Terrible battery life

[Bazooka-joe]

I only hope they can do something about the software or battery technology otherwise the S6 wont be able to offer anything extra without a detrimental effect on what is already being reported to be a decline in battery longetivity

 

[PBz]

What I will say is my old AW3 SSSB 44mm had the best battery life of any Apple watch I have had. My AW4 didn't come near it. AW3 easily 2 days and some. AW4 I would get 1 day and charge in the morning.

AW5 near to my AW4 now.

For those coming from a AW3 I think you would have been disappointed with a AW4 battery life.

I think in a stretch my AW4 could go slightly more than 48 hours. 2 days is my average.

 

[Mercenary]

People thought fall detection was a battery killer when the s4 came out. Was bogus though and had no effect on the end.

Fall detection is good for all ages. I’m under 65 and passed out taking a piss, 4 inch gash in my head and a ride in an ambulance. Didn’t have an aw then but wife let me have one after.

 

[James.K.Polk]

Unfortunately, count me in for the terrible battery club.

Woke at 6 AM and down to 40% at 3 PM, without workouts or really any use at all. Anything I did should have been off-screen (deleting a few apps). Charging it now as I want to get a run in this afternoon and don’t want it to die on me.

I returned the Series 3 (bargain!) after realizing the Series 5 was always-on for Workout.app... but this is awful! Really hope it’s a software issue.

 

[N54TT]

Mine has been getting better every day. the first day I was draining about 4.4% per hour. So far for today I’m dropping 2.9% per hour. Coincidentally updated to 13.1.1 in the morning yesterday.

 

[Mad4clay]

Unfortunately, count me in for the terrible battery club.

Woke at 6 AM and down to 40% at 3 PM, without workouts or really any use at all. Anything I did should have been off-screen (deleting a few apps). Charging it now as I want to get a run in this afternoon and don’t want it to die on me.

I returned the Series 3 (bargain!) after realizing the Series 5 was always-on for Workout.app... but this is awful! Really hope it’s a software issue.

Me too!

 

[batman75]

Yesterday (first day) my battery life was abysmal. Woke up at 8am and by 11 it was down to 70%. By 11pm it was 20%.

What I changed was to switch off the background noise monitoring. I am still running maximum brightness because the brightness of the AW5 is abysmal. Also running raise to wake, AOD, fall detection and other key features.

Today I woke up at 8am and it is 76% at 415pm.

 

[Nonentity]

I only hope they can do something about the software or battery technology otherwise the S6 wont be able to offer anything extra without a detrimental effect on what is already being reported to be a decline in battery longetivity

That’s not necessarily true, the S5 has the pretty much the same processor as the 4. Apple could eek out more power efficiency with a new chip next year.

Combine that with the new battery design in to 40mm this year (10% increase) and rumours of a MicroLED display, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a decent increase in battery life next year. Maybe even enough to add sleep tracking...

 

[Bazooka-joe]

That’s not necessarily true, the S5 has the pretty much the same processor as the 4. Apple could eek out more power efficiency with a new chip next year.

Combine that with the new battery design in to 40mm this year (10% increase) and rumours of a MicroLED display, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a decent increase in battery life next year. Maybe even enough to add sleep tracking...

Yes good point. I forgot about the MicroLED. That should make a big difference

 

[linusto]

I say S5 is a flop. Turn off everything and it’ll last the whole day🤣. Love my S4

Not sure what you mean by "turn off everything". In my case, notifications were on, background app refresh was still on, AOD still on. Only things off were fall detection and background noise - I had that off on my S4 as well because I could care less about that feature. Up this morning at 6am, turned fall detection back on (so only background noise off), and now it's 4:30pm. Battery going strong at 65%. Incidentally, I've been wearing a short sleeve shirt so brightness slightly higher with the AOD and still great results. I think I might actually get well over a day of use with this watch. Love my S5.

Incidentally, given the AOD, I decided to try disabling wake screen on wrist raise just now. I actually prefer the watch this way.

 

[Storm312]

Update: after a week of bad series 5 battery life, I went into watch background refresh settings and turned off a bunch of things I didn’t need (hearing, compass, Walkie talkie, couple third party things, etc). After that, I power cycled the watch. Next day battery was stellar again. Half way through the day and I’m at 85%.

EDIT: Fix mobile autocorrect.

 

[linusto]

Update: after a week of bad series 5 battery life, I went into watch background refresh settings and turned off a bunch of things I didn’t need (hearing, compass, Wallis talkie, couple third party things, etc). After that, I power cycled the watch. Next day battery was stellar again. Half way through the day and I’m at 85%.

Sweet. Maybe I'll give this a go and see how much further I can push the battery.

 

[perezr10]

What I will say is my old AW3 SSSB 44mm had the best battery life of any Apple watch I have had. My AW4 didn't come near it. AW3 easily 2 days and some. AW4 I would get 1 day and charge in the morning.

AW5 near to my AW4 now.

For those coming from a AW3 I think you would have been disappointed with a AW4 battery life.

