I Stopped Charging My Apple Watch Daily After Changing These 7 Settings
I had almost accepted my fate of charging my Apple Watch every night right next to my phone. Dropping it on the charger at the end of the day felt as routine as brushing my teeth. I would define my phone And watch on their chargers, turn off my screens and settle in for a night without tracking or notifications.
That is, until sleep tracking complicated everything. Apple Watch can record multiple important health indicators during sleep and look for indicators of sleep apnea, hypertension and even early signs of illness. It has become too good to ignore.
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My biggest challenge with this new sleeping mode has been battery life. THE Apple Watch requires at least seven consecutive nights of sleep tracking to begin analyzing data. And even if the current Series 11 and last year’s Series 10 can last a full day and night of sleep tracking, they leave me with a dead watch around lunch time if I don’t recharge.
After too many days of not receiving credit for midday workouts and obsessively watching the battery percentage drop, I started researching all the tricks to maximize my Apple Watch’s battery life. And I guess I’m not alone. Here’s what helped.
The Apple Watch Series 11 lasted about six hours beyond its 24-hour duration in our real-world testing.
1. Charge as quickly as possible
The first thing you can do without sacrificing any functionality is to make sure you actually get full, fast loading speeds. Series 10, Series 11, SE 3 And Ultra3 All support super-fast charging, but I realized I wasn’t using the right power wall adapter.
Apple no longer includes a charging brick, so if you’re plugging your cable into a spare charger lying around your kitchen (like me), you’re probably not charging your watch as quickly as you could. Apple recommends a 20-watt or higher USB-C power adapter, which should charge newer models from empty to full in less than an hour or provide enough juice for a full night of sleep tracking in five minutes, about the time it takes to brush your teeth.
2. Save a few extra hours with a small compromise
Extending your battery won’t come without some compromises, but the easiest sacrifice for me is to disable “Wake on Wrist Raise” and “Wake on Crown Rotation” in Settings. On watches with an always-on display, this simply means that the screen stays in its darker “resting” state until you intentionally tap it, rather than lighting up every time you move your wrist or flick the crown.
This won’t work on older models without an always-on display, but if you have a compatible watch, it can easily add an extra 4 hours of use. The only downside is that you won’t see your notifications immediately. You’ll still receive the haptic alert, but you’ll have to tap on it to view the notification, rather than just tilting your wrist to see it appear.
Turn off wake on wrist raise and wake on crown rotation to save a little on battery life.
To deactivate it, open the Settings application, go to Display and brightness then scroll to the bottom and turn off both options.
3. Dim the lights
Reduce your screen brightness: This is another small compromise, but only on sunny days. The watch comes out of the box with its brightness set to two-thirds of its maximum level. The screen brightness will automatically adjust based on your surroundings, but you can force it to stay at the lowest setting. In the Display and brightness settings, reduce the Brightness one-bar level.
Dimming the Apple Watch display can help save power.
Dimming your watch’s display can add an extra hour or two of battery life between charges, depending on where you spend your day and how often the screen wakes up. The only times I miss having a bright screen is during outdoor runs in the blazing sun. But sacrificing brightness to extend battery life is by no means a deal breaker.
4. Opt for a Simple Watch Face
Switching to a simpler watch face can also help extend battery life. The more pixels your watch has to light up (think photo faces) or the more animation involved (hello, Memojis), the faster your battery drains. The same goes for constantly updated complications, like the weather or your heart rate.
Apple doesn’t offer a battery usage score for its watch faces like some Android watches do, but as a general rule, darker, simpler faces with fewer active elements last the longest. My favorites are Activity Digital, which only shows my rings, or X-Large, which only shows the numbers.
Watch faces with more dark space like Activity Digital tend to be less power hungry than brighter watch faces that take up the entire screen.
5. Skipping day 2 will cost you
A few extra hours of battery life is great, but sometimes even that isn’t enough to get you through the day. My biggest problem is running out of battery when I’m away from home and a charger can’t be found. Even if your weekday routine includes office expenses, weekends are unpredictable and it’s best to arrive in the evening when you’re closer to your charger.
For me, the next level compromise is to turn off the always-on display. You’ll have to raise your wrist to wake the screen, but this feature can add up to 6 hours of battery life, depending on your model.
To turn it off, go to Settingsthen select Display and brightness and deactivate Always active. Note that this also affects workouts, so if you prefer to train with your heart rate zones or other stats visible at a glance, this may not be the best option.
6. Enable Low Power Mode as a Last Resort
If I really need to squeeze every last drop of battery life out of the battery, I switch to low power mode once when the watch hits 15%. It’s actually easier to turn the always-on display on and off because it’s accessible in the control panel via the side button. Press the Battery percentage button, then press Low power mode.
Low power mode on Apple Watch turns off the always-on display, disables autostart for workouts, and pauses background playbacks.
Low Power Mode does more than just turn off the always-on screen. It also delays notifications (only slightly), disables workouts from auto-starting (so you’ll have to start them manually), and pauses measurements in the background. Heart rate zone alerts, high/low and irregular heart rate notifications, and noisy environment alerts are also disabled. However, during a workout, heart rate and pace are still measured.
7. Check your battery health
If your battery life is still low after trying all of these troubleshooting tips, it might just be time to check your battery health. Even with the best habits, there’s only so much a worn-out battery can do, and at some point, an upgrade or replacement is the only real solution.
Older models tend to wear out sooner, but this is not guaranteed. Charging patterns and overall usage can also take a toll on newer models. Having Apple replace the battery costs around $99, or you can invest that money in a newer model, like the SE 3, which starts at $249. If you have AppleCare Plus and your battery capacity is below 80%, repair or replacement (if necessary) is included.
To check the status of your battery, go to Settings > Batteryfaucet Battery health, then scroll down to Maximum capacity. Anything around or below 80% can start to cause noticeable problems.
A battery health of around 80% or less can significantly reduce Apple Watch battery life.
The Apple Watch model you own also matters for battery life
If you decide that upgrading is your best bet, the Apple Watch Ultra line (especially the Ultra 3) offers the longest battery life by far. Apple claims 42 hours per charge, but I consistently get closer to 48 hours without turning off features. The Series 11 is rated to last up to 24 hours, although I typically get around 30 hours with a full night of sleep tracking and a 40-minute GPS workout.
Apple doesn’t advertise it, but the larger models typically last about two hours longer than the smaller ones – so the 46mm Series 11 outperforms the 42mm. Models like the SE 3 or Series 10 and earlier are rated at 18 hours with the always-on display enabled, but I pushed mine past the 22 hour mark.
Whatever combination of tricks you use (or whatever new model you come away with), we hope you break the battery routine and take full advantage of everything the Apple Watch can do for your health.
