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Let's Post Our Series 3 Battery Life Here!

SoCalGadgetGuy

SoCalGadgetGuy

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 15, 2017
325
445
Sunny and Warm Southern California ("The O.C.")
Y05XcvR.png


UPDATE: I'm going to keep the above graph up-to-date as much as possible. (Hey! 1.54% per hour is my best rate yet! :D)
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ORIGINAL POST:

Let's report all our battery life percentages at the end of the day. Be sure to state what major apps are running, how much time on cellular, activities recorded, 32mm or 42mm, anything notable, etc, etc.

I've been getting significantly more that the advertised 18 hours of battery power.

I'll start...mine is a 42mm Space Gray Aluminum Series 3 watch with GPS & LTE . . .
______________________

First two days: Midnight to midnight battery goes from 100% to 60% (24 hours each day)

Notes:
  • Using sleep tracking app (Sleep Watch)
  • Recording all vital signs (heart, steps, three rings, etc)
  • Hydration reminders ("Drink Water Reminder v3.9)
  • Text messaging
  • Apple Pay a few times
  • Some Siri (but not much)
  • No cellular
  • No email notifications (just SMS, ESPN, Fantasy Football notifications)
  • No animated watch faces (except for the second hand)

Today: Midnight to 11:00 PM battery goes from 100% to 50% (23 hours)

Notes:
  • Using sleep tracking app (Sleep Watch)
  • Added Pedometer++ app so I can have my current step count as a complication
  • Recording all vital signs (heart, steps, three rings, etc) it
  • Recorded a 25-minute workout (Outdoor walk)
  • Hydration reminders (switched apps--to WaterMinder v3.3)
  • Text messaging
  • Cellular (just a five-minute test accessing data [no voice calls])
  • Full notifications, including email (4 accounts), SMS, ESPN, Fantasy Football, Facebook notifications
  • Some Siri (but not much)
  • No animated watch faces (except for the second hand)
  • No Apple Pay today

What is your battery life?
 
Last edited:
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SoCalGadgetGuy said:
So far, today, my watch was 100% charged at midnight. I went to sleep and used "Sleep Watch" sleep tracking app. My day has been typical, (as mentioned above for yesterday) and it is now almost 6 PM (18 hours later) and my charge level is at 71%

So, with 18 hours of use, it's only down to 71% :)
Click to expand...
Thanks, which size/model is your Apple Watch?
And do you turn cellular off most of the time?
 
Battery life is by far the best I've had on Apple Watch on the Series 3 38mm. On Series 2, on the days I swim (long 80+ lap swim), I never got more than 14 hours. Series 3, yesterday I swam for close to 90 minutes and then did a brief elliptical effort. After 25 hours, I put it on the charger today and have been wearing the series 2 for the rest of the day, after 11 hours, I'm at 54%. I did a 83 minute elliptical and then another 15 minute. I'll be back in the pool Thursday.

I did not get the watch with cellular capability, just didn't think I'd use it enough to warrant the cost (monthly). I have no other apps on the watch than the ones that come with it.
 
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SoCalGadgetGuy said:
Today's final stats:

After 23 hours, battery down to 58%. Most of my activity is the same as what I posted in the "Today" section in my original post above. This equates to an average a battery drain of 1.82% per hour. Not too shabby! ;)
Click to expand...
Wow, that’s really good!
Which carrier do you use and which state/City are you in? I think that might have something to do with the battery life, battery reception usually waste less battery.
 
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Applemacfan said:
Wow, that’s really good!
Which carrier do you use and which state/City are you in? I think that might have something to do with the battery life, battery reception usually waste less battery.
Click to expand...
Thanks! Although the watch is LTE, I’m rarely connected via cellular. I’m typically around either my iPhone or Wi-Fi. That said, I’m in Southern California with AT&T.
 
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Even after 2 runs with exercise app, lots of messages 1 very short call, still has 28%, so maybe it’s too good:D...I think they turned down the brightness of the heart rate sensors, because it’s slow to respond when running. Just not as fast at updating HR for me as it was on my series 2 and the older OS, now I have more missing readings.

I wish I could adjust the sensors to be more aggressive for fitness. I really think the sensors are not as bright as my AW2, seems to struggle getting HR when running. Also would like more HRV tests, only get a few a day, they greatly depend on what your doing, so I would like to have at least 12.

But yeah the battery for me is way better, which has a lot to do with the better chip, newer Bluetooth, and better GPS, all of these are more efficient in AW3.

Can’t wait until AW4, it’s like the good ol’ days when iPhone updates made great improvements in usability.
 
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betabeta said:
Even after 2 runs with exercise app, lots of messages 1 very short call, still has 28%, so maybe it’s too good:D...I think they turned down the brightness of the heart rate sensors, because it’s slow to respond when running. Just not as fast at updating HR for me as it was on my series 2 and the older OS, now I have more missing readings.

I wish I could adjust the sensors to be more aggressive for fitness. I really think the sensors are not as bright as my AW2, seems to struggle getting HR when running. Also would like more HRV tests, only get a few a day, they greatly depend on what your doing, so I would like to have at least 12.

