These 7 Apple Watch Hacks Got Me Out of My Battery Crisis

Apple Watch with white band charging on a dock, with a screen indicating low battery


Charging my gadgets overnight has never bothered me. At this point it has become part of my bedtime routine, just like brushing my teeth. I place mine telephone And watch on the charger and disconnect it for the night.

That is, until sleep tracking complicated everything. The Apple Watch can record various important health data during sleep and look for indicators of sleep apnea, high blood pressure and even early signs of illness. It has become too good to ignore.

So while I liked the ritual of mentally ‘clocking out’ from data collection, and I never liked sleeping with something on my wrist, wearing the watch to bed now feels non-negotiable.

But my biggest challenge with this new sleeping arrangement is battery life. The Apple Watch requires at least seven consecutive nights of sleep recording to analyze the data. And even though the flow Series 11 and last year’s Series 10 can last a full day and night if I monitor my sleep, they leave me on a dead watch around lunchtime if I don’t charge.

After too many days of not getting credit for afternoon workouts and obsessively watching the battery percentage drop, I started looking for every trick to maximize my Apple Watch’s battery life. And I suspect I’m not the only one. Here’s what helped.

Apple Watch series 11 charging on a dock with a green circle above 50%

The Apple Watch Series 11 lasted about 6 hours longer than its 24-hour rating in our real-world testing.

Vanessa Hand Orellana/CNET

1. Charge as quickly as possible

The first thing you can do without sacrificing any functionality is to make sure you actually get full fast charging speeds. The Series 10, Series 11, SU 3 And Ultra3 they all support super fast charging, but I realized I wasn’t using the right wall adapter.

Apple no longer includes a charging brick, so if you plug your cable into a spare charger in your kitchen (like me), you probably won’t charge your watch as quickly as you could. Apple recommends a USB-C power adapter of 20 watts or more, which should charge newer models from empty to full in less than an hour or provide enough power for a full night’s sleep tracking in 5 minutes — about as long as it takes to brush your teeth.

2. Gain a few more hours with a small trade-off

Extending your battery doesn’t come without compromises, but the easiest sacrifice for me is turning off “Wake on Wrist Raise” and “Wake on Crown Rotation” in Institutions. On watches with an always-on display, this simply means that the screen remains in a dimmer “rest” state until you deliberately tap it, rather than lighting up every time you move your wrist or brush the crown.

It won’t work for older models that don’t have an always-on display, but if you do have a compatible watch you can easily add four extra hours of use. The only caveat is that you won’t see your notifications immediately. You’ll still receive the haptic alert, but you’ll have to tap it to view the notification, rather than simply tilting your wrist to see it appear.

The Apple Watch display shows options to enable or disable Wake on Wrist Raise and Wake on Crown Rotation

Disable Wake on Wrist Raise and Wake on Crown Rotation to save some battery life.

Vanessa Hand Orellana/CNET

To disable it, open it Institutions app, go to Display and brightness and then scroll all the way down and uncheck both options.

3. Dim the lights

Lower your screen brightness – again it’s a small trade-off, but only on a sunny day. The watch comes out of the box with brightness around two-thirds of peak level. The screen brightness automatically adjusts to the environment, but you can also force it to remain at the lowest setting. In the Display and brightness settings, reduce the Brightness level to one bar.

Apple Watch shows screen dimming setting

By dimming the screen of the Apple Watch you can save energy.

Vanessa Hand Orellana/CNET

Dimming your watch’s display can extend your battery life by one or two hours between charges, depending on where you spend the day and how often the screen is activated. The only times I miss a bright screen are during outdoor rides in the bright sun. But sacrificing brightness for longer battery life is by no means a deal breaker.

4. Go for a bare dial

Switching to a simpler watch face can also help your battery last longer. The more pixels your watch has to light up (think photo faces) or the more animations involved (hello, Memojis), the faster your battery will drain. The same goes for complications that are constantly updated, such as the weather or your heart rate.

Apple doesn’t offer a battery usage score for its watches, as some do Android watches do, but as a general rule of thumb, darker, simpler faces with fewer active elements will last the longest. My go-tos are Activity Digital, which only shows my rings, or X-Large, which only shows the numbers.

Apple Watch shows the Activity Digital face, which has a black background

Viewers with more dark space, such as Activity Digital, use less energy than the brighter ones that take up the entire screen.

Vanessa Hand Orellana/CNET

5. Getting through day 2 will cost you money

A few extra hours of battery life is great, but sometimes even that isn’t enough to get you through the day. My biggest problem is running out of juice when I’m away from home and there’s no charger anywhere in sight. Even if your weekday routine includes an office load, weekends are unpredictable and it’s best to hit the evening when you’re closer to your charger.

For me, the next level compromise is turning off the always-on screen. You have to raise your wrist to activate the screen, but this feature provides up to 6 hours of battery life, depending on your model.

Go to to disable it Institutionsand then select Display and brightness and switch off Always on. Keep in mind that this also affects workouts, so if you prefer to exercise with your heart rate zones or other metrics visible at a glance, this may not be the best option.

6. As a last resort, enable power saving mode

If I really need to use the last drop of battery life, I switch to power saving mode once the watch reaches 15%. It’s actually easier to turn on and off than the always-on screen, as it can be accessed from the control panel by pressing the side button. Tap the Battery percentage button and then press Low Power mode.

Apple Watch settings that provide the option to enable power saving mode.

Power Saving Mode on Apple Watch turns off the always-on screen, disables auto-start for workouts, and pauses background readings.

Vanessa Hand Orellana/CNET

Power saving mode does more than just turn off the always-on screen. It also delays notifications (only slightly), disables auto-starting workouts (so you have to start them manually), and pauses background readings. Heart rate zone alerts, high/low and irregular rhythm alerts, and loud environmental alerts are all disabled as well. However, when a workout is performed, heart rate and pace are still measured.

7. Check the condition of your battery

If you’re still experiencing poor battery life after trying all these troubleshooting tricks, it might be time to check the health of your battery. Even with the best habits, a worn-out battery can only do so much, and at some point an upgrade or replacement is the only real solution.

Older models tend to show wear and tear more quickly, but this is not guaranteed. Charging patterns and general usage can also take their toll on newer models. Getting the battery replaced by Apple costs about $99, or you can spend that money on a newer model like the SE 3, which starts at $250. If you have AppleCare Plus and your battery capacity is less than 80%, repair or replacement (if necessary) is included.

Go to to check the status of your battery InstitutionsThan Batterycrane Battery status and scroll down Maximum capacity. Anything around or below 80% can cause noticeable problems.

Apple Watch displays watch battery status at 100%

A battery level of around 80% or lower can noticeably shorten the battery life on the Apple Watch.

Vanessa Hand Orellana/CNET

Which Apple Watch model you have also matters for battery life

If you decide that upgrading is your best bet, you can use the Apple Watch Ultra line (especially the Ultra 3) has by far the longest battery life. Apple says 42 hours per charge, but I’m getting closer to 48 hours without turning off features. The Series 11 has a lifespan of up to 24 hours, although I typically get about 30 hours with a full night’s sleep tracking and a 40-minute GPS workout.

Apple doesn’t officially advertise it, but larger models generally last about two hours longer than smaller ones – so the 46mm Series 11 performs better than the 42mm. Models like the SU 3 or the Series 10 and older have an estimated lifespan of 18 hours with the always-on screen turned on, but I got mine past 22 hours.

Whatever mix of tricks you use (or which new model you start with), we hope you break the battery routine and take full advantage of everything the Apple Watch can do for your health.





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