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Two watches, one iPhone?

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blw777

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 6, 2022
109
129
I have a AW6, which I got specifically because it helps monitor sleep. Of course this means that I can't charge it overnight. I've managed reasonably well by charging twice a day, once when I sit down for the first meeting of the day and once around dinner time. I'm generally about as paranoid about device battery charge levels as a warship captain is about refueling: I make sure to stay topped up, so I am very rarely caught without charge. It is a bit of a hassle, although it definitely works.

With the AW8 pending and probably having at least a little more health-oriented functionality, I'm considering getting one of those. If I did that, I could theoretically keep my AW6 and use it at night while the AW8 charges, then swap in the morning. Kind of an extreme solution to the charging problem, but it would almost certainly dispense with charge as an issue. I'll admit that the almost fire-sale prices on an AW7 these days also are tempting me to go down this path.

So my question is whether or not having two AW registered to one iPhone works the way I expect/desire, meaning that data comes from both of them to the iPhone and is disambiguated in the same way that (say) steps recorded by both an AW and iPhone are not duplicated. Anyone else doing this two-watch thing? Any surprises in the arrangement?

I am aware of the trade-in value of an AW6.
 
Up to 5 are possible to pair to one iPhone. Data syncs fine between the devices, iPhone being the „hub“ so to speak.
Currently I sync two (S6 and S7) but had up to 4 paired in the past - no issues
 
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AC6D277F-A0CF-4C62-B795-3CA4E8DDD70F.jpeg
 
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I use my S3 and S6 with the same iPhone with no problems. You just switch to whatever one you want via the watch app. With the quick charge feature of the S6 you should never have to worry about battery, you should be able to get more than enough for day if you charge it after you wake up and are getting ready in the morning(showering, etc.).
 
bricktop_at said:
Or you simply use Auto-Switch and don‘t have to do it manually ;-)
Click to expand...
Interesting, I did not about the auto switch option. Having only one watch, that option is (sensibly) not offered to me, but now that I know about it, I see that it's obviously something they thought about in advance. Cool.

The1Biz said:
With the quick charge feature of the S6 you should never have to worry about battery, you should be able to get more than enough for day if you charge it after you wake up and are getting ready in the morning(showering, etc.).
Click to expand...

I must do something different than other folks. I really can't get through a full day without charging twice. I'm usually charged to > 95% after my first meeting or two, but if I don't charge again in the evening, by the time I go to bed it's often hovering around 40%. That's too close for comfort in my book, since it doesn't like going into sleep mode with under what, 37% or so?

I even experimented for a while disabling the always-on and using the wrist-to-illuminate or whatever that mode is called. It helped a little, but not enough. It got a couple of % back, but 42% or 43% isn't far enough away from 37%.
 
The1Biz said:
With the quick charge feature of the S6 you should never have to worry about battery, you should be able to get more than enough for day if you charge it after you wake up and are getting ready in the morning(showering, etc.).
Click to expand...
The fast charging is only avaible on S7, S6 doesn’t have any new feature regarding charging speed over previous models

EDIT: My statement appears to be incorrect, there were some improvements to charging speed in the S6
 
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blw777 said:
I must do something different than other folks. I really can't get through a full day without charging twice. I'm usually charged to > 95% after my first meeting or two, but if I don't charge again in the evening, by the time I go to bed it's often hovering around 40%. That's too close for comfort in my book, since it doesn't like going into sleep mode with under what, 37% or so?
Click to expand...
What is the % of battery capacity of your S6? Assuming you’ve got it since it’s launch nearly two years ago, battery capacity might be near or under 80%. A new battery may help here. After two years, my S5 also needed to be charged twice a day, but after upgrading to the S7 last fall, I could easily charge it only once a day, despite being a heavy and active user of the watch, and despite sleeping with it. 1h30 of charge and 22h30 of wearing it per day. No issue so far

Second Apple Watch is definitely a good option to stop worrying about battery life, but it’s not the cheapest one
 
fwmireault said:
The fast charging is only avaible on S7, S6 doesn’t have any new feature regarding charging speed over previous models
Click to expand...


It does. Apple increased the charging speed on the S6 and then again on the S7 but made a larger song and dance about it on the S7. The S6 is about 20% faster than the S5 to charge. It's not a gargantuan jump, but it's a jump.
 
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Howard2k said:
It does. Apple increased the charging speed on the S6 and then again on the S7 but made a larger song and dance about it on the S7. The S6 is about 20% faster than the S5 to charge. It's not a gargantuan jump, but it's a jump.
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I didn’t recall this information, I’ll correct my answer. Thanks for the correction!
 
fwmireault said:
What is the % of battery capacity of your S6? Assuming you’ve got it since it’s launch nearly two years ago, battery capacity might be near or under 80%. A new battery may help here.
Click to expand...
I did get it right at launch; in fact I think I pre-ordered. It says 92%, so it's not down a super huge amount. I wonder if I have some app that is not helping me here... My impression is that there is no way to see battery consumers on the AW like you can do with the iPhone.
 
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fwmireault said:
Second Apple Watch is definitely a good option to stop worrying about battery life, but it’s not the cheapest one
Click to expand...
Agreed. This came about as I was reading the rumors that the AW8 (presumably coming in the next few month) might have some new health features. If I were to go in for the new features—speculation at this point of course—then what would I do with the AW6? The trade-in value is $150 or less at the moment and presumably that number will only go down between now and AW8 (or even AW9). Let's say it realistically ends up being $120. It might well be worth $120 to me to solve the battery problem. I also have a couple of other reasons to upgrade: a bigger display might help a little, and especially I am seriously considering going from a GPS to a LTE model. Combined with any potential new health/fitness features, I think that's a different perspective than "spend $550 to get around the battery issue."
 
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If you get an Apple watch S7 or S8 You will not need two. The fast charging is totally worth it and charges the watch... well.. FAST!
 
Mactech20 said:
If you get an Apple watch S7 or S8 You will not need two. The fast charging is totally worth it and charges the watch... well.. FAST!
Click to expand...
Trust but verify. In theory I don't need it for an AW6 either, right? But clearly I do...
 
I use 2 watches a 6 and a 7, and each runs for about 36 to 48 hours, when I get close to 10% battery I change watches, works great. I have had 5 heart operations so I monitor my heart 24 hours a day.
 
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