Operating on a cellular signal uses more battery, so carrying the paired iPhone has a significant effect. In Siri settings, turning off Listen for 'Hey Siri' will reduce battery use a bit as well since that is a background task that must continually run and analyze the microphone input. Raise to Speak and Press Digital Crown are nearly as convenient and save speaking the wake words. As an extreme measure, Power Reserve mode can be switched on in Battery settings, reducing the Apple Watch to simply displaying the time and disabling all other features.
Apple today announced Apple Watch Series 7, featuring a reengineered Always-On Retina display with significantly more screen area and thinner borders, making it the largest and most advanced display ever. The narrower borders allow the display to maximize screen area, while minimally changing the dimensions of the watch itself. The design of Apple Watch Series 7 is refined with softer, more rounded corners, and the display has a unique refractive edge that makes full-screen watch faces and apps appear to seamlessly connect with the curvature of the case. Apple Watch Series 7 also features a user interface optimized for the larger display, offering greater readability and ease of use, plus two unique watch faces — Contour and Modular Duo — designed specifically for the new device. With the improvements to the display, users benefit from the same all-day 18-hour battery life,1 now complemented by 33 percent faster charging.
During multiple different tests, I also found that both sizes of the cellular variant are capable of more than 24 hours of usage, with a total of 12 out of 14 tests (86%) resulting in battery life exceeding 24 hours. Regardless of your definition of 'all-day' battery life, I think it's safe to say that the Apple Watch Series 7 delivers on Apple's claim here, even with Always On Display enabled. Add in things like workout mode, active heart rate monitoring and sleep tracking, and battery life changes but in general, almost all variants average over 24 hours, and all deliver at least 22 hours of battery life in any mode.
If the Apple Watch is powered on and not connected to the charger, it uses the battery. Some draw more power than others, and disabling or limiting use will help extend battery life. For example, with most mobile technology, lowering the screen brightness is one of the best ways to make the device last longer. This is particularly true of the Apple Watch Series 7, with its larger and brighter always-on display. Users can lower the display brightness in the settings app, and Always On can be switched off and replaced with Wake on Wrist Raise and Wake On Crown Up. This might be enough to get through the day with enough power left for sleep tracking.
As I see it, the Watch Series 7 is a slightly more appealing first Apple Watch than previous versions because its larger screen makes it a little easier for novices to get around the Watch. Is this, starting at €429, a better choice than the mid-tier Watch SE at €299? For me, it would be a toss-up if the difference were only the extra screen size and ECG and blood oxygen sensors, neither of which the SE model has. With the SE or entry-level Series 3 model, you have to flick your wrist up to see basic informational, like the time. With the Series 7, it has a dimmer version of the main screen that is always on, so you can glance at your watch without having to flick it once or twice to make sure it wakes up. So if you're going to get an Apple Watch, you're better off going all-in for the sake of an extra €129.
Another option from Garmin, this fitness-focused smartwatch mixes advanced exercise tracking and health data collection with smartwatch features like calls, notifications, contactless payments and music streaming. The Vivoactive 4S also has a heart rate monitor, an oxygen saturation sensor, hydration tracking, sleep monitoring, and an app for checking on your stress levels. The Apple Watch Series 7 doesn't make any big changes to its predecessor's winning formula, but it still reigns supreme as the smartwatch king for iOS users. The bigger display is a subtle upgrade that crams more into your view and the faster charging goes some way to making up for the battery life, that'll still only just get you through a day. There might be more feature-packed watches out there for the running and fitness die-hards but for most people the Apple Watch 7 ticks all the right boxes. The Apple Watch Series 7 (starting at $399) is Cupertino's latest flagship smartwatch.
The Series 7 is Apple's most attractive and durable wearable yet, and an Editors' Choice award winner. The upcoming devices are also expected to offer enhanced health monitoring features thanks to upgraded health sensors, and a longer battery life thanks to a larger battery. The Apple Watch 6 is rated for about 18 hours of battery life, which is about the same as the battery life of the Apple Watch 5 and the series 3 as well. This Apple Watch battery life rating is based on several factors, including pairing with an iPhone and a standard number of notifications and tracked activities.
Applecontends that within that 18-hour timeframe, your Apple Watch can perform 90 time checks, 90 notifications, 45 minutes of app use, and a 60-minute workout including Bluetooth music playback. Most of us eclipse that in a day, by some combination of those and other activities. If you use Family Sharing on your new Apple Watch SE or Watch 6, you'll likely experience a shorter battery life. It introduces a larger screen with a QWERTY keyboard for the first time, new color options, faster charging and improved durability for the same price as the Series 6. Of course, it's not perfect -- the battery life hasn't improved, and Apple's sleep tracking still generally lags behind the competition.
Does The New Apple Watch Have Better Battery Life But it's undoubtedly the best smartwatch for iPhone owners, which is why we give it the best ranking. You may find it most convenient to charge your watch nightly, overnight. The watch cannot be overcharged and the battery will not suffer any harm from regular charging. Charging will stop automatically when the battery is fully charged and start again if and when required due to ongoing battery usage.Compared to other smartwatches, the Apple Watch does not have a particularly robust battery life. An Apple Watch lasts for just 18 hours, which means you need to charge it daily.
