Ultra 3 Battery Life = Only 24 hours?

[1rottenapple]

Ok not to be a jerk but do you actually use your ultra for working out? Maybe that’s the reason. I mean I’ve taken mine on 4 hr hikes and yah it kills the battery, it still last day a but battery is in the teens. That full workout mode and tracking and map display.

People here who have 3 days battery life likely don’t use it for working out.

My ultra is tracking the location and the heart rate for 2 hrs minimum most days so it’s understandable it is not lasting 2 days. When I travel and I don’t workout then yah it last a day and a few hours.

 

[orsev]

Ok not to be a jerk but do you actually use your ultra for working out? Maybe that’s the reason. I mean I’ve taken mine on 4 hr hikes and yah it kills the battery, it still last day a but battery is in the teens. That full workout mode and tracking and map display.

People here who have 3 days battery life likely don’t use it for working out.

My ultra is tracking the location and the heart rate for 2 hrs minimum most days so it’s understandable it is not lasting 2 days. When I travel and I don’t workout then yah it last a day and a few hours.

Yeah, I use mine for about 3 hours of working out a day (Running, Cycling, Gym). I might enable 'fewer GPS & heart rate readings' and see how this tracks. Cutting down on tracking every walk might help. Lost 20% during sleep tracking as well last night. Might just be battery paranoid as it's a new device.

 

[phetherweyt]

Mine lasts 2 days but that's with workouts. I think the biggest battery killer is WatchOS. I also don't charge to only x% as it doesn't add anything. I'm going to use the watch as a watch and then replace it in a couple years. It's not an investment, use it to its maximum potential and enjoy it then replace it in a few years' time.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Yeah I only do 30 - 40 min exercises (either walks or fat man waddles (running)) - so I'm not hitting my battery that much. I know one time I did a 3+ hour walk it had a huge impact on the battery life when I was tracking it as a workout. But the data was so awesome. lol

I also notice that the watch drops faster when I'm moving vs sitting at a desk all day. So those of us getting a lot of battery run time - (me) - sit all day at a desk.

 

[wingsabr]

Concluded my test and I was able to get 60 hours with a 1 hour workout and AOD with screen on medium. Now doing the same experiment but AOD off.

 

[jz0309]

I also notice that the watch drops faster when I'm moving vs sitting at a desk all day. So those of us getting a lot of battery run time - (me) - sit all day at a desk.

So, in order to maximize battery life - don't move. Lay in a coffin all day and night, and don't move 🤣🤣

 

[jonh229]

So, in order to maximize battery life - don't move. Lay in a coffin all day and night, and don't move 🤣🤣

This, for a watch marketed to adventurers and back country trekers.

 

[1rottenapple]

Concluded my test and I was able to get 60 hours with a 1 hour workout and AOD with screen on medium. Now doing the same experiment but AOD off.

So, in order to maximize battery life - don't move. Lay in a coffin all day and night, and don't move 🤣🤣

right turn off all the things that make the watch great. Dim screen. Just turn the watch off and wear it like an accessory.

 

[Fantasigraphic]

Welp, it's been a week now and even with "Optimized Charge Limit" set the darn thing is still charging to 100% every night. I don't mind it doing that when I am spending all day out of cell range in wilderness but for at-home use, this is just ridiculous.

I really hope they bring back the ability to limit it to 80%.

Was/has this ever been a thing for the watch (charge to 80%)?

Optimized Charge Limit is to charge watch to 80%, pause, and finishes to 100% before you take watch off charger.

This usually takes a few weeks to learn your habits.

 

[BigMcGuire]

My Apple Watch Ultra 2 was good about stopping the charge at 80% every single time - (I charge it while showering then wear it rest of the day/night). <shrug>

I use about 30% per 24 hours (depending on if I'm mobile or exercise or not).

Now, I do turn things off that I don't want, but not because I want to save battery - because I want to: I have AOD off (I find it is annoying to people I talk to), I have most notifications turned off, I have hey Siri off, got tired of being told I am in a loud noise environment when I drive with my hand out the window (watch on left hand) - so turned that off, and ... yeah that's about it. Gestures are off cuz I never use those. Same for handwashing (annoying, so that's off).

Pretty happy with my watch.

