Ultra Battery life

[andyw715]

I know Garmin owners and how they talk about 6 days of battery life. However, the advantages of an Apple Watch over a garmin for me is that it allows me to log into my computer, accept password prompts on Mac OS, interacts with my phone, can take/make calls away from my phone, allows me to use Apple Maps out and about without my phone, and allows me to pay for things (again, away from my phone). Integration with Apple Fitness and other health features have been significant to me in my life. I could go on and on.

My Apple Watch 7 got 1.7 days of battery life. That was with a 30 min exercise sometimes every day. (Usually just every other day tho).

My Apple Watch Ultra got to 48 hours on almost 50% battery life with same settings, no attempt to try to “save battery” in any way.

I have yet to test the low power mode. I may turn on the low power mode for workouts because I’m a big guy and I’m not impressing anyone by my waddles. In fact, I’m usually the guy out there making everyone else feel better that they’re not me. Lol.

My opinion? A slight increase in watch size (I am a big person so it looks small on my wrist), more features, the ability to increase battery life even further if I wanted? A solid win for me just from a battery life / feature perspective.

The charging speed is also noticeably faster with an appropriate charger and the included USB C cable. (Charges really slow with the old USB A watch chargers).

If I was a super fit, healthy, awesome runner I might consider Garmin. Variety is the spice of life. I understand for others, they may prefer what the Garmin has to offer and competition benefits us consumers. So I have encouraged some people I know to get Garmin cuz I believed they’d appreciate it more (I have family/people I know with Garmin watches).

TLDR: The Ultra impresses me and I’m nowhere near a fitness expert.

Thanks for this. I've heard of the Garmin battery life but wasn't sure what the feature delta is between the two watches.

It's really a matter of use case, they are different between the two products.

Sure there is always going to be increases in hardware and software efficiency to squeeze out battery life, but a quick (and accepted way as per sales of the Ultra) is via brute force (bigger battery) without sacrificing the features that the use case requires.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Apple Watch Ultra.

I tested out Low Power Mode and switched on the reduced GPS/heart rate during workout options for the last 24 hours. After 24 hours - 79% Battery left and that's with a 30 min workout.

I noticed that AutoSleep did not record anything for last night's sleep in this low power mode and my average heart rate for the last 24 hours didn't report. My workout was weird, there was no active heart rate and the distance counter would jump a quarter mile sometimes. When I quit the workout, I knew I had jogged .2 miles more than it said because it was a route I've jogged for the last 5 years.

Interesting observations: During my run I got every single text message of a conversation going on between coworkers - could have sworn the low power mode said it turned off cellular (I did not have wifi). <shrug>

So normal usage, I can do 48 hours and 52% usage. Low Power Mode I can do 24 hours with 21% usage. (In other words: 48 hours of normal use, 48% battery life left and low power mode: 24 hours of low power usage, 79% battery life left.


I guess the way I use the watch (AOD off, a lot of notifications off, desk job) - Low Power Mode isn't much different (48 hours and 52% usage vs 42% usage). I admit I'm a light user. My A7 could last 1.7 days before it would need to be charged.

Won't be doing low GPS/Heart Rate again. Nice to know Low Power Mode will give me 10% less usage over 48 hours if I absolutely need it.


I am very happy with my Ultra. I got a Blue Gray trail loop coming in the mail today. I have enjoyed using Apple Watch since AW3, 5, 6, 7. Absolutely love the battery life improvement of the Ultra.

 

[Kottu]

just use it normally and hte battery gets better over time

Thanks. I charged my watch to 81% yesterday and after using for about (Light usage) 37 hrs, I still have 40% left. No low power mode but no AOD, I turned off cellular when I am at home and work.

 

[The Game 161]

Apple Watch Ultra.

I tested out Low Power Mode and switched on the reduced GPS/heart rate during workout options for the last 24 hours. After 24 hours - 79% Battery left and that's with a 30 min workout.

I noticed that AutoSleep did not record anything for last night's sleep in this low power mode and my average heart rate for the last 24 hours didn't report. My workout was weird, there was no active heart rate and the distance counter would jump a quarter mile sometimes. When I quit the workout, I knew I had jogged .2 miles more than it said because it was a route I've jogged for the last 5 years.

Interesting observations: During my run I got every single text message of a conversation going on between coworkers - could have sworn the low power mode said it turned off cellular (I did not have wifi). <shrug>

So normal usage, I can do 48 hours and 52% usage. Low Power Mode I can do 24 hours with 21% usage. (In other words: 48 hours of normal use, 48% battery life left and low power mode: 24 hours of low power usage, 79% battery life left.


I guess the way I use the watch (AOD off, a lot of notifications off, desk job) - Low Power Mode isn't much different (48 hours and 52% usage vs 42% usage). I admit I'm a light user. My A7 could last 1.7 days before it would need to be charged.

Won't be doing low GPS/Heart Rate again. Nice to know Low Power Mode will give me 10% less usage over 48 hours if I absolutely need it.


