Turning off the heart sensor

[rishiomedia]

I'm buying an Apple Watch but I value getting as much battery life as possible. I'm thinking of turning off the heart rate sensor. I'm just wondering what I lose by doing that. In terms of health, I plan to use the watch for a bit of swimming and yoga. I also take a walk everyday - maybe for about 45 min. While it would be nice to know how many laps I swam, how far I walked or how much time I spent doing yoga, I'm not really that interested in things such as calories (I'm not even sure what calories mean to be honest). Besides Calories, is there anything else I lose by turning off the heart sensor? Does it effect the watches ability to measure how many laps I take of how far I walk?

 

[lordofthereef]

I don't imagine you would.

Calories is just an estimate in what your burned. It just puts a metric value in the effort tou expended. Not an exact science. A lot of inferences with some math. More a way to compare one day to the next IMO.

 

[BrettDS]

To be honest, it's probably not worth it. While you may be able to increase battery life a bit by turning off the heart rate sensor it's unlikely that you'll be able to increase it enough to make it worthwhile. The watch typically can go a good 18 hours on a charge with the heart rate sensor enabled and you might get a few more hours out of it, but it won't be enough to go two days without charging. Once you get in the habit of charging the watch every night, as long as the battery can make it from morning to night then it won't really matter if you have 10% or 40% remaining when you go to bed.

 

[rishiomedia]

To be honest, it's probably not worth it. While you may be able to increase battery life a bit by turning off the heart rate sensor it's unlikely that you'll be able to increase it enough to make it worthwhile. The watch typically can go a good 18 hours on a charge with the heart rate sensor enabled and you might get a few more hours out of it, but it won't be enough to go two days without charging. Once you get in the habit of charging the watch every night, as long as the battery can make it from morning to night then it won't really matter if you have 10% or 40% remaining when you go to bed.

I'll see. All the little things, like turning down the brightness of the screen, using more minimal watch faces, a bigger battery in the series 2, minimizing gps and turning off the heart rate sensor may push the series 2 days. I'm a traveller and may not always be able to charge every night so it could be helpful for me. I will definitely put workouts in power saving mode which eliminates the heart rate sensor in workouts but I will leave the general heart rate sensor on for now to explore it's value when the watch comes tomorrow!

 

[Julien]

...I'm a traveller and may not always be able to charge every night so it could be helpful for me....

How are you dealing with your iPhone and don't they have electricity where you travel?

 

[BrettDS]

I suspect that its more along the lines that he may be in a plane overnight or waiting at an airport or somewhere where it's difficult to charge. It's fairly easy to use an external battery to recharge a phone on the go, but not so much the watch... the watch needs to be removed from the wrist and put somewhere to charge and the magnetic puck isn't likely to stay connected if you're carrying the watch in a bag and walking around as you're trying to charge it.

 

[rishiomedia]

How are you dealing with your iPhone and don't they have electricity where you travel?

Usually but it's a very out of the box lifestyle. Sometimes you're sleeping on trains and the iPhone is a really useful tool - especially maps, so you learn to save battery life as much as possible. One useful feature for me is to sleep with the watch because you can set the watch alarm on silent mode and the haptic wakes you up but no one else around you. This allows me to sleep on busses and trains without worrying about missing my stop! Anyway, I am not traveling at the moment, just exploring ways to use the watch and curious how long I can make the battery last without sacrificing it's usefulness.

 

[Newtons Apple]

I'll see. All the little things, like turning down the brightness of the screen, using more minimal watch faces, a bigger battery in the series 2, minimizing gps and turning off the heart rate sensor may push the series 2 days. I'm a traveller and may not always be able to charge every night so it could be helpful for me. I will definitely put workouts in power saving mode which eliminates the heart rate sensor in workouts but I will leave the general heart rate sensor on for now to explore it's value when the watch comes tomorrow!

You need to buy and carry an extra charger for when you travel and you will not worry about saving power.

 

[rishiomedia]

You need to buy and carry an extra charger for when you travel and you will not worry about saving power.

Maybe, but when I travel, I want everything to fit in a carry on size bag and be under 7 pounds. I traveled for 9 months and everything I carried was just 5 pounds so it makes traveling so much nicer. So I learn to do as much as possible with as few things as possible. External charger could be good but not needing it is better in my opinion.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Maybe, but when I travel, I want everything to fit in a carry on size bag and be under 7 pounds. I traveled for 9 months and everything I carried was just 5 pounds so it makes traveling so much nicer. So I learn to do as much as possible with as few things as possible. External charger could be good but not needing it is better in my opinion.

I remember when I traveled. I would sometime wake up and peek out the motel window wondering where I was!
glad I stay in one place now but miss seeing the sites.

 

[AdventurousJosh]

Maybe, but when I travel, I want everything to fit in a carry on size bag and be under 7 pounds. I traveled for 9 months and everything I carried was just 5 pounds so it makes traveling so much nicer. So I learn to do as much as possible with as few things as possible. External charger could be good but not needing it is better in my opinion.

Ah finally! A fellow traveler. Do you think the Apple Watch 2 GPS and it's maps app will allow you to see where you are when you have no service in a foreign land, and with phone needing your phone??