Most people charge it overnight, which is why it doesn't have a built-in sleep tracking app like many other smartwatches and fitness bands. On a more positive note, thanks to its new charging architecture, the Series 7 juices up quickly. With its new USB-C compatibility, the watch charges 33% faster than the Series 6. Just 45 minutes on its fast-charging puck takes it from dead to 80% battery life.
If you're running low on battery life at the end of the day, popping it on the charger for just eight minutes gives you enough juice for eight hours of sleep tracking. Apple advertises the Series 6 as offering all-day battery life up to 18 hours. Apple bases "all-day" estimates on 90 time checks, 90 notifications, 45 minutes of app use, and a 60-minute workout with music playback via Bluetooth.
Apple has kept improving the Apple Watch since the wearable first launched in 2015. The Apple Watch should last you throughout the day, depending on how you use it. Over the years, Apple added more efficient processors to the watch while expanding its health-tracking features. This meant that Apple couldn't match what competing smartwatches and health trackers offer in terms of battery life. Every new Apple Watch still came with an 18-hour battery life estimate, which meant you'd have to charge it every day. That's in addition to features that have been in the Apple Watch for years, like Apple Pay.
The company states 18 hours of battery life is possible during a normal day, which includes 90 time checks, 90 notifications, 45 minutes of app use, and a 60-minute workout with music playback over Bluetooth. I also like that the new Apple Watch can charge to 80% in 45 minutes. It's helpful if you just want to top up for a few minutes before bed to have enough battery life for sleep tracking.
I found the fast charging useful one day when, just before a run, I realized I only had about 15% battery left. I charged it while I got dressed and was able to head out with more than a 50% charge. You have to use the new included Apple Watch cable for faster charging. As its name suggests, the Apple Watch is indeed a timepiece, but its primary value comes from tracking physical activities and displaying notifications from an iPhone. You can customize how it looks using a still too limited collection of Apple-designed watch faces, and navigate through apps using a tiny grid of icons.
Over time, heart rate monitoring and ECG measurement have emerged as two of its signature health features, alongside tracking of everything from steps to swim strokes to various exercises. The Apple Watch Series 7 builds upon its class-leading predecessor with a larger screen, faster charging, and improved durability. Between the hardware updates, ample health and safety features, and unrivaled third-party app selection, it offers the best smartwatch experience you can get today, earning it our Editors' Choice award.
After seven years, Apple's smartwatch still comes with the same all-day battery life description as the original, usually clarifying that to mean 18 hours, which is 6 hours shorter than an actual day. That was a decent battery life for 2015 but feels a bit low six years later. Of course, part of the problem with running low at the end of the day is sleep tracking, which requires the Apple Watch to be at least partially active throughout the night. But at the same time, I would have liked to see more from the Series 7. Longer battery life is always on my wishlist, but Apple could have also done more to leverage the Series 7's existing technology. A broader selection of new watch faces designed to take advantage of the Series 7's larger screen would have been nice.
And more than a year later, I'm still not entirely sure what to make of the results from the watch's blood oxygen sensor. We also expected to see an upgraded U1 ultrawideband chip in the Series 7 per a Bloomberg report that was published ahead of the watch's launch, but that didn't arrive either. As I said above, it's the most capable overall smartwatch out there for iPhone users (it doesn't work with Android watches). No other smartwatch gives you the combination of fitness, health, music control, maps and paying for things as comprehensively or as simply as this device.
Little things, like its ability to bypass your iPhone's Face ID or pin code when you're wearing a mask, make you love it. And the Watch's increasing focus on health — from fall detection technology to warnings about irregular heartbeats it detects — make it attractive to a growing number of senior citizens. The Watch Series 6 is as feature-packed as smartwatches get, with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and optional 4G, plus tracking of activity, heart rate and sleep. It can also take an ECG, monitor blood oxygen saturation, make an emergency call if you fall over and don't get up, and can be worn while swimming. Even when you're not actively using an app, they are often still running in the background, using battery power. This explains why your Apple Watch series 6 battery drain overnight.
Regularly closing apps that you're not using will increase your battery life. This may be particularly true of users who work out a lot and use an app to track exercise—opening the fitness app to start a run but forgetting to press End afterward. To completely close the fitness app, press the End button on the app, or remove it from the Apple Watch background. Compared to other smartwatches, Apple Watches have a relatively short battery life—about 18 hours of moderate use.
So if you're experiencing Apple watch series 6 battery drain or want to tips to improve your battery life, then read on to explore our inside tips. While the Apple Watch Series 7 is a fantastic smartwatch in its own right, there is a sense that Apple's treading water here. Unless you're desperate to update your ageing Apple Watch or you're bedazzled by the thought of a larger screen, my advice would be to stay put. The Apple Watch 7 is basically the Watch 6 with a slightly larger screen and the ability to charge faster – most people will likely choose the Watch 7 because of the new attractive colors it comes in, rather than any new features. While it still packs a wide variety of impressive features, and is a superb second screen for an iPhone user the Watch 7 doesn't offer the battery life, fitness or design overhaul that it needs to inspire an upgrade.