I am very happy with my Ultra. I got a Blue Gray trail loop coming in the mail today. I have enjoyed using Apple Watch since AW3, 5, 6, 7. Absolutely love the battery life improvement of the Ultra.

That’s odd it should still report those figures in low power mode. I tend to put my ultra in low power mode every night while in Sleep mode

 

[BigMcGuire]

That’s odd it should still report those figures in low power mode. I tend to put my ultra in low power mode every night while in Sleep mode

Might have been a fluke.

I'll have to give it a try again in the future. Nice to know that's not normal expected behavior.

Might just be auto sleep then ! Check this out:

There was definitely heart rate data but AutoSleep didn't like it, but normal Apple Health had no problem. I'll edit original post. (First pic - Autosleep, middle picture - Apple Health, last picture Autosleep).

(Edit: I'm a very light sleeper).

 

[tivoboy]

That’s odd it should still report those figures in low power mode. I tend to put my ultra in low power mode every night while in Sleep mode

LPM doesn’t capture frequent HR or O2 measurements at all other than DURING an ACTIVE Workout, nor during a sleep tracking session (whether interpreting sleep or Sleep Focus). It DOES capture movement from the accelerometer, to try and track sleep but frankly this isn’t anywhere near as good as when it also does HR/HRV/O2/breathing as well.

check out this LPM review

Post in thread 'Ultra Battery life'
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ultra-battery-life.2361649/post-31641893

 

[cmontyburns]

That’s odd it should still report those figures in low power mode. I tend to put my ultra in low power mode every night while in Sleep mode

I lose about 1% per hour on the battery overnight in Sleep mode. The other night I tried adding Low Power Mode on top of that, which I think only additionally disables passive HR readings, and lost... 1% per hour. So I won't bother with Low Power Mode while sleeping.

 

[The Game 161]

I lose about 1% per hour on the battery overnight in Sleep mode. The other night I tried adding Low Power Mode on top of that, which I think only additionally disables passive HR readings, and lost... 1% per hour. So I won't bother with Low Power Mode while sleeping.

Damn that’s good, I can lose anything from 7% to 13% overnight

 

[Shadowbech]

Pretty amazing battery life I say.

Full charge done on Monday, 11/7/22. I have smart plug so I set it to turn off at 8 AM every day. I set it to chart charging at 5 am. Overnight on a 8 hour sleep i typically lose 6%-7%. I don't use my ultra for sleep tracking (i use the s7 SBTi for that).

AOD - Off
Raise to Wake - ON
Low Power - OFF
Siri - I only have push crown to activate.

My typical work day is 9 to 5 with work focus turned on. Currently 58 hours in on a single charge to 43%. This is impressive. I will be charging it tomorrow morning as I don't let my battery go below certain %. I typically will bring it down to 30% and then charge it up. This certainly does last way longer then my Apple Watch SBTi S7.

 

[Davelfc]

Watch is less than a week old, charged it to 100% on Thursday morning 9am. Woke up Saturday morning 43%.

AoD is off (can’t see the point) no Siri, raise to wake, normal power and did one 35 minute indoor workout. Threw it on charge but quite confident I could have run another day and night at least.

 

[BrightCanon]

Anyone lose a lot of battery during the night if you dont charge your Ultra? Mine loses almost 8-10% overnight just sitting on my bedside table. Funny thing is that I normally only lose about 20% wearing it from 6am to 10pm. I cant figure it out.

 

[M.Rizk]

Watch is less than a week old, charged it to 100% on Thursday morning 9am. Woke up Saturday morning 43%.

AoD is off (can’t see the point) no Siri, raise to wake, normal power and did one 35 minute indoor workout. Threw it on charge but quite confident I could have run another day and night at least.

That is definitely not normal. I got mine 2 days ago and used it for two nights now. I am wearing it to track my sleep and it loses around 6 to 10% in 8~9 hours.

 

[haruhiko]

Apple Watch Ultra is the first Apple Watch that I don’t need to care about the battery life. Just a short charge every day when I take a shower the battery life lasts basically forever - for whole day of use including a workout and sleep tracking.

 

[Nikhil72]

Slept 6.5 hours last night and only lost 2% battery while sleep tracking somehow, impressive (It was usually around 5%, not sure what changed)

 

[IchBinEsNur]

Anyone lose a lot of battery during the night if you dont charge your Ultra? Mine loses almost 8-10% overnight just sitting on my bedside table. Funny thing is that I normally only lose about 20% wearing it from 6am to 10pm. I cant figure it out.

If my phone isn't near by at home, the watch connects via WLAN and this results in a higher power consumption.

 

[BrightCanon]

If my phone isn't near by at home, the watch connects via WLAN and this results in a higher power consumption.

normally my phone is just a foot away. I may just do a reset of the watch. Maybe that will fix it.

 

[andyw715]

If my phone isn't near by at home, the watch connects via WLAN and this results in a higher power consumption.