The Series 3 remains the peak for battery life of all the Apple Watches. Bigger battery and smaller screen. I’ve had the Series 4 and now 5.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Incidentally, given the AOD, I decided to try disabling wake screen on wrist raise just now. I actually prefer the watch this way.

I believe this is what I am going to try to do. AOD on, Raise to wake off. I prefer this because it isn't always lighting up as I type on the keyboard and move around. Kinda nice to be able to look at my watch now without screen going off. We'll see how it does during this work week.

 

[Storm312]

I believe this is what I am going to try to do. AOD on, Raise to wake off. I prefer this because it isn't always lighting up as I type on the keyboard and move around. Kinda nice to be able to look at my watch now without screen going off. We'll see how it does during this work week.

Raise to wake is problem for me. While I'm programming, it constantly cycles on and off as I shift my arms. I might have to give this go but the responsiveness of AoD has been hit or miss for me...

 

[Storm312]

Update: after a week of bad series 5 battery life, I went into watch background refresh settings and turned off a bunch of things I didn’t need (hearing, compass, Walkie talkie, couple third party things, etc). After that, I power cycled the watch. Next day battery was stellar again. Half way through the day and I’m at 85%.

EDIT: Fix mobile autocorrect.

Complete list of things I disabled in background refresh:

- App Store (new, suspect for drainage)
- Apple Store
- Audiobooks (new, suspect for drainage)
- Breathe
- Compass (new?, suspect for drainage)
- Cycle Tracking (new, suspect for drainage; also I'm a dude)
- News
- Noise (new, suspect for drainage)
- Photos
- Podcasts
- Radio
- Remote
- Walkie-talkie
- World Clock

I'm coming from S3 so maybe some things are not new. Feel free to correct me.
Maybe it will help someone else. Also for the record, that was with AoD off.

The sad thing is that it only takes 1 app with shotty background refresh code to kill your watch. Hard to track down, too. I tried out a Med Reminder app once and it killed my battery in no time.

 

[DGGoingUphill]

Second day of 6.1 starting with a full charge and it's now just like the AW4 was on the OS6 betas (better than OS5, in my experience, except for one or two betas). 40 mm AW5 cellular on the wrist for almost five hours, AOD on, most background refresh off, noise off, black background watch face -- 96% battery. Light use so far today.

I think that 6.1 doesn't solve all the issues, such as overly excitable raise to wake and some watch faces that get brighter when they go to AOD mode in some lighting conditions, so I think more can be done. I'm feeling pretty secure from my own and others experiences software can fix all the issues. A rocky rollout, though.

 

[pshady]

my watch has gotten better since the new OS update.

 

[deeddawg]

Mine has been getting better every day. the first day I was draining about 4.4% per hour. So far for today I’m dropping 2.9% per hour. Coincidentally updated to 13.1.1 in the morning yesterday.

That’s consistent with my S4 on WatchOS 5. I needed to revalidate battery consumption on my S4 before making a keep-vs-return decision on the S5. Recollection can be a tricky thing. I just need my watch to make it through a typical day, including a 45-60 minute outdoor run, without having to worry about the battery.

I’ll switch back to my S5 before morning and tweak a couple things that don’t impact usage. Although I’m unsure how ios13.1.1 would impact the watch, in fairness I need to test that scenario.

 

[iZac]

Cellular S5 here. On my 3rd night use, it's lost 60% after 7 hours on my wrist in bed. (I sleep track and use it as an alarm)

I'll be disabling functions one-by-one to see what the prime culprit is, last night I disabled noise detection.

The Watch OS6 update better fix this horrendous battery soon!

 

[Bazooka-joe]

In the release notes for iOS 13.1,1, it says that it addresses battery issues but doesn’t specifically say for the iPhone so maybe it’s a patch for both phone and watch

 

[Didcupcakes]

My battery is pretty good during the day now. But during the night I lose 20% and I don’t know why. I don't wear it during the night, so I don't understand why she loses 20% ...

Fly mode : on
Theater mode : on

What about you guys ? What the solution ?

 

[Boardiesboi]

Usage: 55 min
Standby: 5 hr 36 mins
Off charger at 8.30am, now 1:50pm
So around 2.7% per hour.
Much better than last couple of days.

iOS 13.1.1, watchOS 6.
AOD on. Noise off. Background refresh off.
And weather complication off. I think this last bit made a big difference as the watch is not constantly using location services.

 

[Mari Mar]

My battery is pretty good during the day now. But during the night I lose 20% and I don’t know why. I don't wear it during the night, so I don't understand why she loses 20% ...

Fly mode : on
Theater mode : on

What about you guys ? What the solution ?

Same problem as yours in Fly mode during the night, I lose between 20-25%. They are going to replace my watch, but I see that it is a common fault.

iOS 13, watchOS 6.
AOD on. Noise off. Background refresh off.
Celular version.

 

[Didcupcakes]

Same problem as yours in Fly mode during the night, I lose between 20-25%. They are going to replace my watch, but I see that it is a common fault.

iOS 13, watchOS 6.
AOD on. Noise off. Background refresh off.
Celular version.

Same settings as you !
The nearest apple store is about 130 km from me... I did a hard reset, I will see how it's going next night... But, I don't understand why it's draining like that.