S5 Extreme Battery Drain When Used away from iPhone

[AXone1814]

I have had a S5 since release but only recently changed networks and activated the cellular function. As such I am now using it indepdently from my phone more and more. I have now noticed since my gym has re-opened and I am going there with just my watch and not my iPhone that I am experiencing really extreme battery drain at the gym. I am talking 70% down to 20% within half an hour of beginning my workout (strength training in the workout app and listening to music, stored locally, on my AirPod Pro's), and then the battery is dead before I reach the 45 min point.

This isn't just a one off as the same thing has happened every day this week. The battery life/drain speed seems to be completely normal when I have my iPhone with me, I run outdoor walk workouts multiple times a day when I walk my dog and the battery drain whilst doing them is as expected.

Surely this can't be normal as this would mean I couldn't even manage a 10k or half marathon run with a full battery without it running out, any suggestions/similar experiences?

 

[mk313]

Definitely not normal. I can get in about 3-4 hours away from phone including two hours of exercising while listening to locally store music and just about m it through the day if I am close to my phone the rest of the time.

 

[antbob]

I'd check cellular connection strength at your gym and try switching cellular off while you there just to see if thats the problem. I have noticed weak connections totally kill Watch battery bc in such situation cellular radio needs more power to transmit and it also triggers retransmits if connection is really weak. If thats the case there is really not much you can do but switch cellular off in known weak areas or carry your iPhone with you which has a bigger battery and better radio/antenna combo. I wish WatchOS handled such situations better and even tho it clearly can it just doesnt.

 

[AXone1814]

I'd check cellular connection strength at your gym and try switching cellular off while you there just to see if thats the problem. I have noticed weak connections totally kill Watch battery bc in such situation cellular radio needs more power to transmit and it also triggers retransmits if connection is really weak. If thats the case there is really not much you can do but switch cellular off in known weak areas or carry your iPhone with you which has a bigger battery and better radio/antenna combo. I wish WatchOS handled such situations better and even tho it clearly can it just doesnt.

Wow thanks for this, you may have hit the nail on the head. The cellular signal in my gym is really intermittent and patchy so this would make perfect sense and might explain why I haven’t experienced the same thing with outdoor workouts.
I’ll try it next time with cellular turned off. Thanks!

 

[waw74]

Wow thanks for this, you may have hit the nail on the head. The cellular signal in my gym is really intermittent and patchy so this would make perfect sense and might explain why I haven’t experienced the same thing with outdoor workouts.
I’ll try it next time with cellular turned off. Thanks!

if you gym has wifi, joining that will keep the battery from draining as quickly also.
and you won't have to turn cellular off, since if the watch will never activate it if it's on wifi

 

[Significant1]

Do you have apple music subscription, because mine did the same when the I tried the trial. It was fighting me about which songs to store on device and kept streaming. I ended the trial before time. It didn't really give me any added benefits, just pain.