[KingBuick]

Hi everyone, I am trying to figure out how to get better battery life on my Series 5. I have mixed and matched various settings and have found the following for my usage:

With all the settings turned on, overnight my watch goes from 100% to ~80-85%, sometimes into the 70% range after 8-9 hours. Sometimes I leave the watch on for longer and after 12 hours it’s in the 60% range. My Series 2 would never drain like this even before I gave it to my dad.

With some settings turned off (AOD, background app refresh, less notifications) overnight my Watch goes from 100% to 90% in 8-9 hours, which is better but not as good as my previous Series 2. I have not tried turning off noise and cellular yet, nor turning off the compass.

My goal is to have my Watch drain at most 5% overnight.

During the day, with all the settings enabled the Series 5 goes 10 hours sometimes before it’s in the 40% range. Again my Series 2 never did this. With the settings turned off it’s better and after that period is at 70%. Still, not as good as the Series 2 it replaced.

If I have to turn off the majority if not all of the features that make the Series 5 what it is supposed to be used as, I am ok with it. I will just tell anyone who asks me that the reason I use the Watch almost as a regular Watch is to get the maximum battery life possible. My Tissot Watch doesn’t have this battery life problem obviously!

In conclusion, if anyone has any advice to help make battery life better, I would greatly appreciate it!

[Annie_M]

Have you considered putting it in Airplane mode when you go to bed? That might help a bit. You could also just use the do not disturb feature.

[Lee_Bo]

During the day, with all the settings enabled the Series 5 goes 10 hours sometimes before it’s in the 40% range. Again my Series 2 never did this. With the settings turned off it’s better and after that period is at 70%. Still, not as good as the Series 2 it replaced.

Give us a general rundown of your daily use with the watch. 10 hours and down to 40% sounds like heavy usage. However, there is also significant hardware advances between the series 2 and the series 5.

[Just_Me_D]

If the watch is not connected to Wi-Fi then it will seek out the cellular connection as the primary and cellular use can be taxing on the battery, especially if the cell signal is weak.

[KingBuick]

Have you considered putting it in Airplane mode when you go to bed? That might help a bit. You could also just use the do not disturb feature.

Airplane mode I won’t do because then it gets disconnected from the iPhone. I tried the DND feature a while ago for another reason and it did not go well.

[KingBuick]

Give us a general rundown of your daily use with the watch. 10 hours and down to 40% sounds like heavy usage. However, there is also significant hardware advances between the series 2 and the series 5.

I get a lot of notifications mirrored from my iPhone and on my iPhone background app refresh is on and many apps have location services set to always. For example now after 1 and a half hours off the charger (I charged my phone and Watch to 100%) my phone is at 96% and the Watch is at 98%.

[KingBuick]

If the watch is not connected to Wi-Fi then it will seek out the cellular connection as the primary and cellular use can be taxing on the battery, especially if the cell signal is weak.

If I turn off cellular then will it not search for cellular signal at all, therefore saving battery?

[Just_Me_D]

If I turn off cellular then will it not search for cellular signal at all, therefore saving battery?

It shouldn’t and yes.

[KingBuick]

It shouldn’t and yes.

I turned off cellular briefly and it only dropped 1%.

[doogald]

In conclusion, if anyone has any advice to help make battery life better, I would greatly appreciate it!

Plug in your watch while you are sleeping. It will not ruin the battery to keep it on charge. You will wake up with a fully charged watch and not worry about the battery.

Also find moments in the day when you can charge the watch. When you shower or bathe, put the watch on for charge. (Do not wear the watch in the shower. First, it's not good for the watch to expose it to soaps and detergents. Second, Apple does not warrant water damage, even though they market the water resistance. Third, you need to clean your arm under the watch anyway.) Also charge the watch while you wash up at night.

[KingBuick]

Plug in your watch while you are sleeping. It will not ruin the battery to keep it on charge. You will wake up with a fully charged watch and not worry about the battery.

Also find moments in the day when you can charge the watch. When you shower or bathe, put the watch on for charge. (Do not wear the watch in the shower. First, it's not good for the watch to expose it to soaps and detergents. Second, Apple does not warrant water damage, even though they market the water resistance. Third, you need to clean your arm under the watch anyway.) Also charge the watch while you wash up at night.

I charge all my devices multiple times a day when I’m at home. When I’m away from home I have a portable charger and Smart Battery case for my iPhone in addition to the fast charger. My Watch has two chargers and my MacBook Pro has one.

[Just_Me_D]

I charge all my devices multiple times a day when I’m at home. When I’m away from home I have a portable charger and Smart Battery case for my iPhone in addition to the fast charger. My Watch has two chargers and my MacBook Pro has one.

Without knowing how much you use your devices, this seems like overkill. Your Series 5 Watch should easily last all day on a single charge, especially, if it’s not using cellular data and is connected to Wi-Fi a minority of the time. You’re either using it heavily or you have a rogue app installed on it that is zapping battery life.

[KingBuick]

Without knowing how much you use your devices, this seems like overkill. Your Series 5 Watch should easily last all day on a single charge, especially, if it’s not using cellular data and is connected to Wi-Fi a minority of the time. You’re either using it heavily or you have a rogue app installed on it that is zapping battery life.

With my usage I think if I did not charge it after I wake up and used it until it died, it would last a total of 15-16 hours. I’ve never tried it though, although when I was in NYC at the end of February the lowest it got after 10 hours was 49%. This was an extreme case though as I charge my Watch and other devices normally three to four times a day.

[Lee_Bo]

Without knowing how much you use your devices, this seems like overkill. Your Series 5 Watch should easily last all day on a single charge, especially, if it’s not using cellular data and is connected to Wi-Fi a minority of the time. You’re either using it heavily or you have a rogue app installed on it that is zapping battery life.

I agree with this. My almost 2 year old series 3 (LTE) still gets over 24 hours on a single charge. It's normally down to 50%-ish after a day at work and I put it in Airplane/DND/Theatre Mode while sleeping to track sleep. Wake up in the AM and charge while I'm getting ready for work.

Rinse and repeat.

[KingBuick]

I agree with this. My almost 2 year old series 3 (LTE) still gets over 24 hours on a single charge. It's normally down to 50%-ish after a day at work and I put it in Airplane/DND/Theatre Mode while sleeping to track sleep. Wake up in the AM and charge while I'm getting ready for work.

Rinse and repeat.

If it goes to power reserve mode how many more hours can it last?