The Apple Watch is an incredibly popular device. Ever since it was first released back in 2015, the smartwatch has become more and more well-known and well-loved. It’s got to the point that Apple now sells more watches than the Swiss watch industry.
However, if you use your Apple Watch a lot, you might have noticed the battery draining pretty fast. You need your watch to last you all day, so how can you boost your Apple Watch battery life?
In this guide, we’re going to take a look at what you should and shouldn’t do if you want to make your smartwatch’s battery life last you all day, every day. Put these tips into use, and you’ll be able to enjoy your watch without ever having to second guess the battery again.
Are you ready to learn more? Then read on!
1. Limit Your Cellular Use
Ever since the Apple Watch Series 3, cellular data has been available on the Apple Watch. While this is a massive boon for many users, overusing this feature can quickly drain the battery life.
The same logic applies to this as to your smartphone battery. Using 4G, 5G, or even 3G will drain your battery faster than using wifi. It’s a lot more efficient to connect your watch to your iPhone via Bluetooth or wifi.
If you notice that your battery is draining abnormally fast, you should consider whether you’re making the Apple Watch use cellular technology to communicate with the phone. If you are, then you should try to avoid this if at all possible.
2. Stick to a Minimalist Face for Longer Battery Life
The ability to change your Apple Watch’s face is one of the coolest features that the device has to offer. You can decide exactly what you want the watch to look like, and tweak it daily to suit your mood if you like.
The only issue with this is that some faces use more battery life than others, just as some smartphone wallpapers use more battery life.
If you’re not going to be near a charger for a while and want to preserve the battery life, you should switch to a minimalist face that uses fewer colors and animated elements. While the animated watch faces look great, they can chug your battery like there’s no tomorrow.
3. Turn Off the Wrist Raise Function
The Apple Watch comes with a feature that can turn the watch on when you raise your wrist. While this works great in theory (after all, who doesn’t raise their wrist to look at their watch), in practice it can lead to a much more pronounced drain on your battery.
Think about all the times that you raise your wrist and it’s not to look at your watch: driving, drinking tea or coffee, eating, gesturing. All of these can lead to a drained battery and, ultimately, a battery replacement.
To turn this feature off, grab your iPhone and go to the Watch app. From here, follow these instructions:
- Open the “my watch” tab
- Go to general
- Go to “wake screen”
- Turn it off with the slider
When you’ve turned this setting off, you’ll need to tap your watch to view the face.
4. Update watchOS
While it’s not a definitive answer to battery drain issues, sometimes updating watchOS can solve your problems. There’s always the possibility that a new update has stymied battery life.
If this is the case, then Apple almost certainly knows about the issue and will release an update in no short order to solve it. If you’ve recently noticed that your battery is draining faster than it used to, you should check for a watchOS update.
If there is one, install it, and see if that solves your problem.
5. Remove Unused Apps
We’re willing to bet that you don’t regularly use every app that’s on your Apple Watch. If that’s the case, then removing them should be one of your top priorities. Most apps will still run in the background and communicate with your iPhone, which can lead to a draining battery.
Think about the apps that you actually use on your watch. Which ones could you do without?
Then uninstall the ones that you rarely use. You can always put them back on if you change your mind, so why not give it a try?
6. Disable Siri on Your Watch
The “Hey Siri” feature on the Apple Watch can be pretty handy, but if you’ve got your iPhone with you, it’s not something that you can’t live without. Having this feature enabled will mean that your watch is listening to hear those magic words and spring into action.
Turning the feature off will mean that your watch is a little less active when you’re not using it. To turn this feature off, get your iPhone and follow these instructions:
- Go to the Watch app
- Open the Siri section
- Turn off “listen for ‘hey Siri'”
7. Turn Off Haptic Alerts
Haptic alerts use a whole lot of your Apple Watch’s battery. Vibrations use a lot of battery due to the relative size and weight of the device versus the motor, so turning these off can really help.
To do this, you’ll need to grab your iPhone again and follow these steps:
- Go to the Watch app
- Open the “my watch” tab
- Go to “sounds and haptics”
- Turn off haptic alerts
Use These Tips to Improve Your Apple Watch Battery Life
If your Apple Watch battery life isn’t what it once was, these tips can help you get it back into peak condition. If you’ve tried these tips and your battery is still draining fast, you should consider having one of our expert staff take a look at your watch battery to see whether it needs to be replaced.
We have several locations and will be happy to see you at any of them. If you have any questions for us, please don’t hesitate to contact us by calling 804-698-0004.