Finally, keep in mind that for all their impressive features, Apple's and Samsung's smartwatches offer only one-day battery life. If that's one of your main concerns, we suggest the Editors' Choice-winning $229.95 Fitbit Versa 3, which offers less in the way of third-party apps and feels a bit less refined, but lasts for days on a charge. Compared to other wearables and fitness trackers, the Apple Watch has considerably less battery life, and it's certainly nowhere close to the average every-fifth-day charging schedule seen in comparable watches. That said, some users see considerably more battery life, and others experience a faster rate of Apple Watch battery drain. It all depends on how much you depend on your Apple Watch for notifications and daily activity assistance which, of course, is kind of the point of an Apple Watch.
Garmin says up to five hours of battery life is possible with GPS enabled while streaming music. In addition, just like Series 6, the Apple Watch Series 7 will include an electrical heart sensor with the ECG app and the ability to analyze blood oxygen levels. With that, users will also receive Apple's other health features, like sleep tracking, exercise tracking, and Apple Fitness Plus compatibility. Apple promises up to 18 hours, and I've been getting about that with the Apple Watch Series 7.
I just wish Apple could find a way to extend that to two or three days so that I didn't need to worry about charging it. The faster charger definitely helps, but sometimes I still worry that I'm going to go need to find the charger and top it off before going for a run. But a bigger battery would make it thicker, and I don't want that either. Small tweaks and lower Series 3 pricing might well bring new people to the Apple Watch platform over the next year, but there's no need for current Series 4 users to upgrade to Series 5.
As a Series 4 user who seriously considered upgrading for the screen alone, I ultimately decided to pass after real-world testing, instead waiting to see what Apple releases in 2020. During my testing, Series 5's battery life was noticeably worse than Series 4's. After a normal day of use, the new watch was at 35%, while its predecessor had twice the remaining power. So while Apple's promise of "all-day" battery life is still accurate this year, that's only because the official 18-hour number hasn't changed, despite undisclosed annual advances in prior models.
Unless Apple improves watchOS, it looks like you'll have to avoid using Series 5's new features to get Series 4-like battery results. At present, the Apple Watch Series 6 features an average battery life of around 18 hours, and a charging time of 1.5 hours. The Apple Watch SE, for comparison, has roughly the same lifespan but takes a bit longer to charge.
Of course, given that some apps drain the battery faster than normal, these figures may be lower in practice. So, is it that Apple would rather prioritize new features over battery life...or does it do so because it knows the fans have learned to embrace nightly charging? Do Apple fans know that while, yes, the watch rapidly charges, there is also a life where you don't have to strategize your routine around charging? It's curious, given that Android users routinely blast WearOS watches for only lasting a day and improved battery life was a big benefit of the Snapdragon Wear 3100 chipset. Long battery life is something other wearables makers cite at events as one of their most frequently requested features. While the Apple Watch remains one of the standout wearables you can buy, we're still waiting for another leap forwards in functionality and, perhaps, design too.
The blood oxygen monitor is another weapon in the arsenal of health Apple is building, but isn't the headline feature most potential upgraders will be clamoring for. As ever, the incremental improvements to the battery life and display are welcome, but it feels like there's untapped potential still with Apple's wearable line. Looking at our battery life tests; how long would you need to charge it for the "all-day" battery life that Apple claims? This would mean you need to charge it for minutes depending upon the exact model and your exact usage. If all-day is 12 hours for you, you would need about 40% battery life meaning minutes of charge, whereas if all-day is 18 hours, you would likely want to charge the Apple Watch Series 7 for minutes. The Apple Watch Series 7 is also expected to improve the UWB support.
In the following years, Apple wants to introduce blood sugar and alcohol sensors to its watches, though those are still a few years away. Also, Apple will have to balance adding new sensors with the keeping the battery life as once the 2021 model finally improve on the 18 hours rating, future models can't go backwards. For me, fast charging is probably the most important new feature in this iteration. The Apple Watch Series 7 charges up to 33% faster with the new charging cable, which really makes a difference in daily use compared to older models. Older charging cables that you still have from previous models can still be used, but they don't offer Fast Charging support. Apple claims the Series 7 offers around 18 hours of battery life, and that's about what I got between charges during the review period.
This is with all the extras, like the always-on display, turned on. You might be able to stretch the endurance out for a few more hours if you turn off the always-on screen but it's too much of a good feature for it to be worth it for me. It's not like the Apple Watch Series 7 is lacking when it comes to sensors, though.
There's GLONASS and GPS for tracking runs without a phone connected, altimeter, an optical heart rate monitor and blood oxygen monitor. It can also take an ECG reading, something that's still not available on that many wearables and could help spot early signs of atrial fibrillation. I found around 16 hours of wear (receiving WhastApps, texts, Slacks and Instagram notifications and controlling music during an hour's run) reduced it by around 50 per cent on average, taking me comfortably through into the next day.
