Terrible battery life

[PBz]

Saw this post on Reddit about turning off Raise to Wake. Before owning the AW5 I wold have questioned this.. but honestly I don’t need it to wake most of the time.

The only caveat, and this happens with raise to wake.. is that there is a lag in dragging up/down for notifications/options screens.

Turn off?

 

[xraydoc]

I do the exact same thing, only toggle cellular on when I need it and know it will accelerate drain.

The cellular circuits are (supposed to be) not powered unless the watch has no BT or WiFi connection. Only then does the cellular chip/antenna power itself on.

 

[François Luneau]

give it time to re-index your watch, my first day with the new update on Wednesday was pretty terrible as well

I had the same experience for the first two days or so after getting the watch. It's much better now, but I am also getting a little less autonomy from the battery compared to my Series 4 I had just prior. It lasts a good 13-17 hours on normal use though (no exercise).

 

[Arndroid]

LTE on or not?

I don’t have lte

 

[rickeames]

I am running a series 5/44/LTE. The first day, awful battery life. Then I did this:

1. Turned off "raise to wake." with the screen on all of the time, I don't need it to light up whenever I adjust my glasses. I will say, however, that if I'm wearing a long sleeve shirt, the screen dims even more, which could have had an effect.
2. Used a dark watch face.
3. Went through and used the moment to turn off notifications I really didn't need.

That was it. Yesterday, all updates applied, I got up at 6 and put the watch on, by 7pm, it was at 60% and that was having closed all of my rings.

 

[DGGoingUphill]

6.1 beta 2 seems to be the real improvement. On my 40 mm cellular AW5, today I am getting phenomenal performance. A much bigger difference than any of the other updates and now as good or better than my AW4 on OS5. The notable change seems to be in how the display reacts to light and raise to wake performance -- both more smooth. Also, cellular and wifi power drain seems way down from beta 1.

 

[PBz]

22 hours and 40% remaining on first charge cycle. Not bad. Going to go full day tomorrow with raise to wake off. Likely keeping the 5 as I really like AOD.

 

[violetdudley]

6.1 beta 2 seems to be the real improvement. On my 40 mm cellular AW5, today I am getting phenomenal performance. A much bigger difference than any of the other updates and now as good or better than my AW4 on OS5. The notable change seems to be in how the display reacts to light and raise to wake performance -- both more smooth. Also, cellular and wifi power drain seems way down from beta 1.

When was beta 2 released? How long did you use it to base your experience on?

 

[jasonongsg]

I have experienced a huge difference in OS 6.0.1 on the Aluminium Case 44mm (LTE)

Yesterday battery life was better after a full day of use from 7am to roughly 9pm including 1 hour of GYM session, I have mine settlings with everything ON and it's working out fine now. Left with 50% in the tank

Brightness level at lowest*

Compared to OS 6, this is a huge improvement which I will end the day with 10 to 15%

 

[musicpenguy]

Did a test today for my first full day with the Series 5 - tried to see how far in a day you could go completely untethered from the phone - watch had Bluetooth turned off except when I was listening to music on it - pretty good results - especially considering it would have lasted the whole day if I didn’t need to look up websites over cellular for a good 20 minutes or so - this really killed the battery loading those sites - this is on par or better from what I did with the Series 4 last year - on watch only days I would charge while at my desk to have a topped off watch for the night

6:40AM - 100 percent
7AM to 9AM - Cellular
9:00AM - 92 percent
9AM - 11:50AM - WiFi
11:50AM - 81 percent
11:50AM - 1:15PM - Cellular
1:15PM - 72 percent
1:15PM - 2:15PM - WiFi
2:15PM - 65 percent
2:15PM - 5:15PM - cellular (including 25 minutes web browsing and 40 minutes listening to music on AirPods)
5:20PM - 22 percent
5:20PM - 6:05PM - WiFi
6:05PM - 20 percent
6:05PM - 6:22PM - Cellular
6:22PM - 17 percent
6:22PM - 8:02PM - WiFi
8:02PM - 10 percent battery warning
8:02PM - 9:00PM - WiFi
9:00PM - 7 percent
9:00PM - 9:15PM - Cellular
9:15PM - Dead