I wonder how far away is "far away". Sometimes my phone is next to my bed and sometimes it's 20' away (straight line but through a few walls). I haven't noticed differences in battery drain during sleep.

 

[WildstarBR2020]

Watch is less than a week old, charged it to 100% on Thursday morning 9am. Woke up Saturday morning 43%.

AoD is off (can’t see the point) no Siri, raise to wake, normal power and did one 35 minute indoor workout. Threw it on charge but quite confident I could have run another day and night at least.

Having a comparable battery perfomance too. I don’t know why, but I can’t get more than 2 days of battery life from my Ultra.

 

[Davelfc]

Having a comparable battery perfomance too. I don’t know why, but I can’t get more than 2 days of battery life from my Ultra.

My point was that from 100% I managed to get 48 hours continuous use and it was still only 43% battery remaining. So in theory I could get about 35 hours or so more from it.

Maybe I worded it badly initially, but I think a potential 82 hours continuous use from one charge is pretty decent.

 

[metman888]

Took mine off charge Monday morning at 06:32 and it's now Wednesday at 10:35am, therefore the battery has gone from 100% to 38% in 52 hours or so which I'm more than happy with. Included in that is a couple of hours just on cellular when I've been out walking the dog, few calls here and there and the usual half a dozen texts etc.

AOD is off, siri is off and raise to wake is on. Haven't changed any other settings.

 

[tivoboy]

This is at about the 73 hour mark (9% remaining, I don’t like to go to bed with less than 15% even though it uses only about 6-8% over 10 hours overnight), one weekend day and two full workweek days. Would have easily reached 80-85 hours. NOT LPM

Here‘s how it’s configured.
Post in thread 'Ultra Battery life'
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ultra-battery-life.2361649/post-31654108

 

[The Game 161]

I have found my battery life has gotten worse lately and maybe it’s due to more workouts. That said I’m still averaging about 2 days of use so for me that’s great but i know with low power mode on workouts and low power mode on more during the day i could get over 60 I imagine. I just like seeing truly reflection of data and for the price don’t like turning things off if I can help it.

 

[dubvulture]

Just put it on the charger at 6:45AM. Low power mode on, AOD off. Recorded 3 four hour workouts. So just a little over 82 hours.

 

[alongdingdong]

I sleep with my watch and use it all day on LTE without my phone, prefer using the AW as my main device, iphone remains turned off/at home.

Some of my use cases every day.
Imessage, check gmail and whatsap notifications, some SIRI, adding calendar appointments, checking crypto stats, record my exercises through STRAVA and have them directly uploaded from the watch, doing payments from the watch.

I charge it daily from 60%~ battery to full in a hour or so at night time before i go to bed.
Sleeping with the watch cost me around ~10% battery life, theatermode on, because i dont want to be disturbed then.

For everyone reading that thinks these results can be achieved with normal usage as intended.

It is not a garmin, and i am not going to turn off AOD, LTE, and lots of features on a 800 dollar watch to gain a few more hours lol, fun for a experiment, but keep in mind you have a 800 dollar casio watch than that tells you the time vs a smart watch.

Some people get a kick out of charging the watch as little as possible but at 800 USD for the AW U and then to turn off a lot of smart watch features, is interesting, i would almost say why not use a casio that runs of a single battery for years and years, even with AOD on

In regards of my battery consumption:
MOST people dont use their AW standalone via LTE every single day like i do, so your battery life expectations per day will be better then mine. But it is perfect now for me compared to my old AW4 LTE.

 

[tivoboy]

This is at about the 73 hour mark (9% remaining, I don’t like to go to bed with less than 15% even though it uses only about 6-8% over 10 hours overnight), one weekend day and two full workweek days. Would have easily reached 80-85 hours. NOT LPM

Here‘s how it’s configured.
Post in thread 'Ultra Battery life'
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ultra-battery-life.2361649/post-31654108

I have done a couple of additional battery life tests just to try and quantify how much power certain functions use above what my usual use case and settings are. Please see the above link for how I configure the watch.

So, this most recent battery life test was testing just ONE feature turned back on and what impact it had on battery life.

That feature was AOD turned to ON. I don’t normally use AOD since for me at least it doesn‘t add any real value. I don’t mind a tiny bit more wrist turning to see something or I’m pretty much only turning wrist or raising it to SEE something specific, a message, stock alert, calendar notification, etc.

Compared to the prior tests where the watch will go pretty easily to 70+ hours 72, 73 for me with some room to spare, just having AOD on all the time the watch only would make it to 60 hours and 61 hours over two 3 day test runs, so I’ll split that to 60.5.

Depending on how one does maths, that’s either a 15% reduction in usable battery life or keeping it OFF the watch will last 20% longer.

For me, i prefer to have it last a full three days (again, based on my use case and settings) than lose a full half day of battery life.

Next test is putting AOD back to off and turning on “Raise to Siri” or “listen for Hey Siri”. Not sure which is more interesting.