing so, I end the day with about 30% left compared to 50-60% before activating cellular. I haven’t actually used cellular yet aside from activating it. I‘m always near my phone or on wi-fi. I even checked Verizon’s website and doesn’t show that I’ve used any data. At this point I’m thinking I should disable cellular and only turn it on when needed if that can be done in the settings.
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Reduced battery life after activating cellular
- Thread starter mpaquette
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When your Watch is near your phone, it should be using the phone’s connection. You can test it by going out without your phone, and the battery usage is obviously higher especially if you’re listening to Apple Music streaming and connect your AirPods to the Watch. It’s like dropping 1% every few minutes, much quicker than when it’s connected to the phone.
Give it another day or two after a reboot of both watch and phone and see what happens. The cellular circuitry only turns on when there’s no Bluetooth or wifi connection that the watch can use. Only then does it power on the cellular modem. So leaving it “on” 100% of the time shouldn’t impact battery life.
I’m on my third cellular Apple watch and this is how they’ve all behaved, including my new S7.
Edit: but yes, you can turn on & off cellular independently from the settings if you want.
I’d also recommend using the explorer face for a few days to makes sure you aren’t in cellular when you don’t know it. If I leave my phone in my office, going to the kitchen will put the watch into cellular mode, even though I’m still pretty close to it. You may be in cellular in areas you think you’re still connected to the phone or wifi.
Great tip, thanks. Just added the explorer face to be more aware of when cellular activates.