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Ultra 3 Battery Life = Only 24 hours?

robgreene

robgreene

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 12, 2008
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With the original Apple Watch Ultra and my combination of settings (I don't use alwys-on display, for example), I only needed to charge the watch once every 3 days.

Nearly a week in to the Apple Watch Ultra 3, with all the same battery-saving settings in play, and I'm getting reminders to charge my Apple Watch every single day. We're hitting the 20% mark around 7pm of Day 1.

5 days in, I believe any battery-draining indexing issues that are often associated with new devices/new OS updates should be complete. Did I get a dud, or are others experiencing this as well?
 
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I bought mine on launch day last Friday, took it home to charge it and it literally lasted 4 full days with 27% left before I charged it again.....I am more than happy! I upgraded from an AWU2.

And I used cellular for about 5 hours each day although I did not have always on display activated.
 
I'm curious whether to take the leap and upgrade. I currently have the AWU1, which at this point I do have to charge it every day.
 
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Mine was about the same as U2 for the first couple of days, but improving now. I typically charge each night before bed at around 40% left for 24 hours usage.
 
For my Ultra 1 I was around 40 - 48 hours when new and 30 - 36 hours when I upgraded.

For my Ultra 3 I’m getting significantly longer battery life. I can’t say for sure yet but it fees like 48 hours should be easily achievable, and on running workouts (local Spotify and LTE active) I’m using way less battery than I used to.

Have you restarted the watch?
 
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robgreene said:
With the original Apple Watch Ultra and my combination of settings (I don't use alwys-on display, for example), I only needed to charge the watch once every 3 days.

Nearly a week in to the Apple Watch Ultra 3, with all the same battery-saving settings in play, and I'm getting reminders to charge my Apple Watch every single day. We're hitting the 20% mark around 7pm of Day 1.

5 days in, I believe any battery-draining indexing issues that are often associated with new devices/new OS updates should be complete. Did I get a dud, or are others experiencing this as well?
Click to expand...
reboot both watch and phone

Edit: did you setup as new or restore from backup?
 
Just got mine earlier this week, but I just charged it for the first time this morning when it hit 30% after 2+ days. That's with at least one workout + dog walk a day, setting timers, dictating messages to Siri, etc. AoD is on.
 
robgreene said:
I would rather not lose all my workout data.
Click to expand...
All data is sync's to cloud via the phone, so you won't loose any data. Your faces, complications and such, you'll have to redo.

I migrated to a 17PM which was not really successful, so I un-paired my U2 and set it up as new last Saturday, all data there.
Battery life took a hit, with my usage pattern I used to be at 35-40% at the end of 38hrs continuous wearing it and right now it's like28-33%. But I will reboot it on the weekend.
And typically, .1 releases of watchOS address battery life
 
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Is it me or with the new Watch OS have we lost the ability to set the charge limit to 80%? I keeps charging to 100% when I plug it in and I don't need that until I am in the backcountry, wilderness or another charge limiting factor.
 
Macshroomer said:
Is it me or with the new Watch OS have we lost the ability to set the charge limit to 80%? I keeps charging to 100% when I plug it in and I don't need that until I am in the backcountry, wilderness or another charge limiting factor.
Click to expand...
I never used that feature but just checked the settings on my U2 and it seems that they have “automated” this … seems like the watch itself will determine if charging to 100% is needed. Stupid, I always charge to 100% so I will turn this off
 
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jz0309 said:
I never used that feature but just checked the settings on my U2 and it seems that they have “automated” this … seems like the watch itself will determine if charging to 100% is needed. Stupid, I always charge to 100% so I will turn this off
Click to expand...
OK, then it is a iOS thing, that's too bad. On the other hand, I will upgrade this watch at every iteration since I spend most of my time in the wilderness and it pays to have the latest tech and as fresh a battery as possible, so not the end of the world.

Annoying though, setting at 80% can really prolong battery life.
 
Macshroomer said:
OK, then it is a iOS thing, that's too bad. On the other hand, I will upgrade this watch at every iteration since I spend most of my time in the wilderness and it pays to have the latest tech and as fresh a battery as possible, so not the end of the world.

Annoying though, setting at 80% can really prolong battery life.
Click to expand...
I don't see anywhere on my U3 to set charge to 80%. I want to do this, my iPhone does this. To set to 80% I have to pay attention to how long it is on the charger.
 
Macshroomer said:
Is it me or with the new Watch OS have we lost the ability to set the charge limit to 80%? I keeps charging to 100% when I plug it in and I don't need that until I am in the backcountry, wilderness or another charge limiting factor.
Click to expand...
Interesting as I had shut that off on my Ultra 2 but the 3 was back to optimized charging. I restored from back up.
 
jbachandouris said:
Interesting as I had shut that off on my Ultra 2 but the 3 was back to optimized charging. I restored from back up.
Click to expand...
I had it off in previous watchOS versions too but had to setup my U2 as new last Saturday and it was on, until I turned if off a minute ago ;)
 
jonh229 said:
I don't see anywhere on my U3 to set charge to 80%. I want to do this, my iPhone does this. To set to 80% I have to pay attention to how long it is on the charger.
Click to expand...

On the Watch go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health and you'll see Optimized Charging Limit.
 
Howard2k said:
On the Watch go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health and you'll see Optimized Charging Limit.
Click to expand...
yes, but there is no option to set it to a specific number. And people seem to think that there was one.
I honestly can't remember, I do know that it turned that feature off when it was new in iOS 18 (17?). Maybe only on the phone you can set a specific number?
 
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