But yeah the battery for me is way better, which has a lot to do with the better chip, newer Bluetooth, and better GPS, all of these are more efficient in AW3.

Can’t wait until AW4, it’s like the good ol’ days when iPhone updates made great improvements in usability.
Click to expand...

That is amazing!
Which watch model do you have and which carrier do you use?
 
Watch (42mm sport aluminum + LTE) worn for 15 hours today (so far). Started this morning with a 35 minute workout (outdoor run) on LTE only. Light to moderate use for the remainder of the day. 61% currently.
 
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Achilles75 said:
Watch (42mm sport aluminum + LTE) worn for 15 hours today (so far). Started this morning with a 35 minute workout (outdoor run) on LTE only. Light to moderate use for the remainder of the day. 61% currently.
Click to expand...
Did you run with the workout session app?
 
Yesterday's (Wednesday) latest stats:

This is for my 5th full day of use since receiving the Series 3.

After 24 hours, battery down to 57%. Most of my activity is the same as my previous battery stats posting (Post #8 above). This equates to an average battery drain of 1.79% per hour.

This morning, I added a new email account (a Microsoft Exchange push account). We'll see how my battery responses to those added notifications.
 
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Applemacfan said:
This video shows the battery drains 3-4% an hour on the 38mm model, which I’m getting similar battery life too:
If I knew the 42mm last almost 2x as long, I would have order the 42mm instead...
Click to expand...
Thanks for the link.

Even though the guy in that video has a 38mm (smaller battery), he still drained it quite a bit by having it constantly toggle between bluetooth and cellular. Like he mentioned, this will definitely drain the battery quite faster.
 
Thank you SoCalGadgetGuy for the invite!

I have the 38mm Apple Watch Series 3 Sport with LTE.
I'd like to share the worst day I've had so far, which was the first day:
Day 01: 9 hours total usage break down
-9am - 11:30am 100% to 90% (Connect to iPhone Via Bluetooth, setup some watch faces and notification, and download apps)
-11:30am - 12:54pm 90% to 44% (2 running workout, 20mins each. 1 walking workout, 30mins. Connect to LTE only in Lettuce Lake park, reception is very unstable)
-12:54pm - 1:54pm 44% to 27% (Walking on the boardwalk without workout app, LTE only with VERY bad/unusable reception)
-1:54pm - 2:20pm 27% to 18% (Drove home from park, LTE only, Good reception)
-2:20pm - 6:00pm 18% to Power Reserved Mode (Connect to iPhone via Bluetooth)

Notes:
  • Recording all vital signs (heart, steps, three rings, etc)
  • No phone calls nor texts
  • Some notifications (email, SMS, Google Voice, ETC..notifications)
Link to my video
 
42mm Series 3 with cellular activated on ATT, with my iPhone 7+ on me all day.

After 30 minute workout this AM it was still above 90% by lunchtime (3 hours).

It's at 70% after 12 hours off the charger, using it to view and respond to multiple texts and notifications, and receive 3 phone calls for about 1-2 minutes each via bluetooth.

This is almost the same as what I experienced with my S2 with GPS, which would be slightly better at about 75% by 15 hours and bedtime. But my S1 would be at 40-50% after about 15 hours off the charger.
 
Applemacfan said:
This video shows the battery drains 3-4% an hour on the 38mm model, which I’m getting similar battery life too:
If I knew the 42mm last almost 2x as long, I would have order the 42mm instead...
Click to expand...
Have people with 42's been reporting longer battery life?
 
Today's (Thursday's) stats:

This is for my 6th full day of use since receiving the Series 3 (42 mm with cellular/LTE).

After 23 hours, battery down to 63%. Most of my activity is the same as my previous battery stats posting (Post #9 above), which includes Sleep Watch sleep tracker that records all night. This equates to an average battery drain of 1.61% per hour.

This was also the first day of having all my email (including from my corporate Exchange server) come to my phone. I have a total of four email accounts.

So, I'm getting into a rhythm...charge my watch from 11:15 PM to almost midnight (to 100%), put it back on and go to sleep (with sleep tracking), wake up and go about my day, then charge again at 11:15 PM and repeat the routine.
 
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HeadphoneAddict said:
42mm Series 3 with cellular activated on ATT, with my iPhone 7+ on me all day.

After 30 minute workout this AM it was still above 90% by lunchtime (3 hours).

It's at 70% after 12 hours off the charger, using it to view and respond to multiple texts and notifications, and receive 3 phone calls for about 1-2 minutes each via bluetooth.

This is almost the same as what I experienced with my S2 with GPS, which would be slightly better at about 75% by 15 hours and bedtime. But my S1 would be at 40-50% after about 15 hours off the charger.
Click to expand...

At almost 15 hours off the charger, with over 6 hours of usage, I'm at 51% - so a little better than my S1 and a little worse than my S2, although I've used it more than I would usually use my S2 (from testing it out for the first day as it was just activated yesterday evening).
 
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