One of the most well-liked smartwatches available today is the Apple Watch. The most recent versions of smartwatches come with health monitoring tools like heart rate monitoring, ECG measures, and blood oxygen levels in addition to the standard functionality you’d expect from a smartwatch. But power is required for all of these functionalities. Although the Apple Watch is designed to last all day without needing to be recharged, you might find that you need to do so more frequently. If so, there are a few things you may do to address the Apple Watch battery drain issue.
Here are some suggestions for extending the battery life of your Apple Watch.
1. Disable Always on Display
The display on your Apple Watch is among the major battery drainers. Your watch’s battery will discharge more quickly the longer the screen is on. If you own an Apple Watch Series 5 or later, Always On mode will already be activated. This mode makes sure that the time, along with your watch face or the most recently used app, is always shown on your Apple Watch. When your wrist is down, the screen will dim significantly, but this still uses more power than a blank screen does. You can choose to disable Always On mode or make a few minor adjustments to the settings to increase battery life.
On your Apple Watch, tap the Always On display to turn it off. This is how:
- Launch the Settings app.
- Select Display & Brightness by swiping down.
- Choose Always On.
- Toggle the switch to the Off position to turn off Always On.
- Tap on one of the choices under Wrist Down if you want to keep Always On enabled but want to limit the amount of information your Apple Watch will display.
- You can select which type of information will appear on your watch face when your wrist is down for each choice. By turning these off, you might be able to save battery life.
2. Minimize Wake time
If the Always On setting is off when you tap your Apple Watch to wake it, the screen will switch off again after a brief time of inactivity. The Apple Watch settings allow you to define how much time this lasts. You may lessen the battery drain by shortening the wake time on your Apple Watch.
To modify the Apple Watch’s wake time:
- Launch Settings.
- Choosing Display & Brightness.
- At the very bottom of the screen, scroll down and select Wake Duration.
- To wake for 15 seconds, select.
3. Disable Wake on Wrist Raise
When you lift your wrist to look at your Apple Watch, a feature called Wake on Wrist lift turns the screen on automatically. By doing this, you can wake the screen without tapping it. This function can cause battery drain because it makes use of motion sensors. This function can be disabled in the Apple Watch settings.
- Launch the Settings app to disable Wake on Wrist Raise.
- Select Display & Brightness as you scroll down.
- Turn off Wake on Wrist Raise.
4. Turn off Background App Refresh
Your Apple Watch may update apps even when they are not open thanks to Background App Refresh. For some apps, this can be quite helpful, but it might not be that significant for other apps. This can be a significant cause of battery drain because background updating uses energy. Thank goodness, you can either entirely disable Background App Refresh or only disable it for particular apps. You’ll need to use your iPhone to accomplish this.
In order to turn off Background App Refresh:
- Go to your iPhone’s Watch app.
- Press General.
- Choose Refresh Background App.
- Toggle Background App Refresh to Off to turn it totally off, or select a specific app from the list of apps below to turn it off for.
5. Workout Power Saving Mode
If Always On is set on, details about the exercises you perform with your Apple Watch will be shown on your watch face. Throughout the workout, the heart rate sensor will also track your heart rate. Workout Power Saving enables you to conserve battery life when exercising by turning down the Always On display and the heart sensor. However, calculations of the amount of energy expended during your workout will be less precise if the heart rate sensor is deactivated.
- Launch Settings on your Apple Watch to enable the Workout Power Saving mode.
- Tap Workout at the bottom of the screen after descending to it.
- Turn on the power saving mode.
6. Reduce Screen Brightness
The battery life of your Apple Watch decreases as the display brightness increases. By lowering the brightness on your Apple Watch, you can reduce this. It may be more challenging to view your watch face with the brightness low, especially in direct sunshine. Reduce the brightness on your Apple Watch as follows:
- Launch the Settings app.
- Choosing Display & Brightness.
- To lower the brightness, either tap the Brightness Down icon or turn the digital crown.
7. Turn off Siri
When you use Siri on your Apple Watch, it’s simple to carry out tasks like playing music or checking the weather by speaking. Your battery life will be impacted by how Siri is invoked, though. The digital crown method of calling Siri uses a significantly less battery life than the Hey Siri feature. Simply speaking that command activates Siri, but because your Apple Watch must be continually listening, more battery life is lost as a result. Turning off Hey Siri in the Apple Watch settings is another method for resolving the power drain issue.
- Open Settings on your Apple Watch to turn off Hey Siri.
- Go down the page and choose Siri.
- Turn off “Hey Siri” Listening.
- Additionally, you might want to disable Raise to Speak. When you lift your wrist and then instantly begin speaking, this function activates Siri.
8. Update watchOS
You might want to think about updating watchOS if you’ve attempted the aforementioned fixes but the power drain on your Apple Watch persists. The newest OS version can be installed to aid with battery problems. Either your watch or your iPhone can be used for this.
On your Apple Watch, upgrade watchOS as follows:
- Launch the Settings program.
- Choose General.
- Select Software Update.
- You’ll notice a message to this effect if your Apple Watch is current.
- If an update is available, install the most recent watchOS version by following the on-screen instructions.
For your iPhone’s watchOS update:
- Get your iPhone’s Watch app open.
- Select Software Update under General.
- Updates will be checked on your iPhone. You’ll notice a message indicating that your Apple Watch is current if it is.
- If an update is discovered, adhere to the installation instructions.
9. Reduce Motion to Limit Animations
Your Apple Watch uses some undetectable animations when executing actions, just like all other Apple products. The most recent apps, for instance, will slide into view from the bottom of the screen if you hit the side button to access them. More battery life is consumed by this style of animation than by merely displaying the apps. Try disabling these animations by turning on the Reduce Motion option if battery life is a concern for you.
- Launch Settings to enable Reduce Motion on Apple Watch.
- Tap Accessibility after scrolling down.
- Reducing Motion, tap.
- Turn on Reduce Motion by flipping the switch.
- The most recently used apps will now instantaneously appear when you touch the side button without any animation effects.
10. Pair your watch again after unpairing
Your iPhone and Apple Watch may not be properly linked if you’re still experiencing issues with battery drain on your Apple Watch. To check if it helps, try unpairing your Apple Watch and then pairing it once more.
Apple Watch unpairing instructions:
- Get your iPhone’s Watch app open.
- Tap All Watches at the very top of the screen in the My Watch tab.
- Your Apple Watch’s information symbol will appear; tap it.
- Choose Unpair Apple Watch at the screen’s bottom.
- Your Apple Watch will disconnect from your iPhone once you confirm your choice.
Bring your iPhone and Apple Watch close to one another to re-pair them. When the pairing screen appears, adhere to the directions displayed.