Last Updated on January 10, 2022 by Markeyus Franks
A smartwatch battery will typically die faster when there are too many notifications going off, background apps sucking up much need resources, the Always-on Feature is always on, and from streaming music. Let’s continue to explore this subject below.
Smartwatches have changed the way we look and define watches over the past decade. The times when checking your watch for just the time are over. Nowadays, you can check your email, browse the internet, send texts, and talk on the phone from your smartwatch. It’s safe to say that smartwatches are slowly, but surely taking over.
With all the new bands, apps, and features, we could be looking at more smartwatches being produced than phones in the next few years. But just as good smartwatches have become an integral part of our everyday lives, at the end of the day they are still gadgets, and will come with downsides. One of the main downsides of smartwatches is the lack of battery life.
Many Smartwatches especially older one’s suffer from short battery life. In this article, we will touch on why your smartwatch is dying so fast and simple solutions on how to prevent fast battery drainage.
They’re plenty of smartwatches on the market, but today we will go over the top two, the Apple smartwatch and the Samsung Galaxy smartwatch. Both of these smartwatches are extremely popular and heavily used.
Why is my Apple watch battery draining so fast?
Let’s just be honest Apple is at the top of the food chain when it comes to smartwatches and phones. Currently, the newest apple smartwatch ( The Series 7 Smartwatch ) is said to last up to 18 hours under mixed usage. When we say mixed usage we mean:
- 90 time checks
- 90 Notification checks
- 45 minutes of App usage
- 60 minutes of music play back from Apple music
So it’s safe to say the Apple Watch is made to last a long time under normal use.
But why would a battery that’s made to last so long sometimes drain so fast? Well in most cases, battery drainage is not from a hardware issue. In most cases, battery drainage is linked to software problems Let’s go over some of the main reasons why your apple watch is dying.
- Too many notifications
- Background Apps
- Always on feature
- simple battery degradation
- Firmware updates
- streaming music
Too many Notifications
Similar to a smartphone, having too many notifications going off can drain your smartwatch battery quickly. Not every notification you’ve enabled has to come through on your smartwatch. Try to balance your notification out between your smartwatch and your iPhone. When this is done, it saves
the energy needed to power up your smartwatch. A quick tip is to just run your most important notifications on your smartwatch and leave the rest for your iPhone.
Background Apps
Another battery killer is apps running in the background such as weather widgets, heart rate, messages, Calendars est… If you want to save battery
life tries to keep your background apps limited.
Always On Feature
The Always-on Feature was introduced in the 5th generation Apple smartwatch. The feature turned out to be very convenient and useful. Instead of having to move your wrist and waiting for the time to display, this feature allowed the smartwatch to always stay on. As great as this feature is, it actually can cause your battery to drain faster. If your smartwatch battery is draining, then turning this feature off will certainly help.
Simple battery degradation
when using any gadget with a lithium-ion battery, you should expect ‘some form of battery degradation over time. There’s no difference when it comes to the apple watch battery. If you have an older Apple smartwatch (at least a year and a half) and have noticed your smartwatch is dying sooner
than it used to, then chances are your battery has suffered from battery degradation. Don’t worry this is a normal chemical process that’s inevitable to happen.
The best way to combat this is to limit the number of cycles your watch uses. An entire cycle occurs when you fully drain your battery from 100 % to 0. Although your smartwatch can perform thousands of cycles, if you’re a heavy user, you can quickly run through those cycles over time. The best way to do this is to limit the speed of cycle by not draining the battery down to 0% every day. Trying limiting your usage and recharge at 20-30%.
Firmware updates: It’s highly recommended to keep your smartwatch up to date. when a firmware update is released, it’s usually for a software change to improve the user’s experience or a software change, to fix bugs in the systems. These software changes can very well help with battery optimization. For example, it’s not unusual for Apple to send out a new update that will manage multiple or single apps better to save battery life. So it’s safe to say keeping your phone updated to the latest firmware is a must.
Streaming music- If you love to work out and would rather listen to music from your smartwatch than air-pods, then by all means jam to your favorite song. Just know, that playing music for long periods from your smartwatch can seriously drain the battery. Your best bet is to just purchase some air-pods instead of listening directly from your smartwatch
Key Takeaways
How to improve Apple smartwatch battery life
- Turn always on mode off.
- Turn off Heart rate monitor
- Turn off I phone mirroring
- Dim brightness ‘a color
I. Turn always on mode off-It’s good to turn this feature off to conserve battery power
→ Go to settings → display brightness → Switch the tab too, off
2 Turn off heart rate monitors. This a going to really help out simply because its not running in the background. To turn off heart rate mode completely even when exercising: Navigate to my watch–> privacy –> turn off Heart-Rate. This will disable all heart-rate usage until turned back on.
How to turn off I-phone Mirroring
If you have the setting “mirror my iPhone” turned on, then expect just that. Your smartwatch will copy every notification your iPhone receives. This can drain your battery faster than you think. It’s best to keep most notifications on your iPhone and only a few on your smartwatch. You can do this by turning off individual notifications on your smartwatch. There is an easy procedure. Swipe down on your Apple watch and find the application you want to turn off. Next swipe left on that notification –> You will see three dots –> tap on the three dots and choose the option that says Turn off on Apple Watch. You will no longer receive notifications for that specific app going forward.
Dim Brightness
This is a no-brainer, but many people seem to forget that the brighter your phone light is the faster your battery will die. If the brightness on your phone is turned up or consistently high, you can expect to see an increase in battery drainage. It’s best to keep the brightness on low or auto. This will ensure the brightness will not put unnecessary strain on your battery.
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Why is my Samsung Smartwatch draining so fast?
The Samsung smartwatch is the second most popular smartwatch next to the apple watch. It comes with a very good battery but is also subject to battery degradation and fast drainage depending on use. In many cases, the Samsung smartwatch experiences battery drainage in the same way as the Apple watch. Below are the top reasons for battery drainage on the Samsung Galaxy.
- Firmware not updated to the latest version
- Rogue Apps using resources in the background
- Old battery
- Display settings not optimized
Firmware not updated- Samsung has had a lot of issues with software problems in the past. These issues would put a strain on the battery and faster drainage would occur. It’s important to keep the Samsung galaxy firmware up to date so that the battery drains efficiently.
Rogue Apps using resources in the background- This is pretty much universal across the board. Some apps will use up more resources than the next so be aware of which apps are killing the battery faster than necessary. You can download the Samsung wearable app to see which apps are taking up the most resources when not being used. This will ensure that the watch is not using apps unnecessarily.
Older battery- Unfortunately with smartwatches, you can’t swap out batteries when they get old. Unless you’re one of those people who are willing to spend time opening up the Samsung Galaxy smartwatch and changing the battery, chances are you will not be changing any smartwatch battery.
