Battery life

[apcman]

I was thinking about getting a Apple Watch and I wanted to get someone opinion on battery life. I really would not be using it for fitness. It would be more for notifications, clock, and other basic notifications. If I turned off GPS and other fitness tracking what sort of battery life will I be looking at. I wanted to make sure I won't be charging this at 5 pm everyday. I want to be able to get through the night and then some.

 

[doogald]

I wear my watch while I exercise, but do not use the workouts apps themselves - just to track the activity. My 42 mm Series 2 watch lasts over 2 days on battery (though it never gets that bad.) Basically, I charge it while I shower and dress in the morning and when I get ready for bed at night. I strap it on when I go to sleep. The battery is never below 75%.

38 mm and Series 1 may not be as good, but I am sure that, with the usage you describe, you'll easily get through a day with plenty of battery to spare.

 

[Bruins_CCH_4]

I've had my 38mm Series 2 watch for a week now and I was hesitant to opt for the smaller watch due to battery life, but I preferred the smaller size so gave it a shot. I've noticed the battery life getting better each day. I've been using it for hour long workouts and wear it from 8 am to 11pm daily. The first few days I got to 45% then 55%, and now this week I've been taking it off at 65% which is normal use for me. Obviously you will use it more the first few days to install apps and configure the settings to your liking, then it will settle in to your use cases. It takes a half hour to get to full charge in the morning while I'm getting ready when it's starting from 50%. I have email and social media notifications turned off, which helps. Best advice is to try it for a week or two and return it if you're not satisfied. Everyone's use case is a bit different. You may get better battery life than me if your not using it for fitness, but you might receive more notifications than me. But I am glad I didn't opt for the larger watch just for the sake of battery life.
Best of luck in your decision.

 

[kataran]

The Apple Watch is designed to hold a daily charge at minimal with all features working so there's no need to limit its use for fear of battery drain

 

[StraightlineBoy]

I have a series 2 42mm and I use it as follows...
I wear it throughout the day and at about 6-9pm (once I've completed my activity rings) I put it on the charger for up to an hour. I then put it back on and use it as a sleep tracker and wear it the next day up until evening. If you're not using GPS then charging every other day would be possible, I just charge mine daily as I'm generally home in the evening at some point before bedtime and that's a convenient time to charge

 

[tcuprof]

If I turned off GPS and other fitness tracking what sort of battery life will I be looking at. I wanted to make sure I won't be charging this at 5 pm everyday. I want to be able to get through the night and then some.

FYI, you can't turn the GPS off on the Series 2 watch. If you're not running a workout app or if it is connected to the phone, it won't use its GPS.

An additional thought - if you won't be using the GPS, then you should definitely consider the Series 1 unless you need it to be waterproof.

 

[imwjl]

All my thoughts on battery life before I owned it vanished because the watch can do a whole day of a lot of stuff or go two days with less exhaustive use.

Charging hasn't been a pain or needing much thought as I thought it might be. During sleep time I charge the watch when I charge the phone.

The worst I've seen was using watch with GPS and wireless headphones for a few mile hike/run had me at 18% vs typical 50-60% at end of day. That 18% if only used as a wristwatch could have gone on quite a while.

Put simply, charge the watch when I charge the phone always works and almost always shows the watch has more battery left than the iPhone.

 

[eyecrispy]

S2 battery is much better than S0.

I wear mine off charger before 6am every morning. I workout (no GPS) for 60-90 min and then normal use rest of the day. By the time I go to bed around 11pm, I'm between 30-50%. Only gets to 30% when I go to tae kwon do in the evening and track that as a workout. I charge it overnight and use my Fitbit for sleep tracking.

I'm using the 38mm Nike+ edition.

 

[anon(5630457)]

Oh man, when I had the Apple Watch Nike+ it was getting two days of battery life with all of those features turned on! If you get it, you'll get about that as well, maybe even three days.

 

[eyecrispy]

Oh man, when I had the Apple Watch Nike+ it was getting two days of battery life with all of those features turned on! If you get it, you'll get about that as well, maybe even three days.

For the 38mm? No way I can get 2 full days, much less 3.

 

[Mac Guy]

For the 38mm? No way I can get 2 full days, much less 3.

The 42mm Watch definitely has the advantage in battery life over the 38mm. This was pretty obvious in the first generation Watches and the main reason I chose the 42mm. And the 38mm would have felt a little small to me.

Out of curiosity, does anyone have experience with the battery life of the AW vs AWS2 in 38s?

 

[anon(5630457)]

For the 38mm? No way I can get 2 full days, much less 3.

Yep. It was the 38mm watch.

 

[eyecrispy]

The 42mm Watch definitely has the advantage in battery life over the 38mm. This was pretty obvious in the first generation Watches and the main reason I chose the 42mm. And the 38mm would have felt a little small to me.

Out of curiosity, does anyone have experience with the battery life of the AW vs AWS2 in 38s?

If by AW you mean S0, then I do.

Yep. It was the 38mm watch.

Wow. I'm impressed.