Apple Watches come with 18 hours of battery life. That’s not a particularly long amount of time, so you usually have to charge the watch daily. But if you find your watch depleting even faster than this, something probably isn’t working properly. So, what could be making your Apple Watch die so quickly?
If your Apple Watch battery is dying very quickly, trying closing apps that run in the background, updating your watchOS, and adjusting certain settings, such as app notifications, brightness, and the ‘Hey Siri’ options. If nothing improves, it may be a sign that it’s time to upgrade your watch.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the most common reasons why your Apple Watch battery drains so quickly. We’ve also rounded up a few simple, tested, and proven methods to help extend your watch’s battery life.
What Is Draining Your Apple Watch Battery?
Here are a few reasons why your Apple Watch might be draining its battery faster than it should:
Background Apps
Apps you opened earlier on your watch keep running even when you’re not using them. It’s a similar situation with smartphones.
Background apps not only consume a lot of your watch’s memory but also help drain its battery.
Atmospheric Environment
What’s the weather like in your area? Batteries are known to be affected by extreme temperatures. Keeping your Apple Watch in direct sunlight or freezing environments for too long will impact its battery life.
Apple recommends storing your watch in temperatures between 32°F and 95°F (0°C and 35°C).
Software Update
Outdated software is normally prone to bugs and glitches. It may be the reason behind your battery issues. Check whether there’s any update available and install it.
Pairing Problems
Weirdly, your Apple Watch will use more power if it’s having problems connecting to your iPhone. The solution to this is to unpair the two devices and re-pair them again. Make sure Bluetooth is activated during the process.
Age
Old gadgets don’t perform as well as they used to. No troubleshooting guide will be able to save your watch from the effects of age. Its deterioration in performance is likely due to wear and tear.
Consider upgrading to a new and better Apple Watch. The Apple Watch Ultra (on Amazon) offers up to 60 hours of battery life (on low power settings), a major upgrade from the previous 18 hours.
How to Check Your Battery Health
Here’s how to check your battery’s charge level:
- Swipe up the watch’s screen to open the Control Center.
- Look for the battery percentage.
Alternatively:
- Go to Settings.
- Select ‘Battery.’
- The current charge level appears together with a charging graph.
You can also add a battery widget on your iPhone to show the battery health of the connected Apple Watch.
Tips for Extending Your Battery Life
Now that you know how to check your battery health and the possible reasons behind the drain, you can try out these tips to extend your watch’s battery life.
Reduce Wake Screen Time
A lot of battery drain is caused by your watch’s display. A good solution to this would be to reduce your watch’s screen time. If it stays on for 70 seconds before turning off, you could reduce this to 15 seconds, for example.
Here’s how:
- Open the Apple Watch App.
- Go to the My Watch tab and select ‘General.’
- Tap ‘Wake Screen.’
- Choose ‘Wake for 15 seconds.’
Remember, the shorter the wake screen time, the slower your battery will drain out.
Reduce Brightness
You can also reduce your screen’s brightness to extend your battery’s life.
Here’s how to decrease brightness:
- On your Apple Watch, go to Settings.
- Select ‘Display & Brightness.’
- Tap the sun icon and move it to adjust the screen brightness.
Disable Wake Screen on Wrist Raise
Apple watches have a feature where the screen turns on every time you raise your wrist. It’s a cool one, but it’s also draining your battery. If you’re looking to save battery, you can disable this feature and, instead, only have the screen turn on when you tap it.
Here’s how to disable the wake screen on wrist raise:
- Open the Apple Watch App.
- Go to the My Watch tab and select ‘Display & Brightness.’
- Tap ‘Wake Screen on Wrist Raise‘ to toggle it off.
Turn Off Background App Refresh
The background app refresh allows apps to exchange data between the Apple Watch and iPhone. It’s a great feature to stay updated, but it could consume a lot of power if not regulated.
You can disable the feature entirely or on specific apps:
- On your iPhone, open the Watch App.
- Go to the My Watch tab and select ‘General.’
- Choose ‘Background App Refresh.’
- You can disable the feature for specific apps or toggle off the switch next to Background App Refresh to turn it off entirely.
Manually Disable Workouts After Routine
During workouts, your watch will measure your heart rate continuously and, thus, consume extra power. If it keeps measuring your heart rate even after you’re done with your exercise, it can consume more power than necessary. Manually end your workouts to try and save some power.
To do this, swipe right on your workout screen and select ‘End.’
Delete Unessential Apps
Apps not only take up space but can also consume power if they’re running in the background. Delete unessential apps that you rarely use to save on power.
Here’s how to delete an app on Apple Watch:
- Press the Digital Crown to view all your apps on the Home Screen.
- Press and hold the app you wish to delete until the View Options widget appears.
- Tap ‘Edit Apps.’
- Tap the Delete button (X) and then tap ‘Delete‘ to confirm.
Alternatively:
- On your iPhone, open the Watch App.
- Go to the My Watch tab and select ‘Installed on Apple Watch.’
- Tap on an app you wish to delete.
- Disable ‘Show App on Apple Watch.’
Disable “Hey Siri”
When you enable the “Hey Siri” feature, your watch’s microphone is always on, waiting to detect your voice. While this is certainly convenient, it also consumes a lot of your battery power.
Here’s how to disable Siri:
- On your iPhone, open the Watch App.
- Go to the My Watch tab and select ‘Siri.’
- Toggle off the features you wish to disable, such as ‘Raise to Speak‘ and ‘Listen for Hey Siri.’
Re-Pair Your Apple Watch With Your iPhone
As we mentioned earlier, any pairing issue between your watch and iPhone can result in the battery draining faster than it should. So, you can unpair your watch and then re-pair it to solve any glitches.
Here’s how to re-pair your Apple Watch with iPhone:
- Open the Apple Watch on your iPhone.
- Go to the My Watch tab and select ‘All Watches.’
- Tap the ‘i‘ (information) button.
- Tap ‘Unpair Apple Watch.’
Wait for a few seconds and pair it again. Make sure you’re connected to the internet, and that your Bluetooth is on. Your watch and phone should also be close together.
You should receive a pairing notification from your phone. If not, press ‘Start Pairing‘ from your watch to begin the process.
Disable Push Notifications
Every time you receive a notification from your watch, part of the battery is consumed.
Luckily, Apple also allows users to customize how their watches handle notifications. Here’s how to disable push notifications:
- Open the Apple Watch App on your iPhone.
- Go to the My Watch tab and select ‘Notifications.’
- Toggle off the apps you don’t wish to receive notifications and those you use less frequently.
Update watchOS
You may resolve bugs and glitches on your Apple Watch by updating the operating system. Check if there’s any update available and install it.
Here’s how to update watchOS:
- On your iPhone, open the Watch App.
- Go to the My Watch tab and tap ‘General.’
- Select ‘Software Update.’
- Check for any available updates and tap ‘Install Now.’
Longer Battery Life Awaits!
By following the steps above, you can go back to using your Apple Watch normally without having to charge it frequently. However, if you’ve tried everything and there’s still no change, then it may be a hardware issue.
Schedule an appointment at your local Apple Store and leave the rest to the geniuses at the bar. If you’re still under warranty or have AppleCare+, you won’t incur any charges.