USAGE STATS:
Battery: 68 Percent (1:45PM)
Usage: 1 hour, 1 minute
Standby: 7 hours, 0 minutes

Battery: 22 Percent (5:28PM)
Usage 2 hours, 27 minutes
Standby: 10 hours, 43 minutes

Battery: 10 Percent (8:03PM)
Usage: 2 hours, 52 minutes
Standby: 13 hours, 19 minutes

Cellular Time: 6 hours, 45 minutes roughly

 

[Boardiesboi]

Usage: 3 hr 45 min
Standby: 13 hr 24 mins
56% left
So around 3.3% per hour.

iOS 13.1.2, watchOS 6.0.1
AOD on. Noise off. Background refresh off. Weather complication off.

Seems like it’s been stabilised and I’m satisfied

 

[gshocked]

Hi All,

I'm finding that using the Modular Compact app with noise indicator is a huge drainer!
I'm back to the Infograph Modular and seems like watchOS 5 battery life.

 

[deeddawg]

For the past six days I'd screen shot battery battery & usage/standby every couple hours or so, particularly before/after a workout and just before bed when my watch goes on the charger overnight. Three days with my S4 on WatchOS5 and then three days with my S5 on 6.0 then 6.0.1.

Not counting battery usage during workouts, full day battery%/hour was:
S4 - 3.69%, 4.08%, and 3.12%. Middle day I was working outside away from phone and wifi a fair bit
S5 - 4.13% (6.0), 3.28%, and 3.56% (6.0.1)

That's an average of 3.63%/hour for the S4 and 3.66%/hour for the S5.

S4 in normal configuration, S5 also in essentially a normal config with AoD on, raise-to-wake on, background app refresh on (except a couple apps I never use), etc.

In fairness, my workout schedule was such that I didn't go for any runs with the S4 during this period - that said, I've not perceived any substantive difference in the S5's consumption during my outdoor runs, so I'll call it a wash at this point.

Edit - using Infograph Modular face with WeatherTemp, Calendar, Workout, Activity, and MyNetDiary complications.

 

[PBz]

Day 2 - Fully charged and off charger at 11PM 10/2. Went into Theater Mode soon after that while I slept. I did remove my AW4 from my AW app and added cellular to the 5. I do not use cellular unless I need it.

It’s 10:30 AM and I am at 82%

Main change for today is I have disabled raise wrist to wake and keep AOD on. I really like this setting as I can tap the screen or roll the crown to access watch. Other than that, it’s more than visible as a ‘watch’.

 

[imlynxy]

6.1 beta 2 seems to be the real improvement. On my 40 mm cellular AW5, today I am getting phenomenal performance. A much bigger difference than any of the other updates and now as good or better than my AW4 on OS5. The notable change seems to be in how the display reacts to light and raise to wake performance -- both more smooth. Also, cellular and wifi power drain seems way down from beta 1.

Thanks for the info.
Do they have shortcuts back with beta 2?

 

[Lux2aeterna]

I am running WatchOS 6.01.

I am just reporting what I experienced with 6.0 on a new AW5.

My experience is calibrated from use of AW3 for 1.5 years.

With AW3, even after 1.5 years of use, I could charge during dinner up to 95%+ and then the watch would last 24hrs with battery left over (about 30%?). I generally exercise two hours a day, with minimal notifications.

With AW5, I cannot do this as there is a strong likelihood of shutdown. Will not last 24hrs.

Also I have observed anomalous battery readings. Once, the battery went from 40% down to zero in a few mins. Charging revealed that the battery was actually below 15% and not 40% as was reported.

Very disappointing and disturbing.

 

[PBz]

I am running WatchOS 6.01.

I am just reporting what I experienced with 6.0 on a new AW5.

My experience is calibrated from use of AW3 for 1.5 years.

With AW3, even after 1.5 years of use, I could charge during dinner up to 95%+ and then the watch would last 24hrs with battery left over (about 30%?). I generally exercise two hours a day, with minimal notifications.

With AW5, I cannot do this as there is a strong likelihood of shutdown. Will not last 24hrs.