But yeah, even with a heavy 3 hour walk/run - 24 hours seems a bit off.

 

[goldmac2006]

With the original Apple Watch Ultra and my combination of settings (I don't use alwys-on display, for example), I only needed to charge the watch once every 3 days.

Nearly a week in to the Apple Watch Ultra 3, with all the same battery-saving settings in play, and I'm getting reminders to charge my Apple Watch every single day. We're hitting the 20% mark around 7pm of Day 1.

5 days in, I believe any battery-draining indexing issues that are often associated with new devices/new OS updates should be complete. Did I get a dud, or are others experiencing this as well?

Are you running any beta on the Apple Watch Ultra? Would not recommend ultra wearers to run betas and only run public release and RCs on it as they cut the battery life down a lot

 

[orsev]

With the original Apple Watch Ultra and my combination of settings (I don't use alwys-on display, for example), I only needed to charge the watch once every 3 days.

Nearly a week in to the Apple Watch Ultra 3, with all the same battery-saving settings in play, and I'm getting reminders to charge my Apple Watch every single day. We're hitting the 20% mark around 7pm of Day 1.

5 days in, I believe any battery-draining indexing issues that are often associated with new devices/new OS updates should be complete. Did I get a dud, or are others experiencing this as well?

Can see my posts in this thread, but seeing something similar my side. I'm putting 26.0.2 on the device now, but either way im going to make a 'genius' appointment this Friday to air my concerns with Apple and see what they suggest. ~24hrs, with a host of features (Background app refresh, Siri, Noise, AOD off etc.) does not feel fine to me. I shouldn't have to gimp the watch to get more than a day out of it

 

[1rottenapple]

My Apple Watch Ultra 2 was good about stopping the charge at 80% every single time - (I charge it while showering then wear it rest of the day/night). <shrug>

I use about 30% per 24 hours (depending on if I'm mobile or exercise or not).

Now, I do turn things off that I don't want, but not because I want to save battery - because I want to: I have AOD off (I find it is annoying to people I talk to), I have most notifications turned off, I have hey Siri off, got tired of being told I am in a loud noise environment when I drive with my hand out the window (watch on left hand) - so turned that off, and ... yeah that's about it. Gestures are off cuz I never use those. Same for handwashing (annoying, so that's off).

Pretty happy with my watch.

But yeah, even with a heavy 3 hour walk/run - 24 hours seems a bit off.

Same here. I have all notifications off. Essentially it’s a fitness tracker. I don’t want interruption. I wish there was a way to disable messages off and on hmmmm.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Same here. I have all notifications off. Essentially it’s a fitness tracker. I don’t want interruption. I wish there was a way to disable messages off and on hmmmm.

I'm convinced it wouldn't take much effort for Apple to make this watch last as long as some of the Garmins out there - just a few tweaks here and there. No need to constantly sync messages (and dozens of other things) to the watch... and a dozen of other things. I love the fitness, health, sleep information - but the other heavy duty battery draining stuff is of lesser interest to me.

Oh well, can't have everything you want . I do really like my watch and its features when I need them (amazon delivery codes, ability to make/receive calls anywhere, access my email, use it as a flashlight when I have to pee at night, etc...) lol.

Would absolutely love a "Keep Fitness Stats - Battery Optimize Everything Else" mode.

 

[tom2517]

Same here. I have all notifications off. Essentially it’s a fitness tracker. I don’t want interruption. I wish there was a way to disable messages off and on hmmmm.

If that’s all you do why don’t you use Garmin? What feature on the AW that makes you want to stick with it?

 

[orsev]

With the original Apple Watch Ultra and my combination of settings (I don't use alwys-on display, for example), I only needed to charge the watch once every 3 days.

Nearly a week in to the Apple Watch Ultra 3, with all the same battery-saving settings in play, and I'm getting reminders to charge my Apple Watch every single day. We're hitting the 20% mark around 7pm of Day 1.

5 days in, I believe any battery-draining indexing issues that are often associated with new devices/new OS updates should be complete. Did I get a dud, or are others experiencing this as well?

How have things been for you over the past week? Still experiencing the same issues?

 

[BigMcGuire]

So ... did an unscientific test here recently with my AWU3.

