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Thoughts on Battery Life of 18 hours.

H

Hexcruncher

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 5, 2014
107
36
So after using the Apple Watch since Day 1, it has been well reported by many users that they are getting much more than Apple's 18 hours battery life estimate for the Apple Watch. This seems great! Many users are reporting that they get 2 days battery life on a single charge. Who can complain?

People say that Apple were very conservative with their battery estimates, and I was at first too. However, I may have come to a new conclusion.

During internal testing, Apple would have put the watch through what they considered normal use and this is how they got to 18 hours battery life.

"Testing conducted by Apple in March 2015 using pre-production Apple Watch and software paired with an iPhone using pre-production software. All-day battery life is based on 18 hours with the following use: 90 time checks, 90 notifications, 45 minutes of app use and a 30-minute workout with music playback from Apple Watch via Bluetooth, over the course of 18 hours. Battery life varies by use, configuration and many other factors; actual results will vary."
Click to expand...

My new thoughts on battery life are, users are not using Apple Watch as often, or in the ways in which Apple were expecting them to. Don't get me wrong, I love wearables, and I especially love my 42mm Stainless Steel with Link Bracelet Apple Watch, and I think it is incredibly useful. But maybe our usage is not what Apple was expecting, maybe in general compared to their expectations, it's not AS useful as imagined by Apple?

Anyway, this is a discussion board, so...discuss!
 
I can get 2 days out of mine, but it's charged every night anyway.
I use the watch fully to my own needs and don't scrimp on any functions I want to use.
I'm more than happy with it.
:)
 
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eh I think that use case was designed as a "worst case scenario" -- an extreme usage case. Apple has said numerous times the watch is a personal device, and everyone is finding their own ways to use it.
 
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Yeah don't get me wrong I absolutely love the watch and this isn't a rant of any kind. Just a thought I had on why we are getting much more battery than expected :)
 
Not sure about how many "time-checks" I do, as the watch turns on a lot when I move my arms, even when I don't intend to check the time. Notifications, again, never tried to count how many I get. 90 sounds more than I get in a typical day, though. I do usually run Workout for 20-30 minutes most days. I never did sync any music to my watch. But the biggest discrepancy between Apple's test usage and my usage is apps. I probably use apps for at most a few minutes every day, some days none. I do get a full-day plus change battery life out of the watch, but not two days as some users have reported. I have a 38mm Sport.
 
If native apps and other OS 2 perks do as advertised, and developers have more time and an open canvas for creativity, battery life will get more strenuous real-world "tests".

Many OS 2 features were hinted at back during the original reveal, so I'm sure battery life estimates may have included those as well.
 
The AW battery is a non-issue for me and the others I know who have one.

Pretty heavy user and least amount of battery left was 35% with the average being 55% remaining. Charge every night. Unless you play games or live on your watch, most will have zero problems. OS2 will remain to be seen when the final version hits.
 
On non bicycling days, I can get >+16 hrs. If I use the workout app for a 40 mile ride, I'm lucky to get 9.
 
vegetassj4 said:
On non bicycling days, I can get >+16 hrs. If I use the workout app for a 40 mile ride, I'm lucky to get 9.
Click to expand...
Same thing here. If I ride in the evening, I'm fine. If I start the day with a long ride, I need to remember to charge it mid-day.
 
Night Spring said:
But the biggest discrepancy between Apple's test usage and my usage is apps. I probably use apps for at most a few minutes every day, some days none.
Click to expand...

This was what I was going to say, almost exactly. I have zero battery issues with my Watch ever, much like everyone else. And, I agree with people that WOS2 may have some affects on battery life (perhaps due to increased app usage) due to how they regularly interact with their Watch, but I could not see significant enough changes that battery life would ever become an issue.
 
I find it easier to charge nightly, just out of habit. Plug in phone, plug in watch. Repeat nightly.
 
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I consider myself to have "average" usage on my watch, but I routinely end the day with 60% >. This includes probably around 100 time-checks, a couple dozen texts, a handful of email checks, a few Weather app checks, and a few Siri reminders. Obviously sometimes I use it more, sometimes I use it less. I think I get such great battery life because I don't work out a whole lot, so I only use the workout app maybe once a week.
 
I probably have less than 5 mins app use a day at the mo. I wonder if that'll change. I can't think what would seriously boost it, but then if I could I'd be rich!
 
I rarely use any 3rd party apps (only use Overcast glances) and my battery life has been great. Current usage has been more than enough value to justify the purchase.

If they make the watch do more and battery life becomes a problem for me, I see it as a good problem to have. And all the more reason to justify upgrades later :)
 
My largest concern before purchasing the AW was battery life -- especially since I was coming from a Pebble which would get 4-7 days out of a charge.

I am a very very heavy user of all of my devices -- apple or not. I refuse to turn off any feature, for any reason... Example: I tried Android and found the battery life to be completely unacceptable.... when I asked people on another forum for help, they suggested turning down screen brightness, turning off gps, wifi, sync, you name it..... etc. If my iPhone had a built in air conditioner, heater, and a 'turn on to waste battery' feature (ex: facebook app), they would all be on 24/7.

With that said, I've been extremely happy with the battery life of my AW. It's no challenge at all to get an entire day out of it. I've gotten accustomed to charging it every night, but i've gotten at least 2 days (and a few hours) out of it when I wasn't near the charger...
 
On a typical work day I start to wear the Watch at around 7am, and I put the Watch to the charger before 12am. There is usually around 30-40% of battery left when I put it to the charger at night. I consider my use of the Watch moderate which involves multiple checking of notifications, 30 minutes to 1 hour workout, and some use of apps.

Therefore it is much longer than the 18-hour claim by Apple but definitely not enough to last for 2 days. Something like 30-36 hours for me.
 
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