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What is the longest (in hours) you have run with your Apple Watch?

Apple_Robert

Apple_Robert

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Original poster
Sep 21, 2012
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In a van down by the river
I am curious if anyone has made it 6 hours and beyond running with an Apple Watch. If so, what series did you use and what app and settings did you tweak to achieve the goal? If you have done this, have you been able to replicate this on a regular basis?
 
BasicGreatGuy said:
I am curious if anyone has made it 6 hours and beyond running with an Apple Watch. If so, what series did you use and what app and settings did you tweak to achieve the goal? If you have done this, have you been able to replicate this on a regular basis?
Click to expand...

My co-worker is a slow marathoner - if she’s not at six hours she’s very close. I think she turns off any LTE, uses workout do not disturb, doesn’t stream music from the watch, and turns off the heart rate monitoring (is there a workout power saving mode? That might do it).
 
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MJ22 said:
My co-worker is a slow marathoner - if she’s not at six hours she’s very close. I think she turns off any LTE, uses workout do not disturb, doesn’t stream music from the watch, and turns off the heart rate monitoring (is there a workout power saving mode? That might do it).
Click to expand...
I appreciate the reply. That gives me a few good tips. I use the "Workoutdoors" app for my runs. Not sure if there is any power saving mode, though. I downloaded my playlist to my phone, so I can stream from my phone to my PBP, instead of using the watch.

I am trying to get an idea for when I need to switch over from the Apple Watch to my Suunto watch, for long runs.
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matrix07 said:
4 hours I believe. (My OG AirPods died at 3)
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Did you use GPS to track the run?
 
BasicGreatGuy said:
I appreciate the reply. That gives me a few good tips. I use the "Workoutdoors" app for my runs. Not sure if there is any power saving mode, though. I downloaded my playlist to my phone, so I can stream from my phone to my PBP, instead of using the watch.

I am trying to get an idea for when I need to switch over from the Apple Watch to my Suunto watch, for long runs.
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Did you use GPS to track the run?
Click to expand...

Yes. Tracked everything. My watch died just after the run finished.
I believe I used external HRM though, but this was S3 we’re talking about.
 
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I wish I remember who, but there is a member on here that ran for over 10 hours with his/her Apple Watch. I don't think they played music on it, but I do remember they turned off the screen (Theater mode) and also turned on airplane mode. The watch died around 200 meters short of the finish of the race, but did last a long time
 
mk313 said:
Looks like the 10 hours might have been with carrying a phone as well, but nonetheless I found the post (by FunkyMagicUK). Not sure how to link to an exact post in a thread, but here is the portion of the thread where the discussion starts: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...or.2147756/page-3?post=27115740#post-27115740

Lots of good tips on battery life and they use workoutdoors as well.
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Thanks so much for finding that information. That really helps me. I feel more comfortable transitioning more from the Suunto to the Apple Watch, except for the really long runs and races. I was concerned my AW would only last about 3hrs in GPS mode, which would be way too short.
 
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Carrying the phone will greatly increase the battery life. When I was running with my S3 I could go 4 hours pretty reliably with cellular on and not carrying a phone. However I found the battery life quite variable and ultimately switched back to a Garmin.
 
8h15 min of workout recorded With Apple Watch series 4 with heart rate monitoring enabled on the watch and workoutdoors Recording the workout. In standalone mode and not connected to an iPhone
 
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So this post is my experience running 10hrs+ with watch AND phone...
forums.macrumors.com

Best running app...Strava or Activities or?

A stupidly long run didn’t extrapolate out quite as expected.... I may have been a few % off 100 at start, but it seemed to go down quicker than before, I was at 50% around halfway and knew second half would be considerably slower...so then disabled HRM. Used map quite a lot for navigating...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com

Then a 4hr marathon with just watch and no phone, draining ~50%
forums.macrumors.com

Best running app...Strava or Activities or?

Just to follow up... Today I ran for 4hrs (and 31seconds!), using AW4 with no phone, in airplane mode, starting at about 97%, with minimal brightness, with heartrate, with no music, with WorkOutdoors. Glanced at screen approximately 40x for a few seconds (three quarters of my km alerts, plus...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com

I’ve also ran a 48hr unsupported endurance self navigated race (using Workoutdoors, didn’t get my phone out whilst running at all, navigating with WorkoutDoors through tens of miles in Northumberland National Park) , where I carried phone...but I also carried a powerbank and stopped to recharge watch every six hours or so (plus I stayed in B&B overnight so had a full charge at start of each day) as an enforced break for half an hour or so in pubs along the route, and also revised next stage of route on phone....and drank booze 🤷‍♂️🤣

Did Endure24 which is 5mile laps for 24hrs...was supposed to run as a relay pair but my partner pulled out injured before the day so did that solo...took it easy and only did a couple of laps during the night as I wasnt really prepared for doing big distance...so did maybe 3 or 4 stints of 10-15 miles across the day plus some single 5mile laps dotted amongst...topped watch power up every time I was in a break before going back out again but probably didn’t really *need* to do that more than once or twice.

On the 24 and 48hr events, i recorded each “leg” as a separate activity and then joined them up again afterwards....”just in case”.

So...THIS is my longest activity on Apple Watch>> !!

Follow Nigel on Strava to see this activity. Join for free.

Join Nigel and get inspired for your next workout
www.strava.com www.strava.com

46hrs elapsed but only 16hrs actually moving. The last little bit was on a boat which was allowed under the rules of the race “get as far away from the start point as you can in 48elapsed hours...boat transit across sea allowed, bit your race distance is measured to the further point on land you get (so no good just getting on a boat and speeding off into the distance you had to track yourself landing somewhere!).


A year off ultras this year, just a couple of marathons planned, then might pick up something more adventurous again next year.

I ain’t fast, I’m a bog standard middle of the road 50 year old runner...but the Apple Watch, with a bit of management, can easily power its way through any run I’d ever want to do.
 
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Mine is toast a little over 4 hours, I stream music over cellular (leave the phone at home), but let my Garmin watch track the activity in place of the Apple Watch. It’s only an issue race day, as my training runs are 3 hours or less. I don’t bring my phone race day, so I use the watch before and after the race so it gets above avg usage.
 
vanhalen26 said:
Mine is toast a little over 4 hours, I stream music over cellular (leave the phone at home), but let my Garmin watch track the activity in place of the Apple Watch. It’s only an issue race day, as my training runs are 3 hours or less. I don’t bring my phone race day, so I use the watch before and after the race so it gets above avg usage.
Click to expand...

Any reason you stream music, rather than download it to your watch? I’m just curious. I generally download it unless I feel like there’s something I want to hear that I haven’t thought about in advance.
 
mk313 said:
Any reason you stream music, rather than download it to your watch? I’m just curious. I generally download it unless I feel like there’s something I want to hear that I haven’t thought about in advance.
Click to expand...

I’m often just running out the door and think of what I want to listen to on the go. Sometimes I stream radio as well.
 
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Just to add to this, I use mine for two day mountain marathons tracking using strava. I turn off wifi and bluetooth and it happily gets me through the 7 hours running the first day but use a battery pack to recharge overnight because not quite enough to manage day 2. That's a series 4.
 
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I’ve done 1 hour 50 minutes, started at 100% and was at 84% after workout. I’m on S4 44mm Nike edition, I listened to an audiobook on my phone using wired headphones, heart rate monitor was on. Only thing I’ve changed since new is brightness to lowest level and some background app refreshes off. I’ve read some horror stories about battery life but mines been great in three months apart from one day which was solved after turning watch on and off.
 
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