Also I have observed anomalous battery readings. Once, the battery went from 40% down to zero in a few mins. Charging revealed that the battery was actually below 15% and not 40% as was reported.

Very disappointing and disturbing.

Did you setup the new AW5 from a backup or as new? Do you have cellular enabled? The first can cause issues and the second will drain battery at a higher rate than without cellular.

If not, it may be worth resetting the watch and setting up again, as new.

From what I have read and experienced the AW5 can last a day, at least. With a workout and general use it should make it 18+ hours.

I am on my second day/charge cycle with the AW5 44 cellular. I turn off cellular unless I need it. The first day I would have gone to sleep with about 25% after 24 hours of use.

Today, day 2, it has been off the charger for 13 hours and I have 76% remaining. I did start using the settings of turning off raise to wake and leaving AOD on. I like this as I can always see the display and don’t really need to raise it to wake it. I can tap the screen or roll the crown if I need something. This setup looks like it could last me 40+ hours.
[automerge]1570118289[/automerge]

I am running WatchOS 6.01.

I am just reporting what I experienced with 6.0 on a new AW5.

My experience is calibrated from use of AW3 for 1.5 years.

With AW3, even after 1.5 years of use, I could charge during dinner up to 95%+ and then the watch would last 24hrs with battery left over (about 30%?). I generally exercise two hours a day, with minimal notifications.

With AW5, I cannot do this as there is a strong likelihood of shutdown. Will not last 24hrs.

Also I have observed anomalous battery readings. Once, the battery went from 40% down to zero in a few mins. Charging revealed that the battery was actually below 15% and not 40% as was reported.

Very disappointing and disturbing.

Also, do you have any music or photos syncing in the background? I don’t like that in the AW setup you tell it NOT to add apps but it ignores you and adds them anyways. It also starts syncing 100 photos and music. I stop all of this.

 

[richard371]

So it looks like 6.1 we may see a big improvement esp on AW5?

 

[PBz]

So it looks like 6.1 we may see a big improvement esp on AW5?

I hope so. 5-10-% could put me at my AW4 battery levels with my current setup.

 

[ukbootlegs]

FFS I am sick of this watch. Started a run. Watch went from 70+% to dead. Total bull

7 mins on charge, watch boots up and is on 25%

i just can’t get over how bad this watch is. On 6.01 and it’s fine overnight as I wear it to bed.

 

[Nütztjanix]

With iOS 13.1.2 and watchOS 6.0.1 I do see a slight improvement, but I'm still not able to make it through a normal day.

 

[PBz]

FFS I am sick of this watch. Started a run. Watch went from 70+% to dead. Total bull

7 mins on charge, watch boots up and is on 25%

i just can’t get over how bad this watch is. On 6.01 and it’s fine overnight as I wear it to bed.

Something is obviously wrong. Have you reset and setup as new (no backup)?

 

[deeddawg]

FFS I am sick of this watch. Started a run. Watch went from 70+% to dead. Total bull

7 mins on charge, watch boots up and is on 25%

i just can’t get over how bad this watch is. On 6.01 and it’s fine overnight as I wear it to bed.

Either something's f'd in your setup (try a reset and setup as new) or your individual unit has a hardware fault (it happens).

Try the former, if it keeps happening take it to Apple for exchange.

 

[Didcupcakes]

I can now say that watchOS 6.1 resolve the problem of autonomy.

I took Of the charger my watch (serie 5 LTE) yesterday at 6am and did one hour workout, notifications and answer 2 calls during the first day. I go to my bed with 68%.

Wake up the second day with 58% and now at 7pm I still have 26%

Use : 4 hours
Standby : 1 day and 13 hours

I a going to do one hour workout now.
Really happy with the autonomy.

 

[bevsb2]

My Series 5 was in reserve power the first 2 nights after launch. Last night for the first time it was at 46% when I put it on the charger which is similar to what I was getting on my S4, so things have improved. I have both updates installed. My watch is cellular and activated, but I have LTE turned off. Also have noise and several other apps off. AOD on and brightness at medium. I love AOD and really want to keep this watch!