I turned on low power mode yesterday and it was burning power significantly slower than if I had it off. However, the real savings came overnight... Charged to 100% and woke up with 99%. Normally I'm closer to 10% used overnight.

However, once I started moving around and working - I seemed to be dropping at more a normal rate (dropped several % within a few hours despite low power mode on... so battery drain is definitely activity/motion related imo.

(Went to bed at 10:30, woke up at 6:00).

I like the data ... so I'm not going to run this, but nice to know I could probably get 4+ days with this if I tried. A lot more like how my AWU2 used to be when I first got it.

 

[orsev]

So ... did an unscientific test here recently with my AWU3.

I turned on low power mode yesterday and it was burning power significantly slower than if I had it off. However, the real savings came overnight... Charged to 100% and woke up with 99%. Normally I'm closer to 10% used overnight.

However, once I started moving around and working - I seemed to be dropping at more a normal rate (dropped several % within a few hours despite low power mode on... so battery drain is definitely activity/motion related imo.

View attachment 2562127
(Went to bed at 10:30, woke up at 6:00).

I like the data ... so I'm not going to run this, but nice to know I could probably get 4+ days with this if I tried. A lot more like how my AWU2 used to be when I first got it.

This is what i thought was going on. I have about 3 hours of activity (running, biking,hiking, dog etc..) each day outside of the regular moving i do during office hours. I like the sleep data and everything else and charging for 30 mins during the shower / first thing in the office isn't an issue. Was just worried i had a badly binned battery!

 

[BigMcGuire]

This is what i thought was going on. I have about 3 hours of activity (running, biking,hiking, dog etc..) each day outside of the regular moving i do during office hours. I like the sleep data and everything else and charging for 30 mins during the shower / first thing in the office isn't an issue. Was just worried i had a badly binned battery!

Yeah, they did something in Watch OS 26 and the last few updates of the last Watch OS to drain more during any activity - even if not doing a workout (just moving a lot) - vs before. Low Power Mode seems to return the watch to what it before (not drain as bad) - obviously without some of the data.

Yep yep - I like the data, and I only charge during shower / getting ready in the morning - so I'm good - also was worried about same thing lol.

Nice to know now I can just throw on Low Power Mode if I need it to last 4 days. (Raise to wake and notifications (while being next to my iPhone) were normal).

 

[1rottenapple]

If that’s all you do why don’t you use Garmin? What feature on the AW that makes you want to stick with it?

because Gamin makes you pay for satellite SOS and messaging. I really have no desire to pay $14 a month to send one text in the middle of the wilderness per month. Its obscenely unnecessary for what I need it for. Plus those garmin watches frankly look ugly; its huge. With Ultra at least its somewhat compact. I wont want a big circle on my wrist. and I am happy with the ultra battery.

 

[BigMcGuire]

I used low power mode about half of the last 24 hours... and I'm going to be 20% battery used after 24 hours... So I'm going to say roughly that I could do 15% or less per 24 hours with low power mode (and no exercise). Now I want to try to see how long I could go

I did spend all day at the computer...(4370 steps).

 

[tom2517]

because Gamin makes you pay for satellite SOS and messaging. I really have no desire to pay $14 a month to send one text in the middle of the wilderness per month. Its obscenely unnecessary for what I need it for. Plus those garmin watches frankly look ugly; its huge. With Ultra at least its somewhat compact. I wont want a big circle on my wrist. and I am happy with the ultra battery.

Oh ok, got it.

 

[MatthewUT44]

My ultra 3 was delivered to me on Monday. With cellular, working out, and listening to music, my battery lasted just under 24 hours. If I cut out music listening, I could get more battery life.

 

[MatthewUT44]

because Gamin makes you pay for satellite SOS and messaging. I really have no desire to pay $14 a month to send one text in the middle of the wilderness per month. Its obscenely unnecessary for what I need it for. Plus those garmin watches frankly look ugly; its huge. With Ultra at least its somewhat compact. I wont want a big circle on my wrist. and I am happy with the ultra battery.

Eventually, apple will start charging for satellite usage.

 

[1rottenapple]

Eventually, apple will start charging for satellite usage.

i am sure they will. I'm surprised they haven't since they have stated satellite SOS will be a paid service since the 14 series. I don't mind i just don't want to pay month/$15 if I don't need to.