I gained extra hours of battery life on my Apple Watch with these quick fixes
I gained extra hours of battery life on my Apple Watch with these quick fixes
By Vanessa Hand Orellana | Published: 2025-12-03 12:00:00 | Source: CNET
Charging my devices at the end of the day has been as much a part of my bedtime ritual as brushing my teeth. I put my own phone and He watches On the charger, disconnect it from the screens, and count the steps at night.
That is, until sleep tracking complicated everything. The Apple Watch can record many important health metrics while you sleep and look for indicators of sleep apnea, high blood pressure, and even early signs of disease. It just got too good to ignore.
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The biggest challenge I have with this new sleeping arrangement is battery life. the Apple watch It needs at least seven consecutive nights of sleep tracking to start analyzing the data. Despite the current Series 11 And last year Series 10 It can last an entire day and night of sleep tracking, leaving me in a state of suspense at lunchtime if I can’t recharge.
After many days of not receiving credit for my midday workouts and obsessively monitoring for low battery percentage, I started researching every trick to increase my Apple Watch’s battery life. And I think I’m not alone. Here’s what helped.
The Apple Watch Series 11 lasted about six hours after its 24-hour rating in our real-world tests.
1. Charge as quickly as possible
The first thing you can do without sacrificing any features is to make sure you actually get full fast charging speeds. Series 10, Series 11, C3 and Ultra 3 They all support ultra-fast charging, but I realized I wasn’t using the proper wattage wall adapter.
Apple doesn’t include a charging dock anymore, so if you plug your cable into whatever spare charger you have lying around your kitchen (like me), you’re probably not charging your Watch as quickly as you could. Apple recommends using a 20W or higher USB-C power adapter, which should charge newer models from empty to full in less than an hour or provide enough power for a full night of sleep tracking in five minutes — roughly what it takes to brush your teeth.
2. Earn a few extra hours with a small trade-in
Battery life won’t be extended without some compromises, but the easiest sacrifice for me is turning off “Wake on Wrist Raise” and “Wake on Crown Rotation” on Settings. On watches with an always-on display, this simply means that the screen stays in a dim “sleep” state until you intentionally tap it, rather than lighting up every time you move your wrist or clean the crown.
This won’t work with older models that lack an always-on display, but if you have a compatible watch, it can easily add an additional four hours of use. The only caveat is that you won’t see your notifications right away. You’ll still receive the haptic alert, but you’ll need to tap to view the notification, rather than just tilting your wrist to see it appear.
Disable wrist raise alert and crown turn alert to save a little battery life.
To disable it, open Settings Application, go to Display and brightness Then scroll to the bottom and toggle both options.
3. Turn off the lights
Reduce the screen brightness – It’s another small trade-off, but only on a sunny day. The watch comes out of the box with brightness at about two-thirds of its peak level. The screen brightness will automatically adjust based on your surroundings, but you can force it to stay on the lowest setting. in Display and brightness Settings, reduce brightness Level to one bar.
Dimming the screen on your Apple Watch can help conserve power.
Dimming your watch screen 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 while running outdoors in the hot sun. But sacrificing brightness for longer battery life is by no means a deal breaker.
4. Choose 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 animations it uses (hello, Memojis), the faster your battery will drain. The same applies to complications that are constantly updated, such as weather or 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 longer. My favorite tools are Activity Digital, which displays only my episodes, or X-Large, which displays only numbers.
Dark-space watch faces like Activity Digital tend to be less power-hungry than brighter faces that take up the entire screen.
5. Passing the second day will cost you
A few extra hours of battery life is nice, but sometimes that’s not enough to get through a full day. My biggest problem is running out of power when I’m away from home and there’s no charger in sight. Even if your weekday routine includes office duties, 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 need to raise your wrist to activate the screen, but this feature adds up to six hours of battery life, depending on your model.
To turn it off, go to Settingsthen select Display and brightness And toggle off Always on. Note that it also affects workouts, so if you prefer training with heart rate zones or other stats visible at a glance, this may not be the best option.
6. Turn on low power mode as a last resort
If I really need to squeeze every last drop of battery life, I switch to low power mode once when the clock hits 15%. Toggling it on and off is easier than turning on the always-on display because it can be accessed from the control panel by pressing the side button. Click on Battery percentage button and then press Low power mode.
Low Power Mode on Apple Watch disables the always-on display, turns off automatic playback for workouts, and pauses background readings.
Low Power Mode does more than just disable the always-on display. It also delays notifications (just a little), turns off automatic playback of workouts (so you’ll need to turn them on manually) and pauses background measurements. Heart rate zone alerts, high/low and irregular rhythm notifications, and noisy environment alerts are also disabled. However, when exercising, your heart rate and pace are still measured.
7. Check the battery health
If you’re still experiencing poor battery life after trying all these troubleshooting tricks, it might be time to check your battery health. Even with the best habits, a worn out battery can only do so much, and at a certain point, an upgrade or replacement is the only real solution.
Older models tend to show wear early, but this is not guaranteed. Charging patterns and general usage can take their toll on newer models as well. Apple’s battery replacement costs about $99, or you can put that money toward a newer model, like the SE 3, which starts at $249. If you have AppleCare Plus and your battery capacity is less than 80%, repair or replacement (if necessary) is included.
To check battery health, go to Settingsthen batteryhandle Battery health And scroll down to Maximum capacity. Anything around or below 80% can start to cause noticeable problems.
A battery condition of approximately 80% or less can significantly reduce battery life on your Apple Watch.
The model of Apple Watch you have also matters about battery life
If you decide that an upgrade is your best option,… Apple Watch Ultra The line (especially the Ultra 3) has the longest battery life ever. Apple says 42 hours per charge, but I’ve consistently gotten close to 48 hours without disabling features. The Series 11 is rated for up to 24 hours, though I usually get about 30 hours with a full night of sleep tracking and a 40-minute GPS workout.
Apple doesn’t advertise it, but larger models generally last two hours longer than smaller models — so the 46mm Series 11 outperforms the 42mm. Models like C3 or Series 10 It’s rated for 18 hours and up with the always-on display enabled, but I passed the 22-hour mark.
Whatever combination of tricks you use (or which new model you’re starting over with), hopefully you can break the battery rut and take full advantage of everything the Apple Watch can do for your health.
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