Ultra Battery life

[Hankster]

Started my testing at 100% Saturday morning. The Ultra can last three full days (72) at the right settings. I don't need to push it that far so I charge it every two days at night. Before I hit the shower I charge it, then wear it again before sleeping. I can also sleep with it for another night and charge it when I wake up and get ready for the day.

It's impressive. The longer battery life makes it worth the upgrade from my Series 6. But, not just that. The larger screen and ease of reading is nice. I like the action button and prefer the crown partically blocked so it doesn't turn by accident. Worse case this watch can go for 2.5 days without a charge. That's excellent considering the functions. My neighbors have two $700-800 Garmin watches and we were discussing the Ultra last night. While their battery life is 5-8 days, it has nothing close to the functions of the Ultra. They're amazed at the health functions along with the siren, GPS abilities, etc. And my neighbors are hard core Garmin users.

In closing, Ultra performs well above my expectations. The size is nothing larger than a luxury watch. I have two Tag Heuers larger than this watch along with a few others. 2.5 days of solid battery life with cell service - well done Apple.

 

[papbot]

Started my testing at 100% Saturday morning. The Ultra can last three full days (72) at the right settings. I don't need to push it that far so I charge it every two days at night. Before I hit the shower I charge it, then wear it again before sleeping. I can also sleep with it for another night and charge it when I wake up and get ready for the day.

It's impressive. The longer battery life makes it worth the upgrade from my Series 6. But, not just that. The larger screen and ease of reading is nice. I like the action button and prefer the crown partically blocked so it doesn't turn by accident. Worse case this watch can go for 2.5 days without a charge. That's excellent considering the functions. My neighbors have two $700-800 Garmin watches and we were discussing the Ultra last night. While their battery life is 5-8 days, it has nothing close to the functions of the Ultra. They're amazed at the health functions along with the siren, GPS abilities, etc. And my neighbors are hard core Garmin users.

In closing, Ultra performs well above my expectations. The size is nothing larger than a luxury watch. I have two Tag Heuers larger than this watch along with a few others. 2.5 days of solid battery life with cell service - well done Apple.

I think that if there is one feature that is paramount to a user a device that specifically focuses on that feature will work best, for that user. But for those of us who desire a variety of important features, but aren’t laser focused on one in particular, an Apple Watch, Ultra for me soon!, works extremely well. As one case in point, if I had a cardiac condition that requiring constant ecg monitoring I would be wearing an ecg device. However I did have to consult a cardiologist about an issue a couple years ago and he actually recommended the watch to me, the version I had at that time did not have that capability. So when I’ve occasionally been concerned I’ve been able to run a tracing on the watch and send it to him, getting some suggestions or reassurances from him without having to make an appointment or traveling to an office.

So I’m quite heartened to read your experience. I’m certainly not an adventurist or extreme anything but I think the features of the Ultra, and its construction will really be appreciated.

 

[Colonel Badger]

Impressed with battery life. Started at 9am Sunday morning at 100%. Ran 4 miles (including streaming music to AirPods), spent the day outside working. Left it on overnight and Monday night at 10pm (37hrs) was at 37%. Could easily have gone for another night, maybe another night/day.

 

[Johnly]

It’s 8:33 AM. It’s been 48 hours with AOD. I am at 17%. At some point I need to charge it for the 2nd time today and run it down again. I have found the battery does improve when it’s cycled a few times. My s7 could never get two days, always had to find a charger every day at some point. The battery life on the ultra is so refreshing! I think I will charge it now because I have a workout later today, but I won’t worry about charging it tomorrow 😎👍🍺

 

[Camwin]

Anyone using the watch with cellular always on, brightness to full, and AOD enabled? Just curious how the battery performs per hour…7%,10%, etc.

I have been yes. I haven't been hypermiling the watch, like a lot of those here.

• Brightness: 100%
• Cellular: Always On
• Face: Wayfinder in Night mode 100% of the time
• Background refresh: On
• Workouts: Screen on the whole time, average of 90 minutes a day
• Installed apps: Lots
• AOD: Always on except when sleep tracking
• Wake on Wrist Raise: It's never asleep
• Wake on Crown Up: It's never asleep
• Wake Duration: Always except sleep
• Chimes: On
• Listen for "Hey Siri": On
• Raise to Speak: On
• Haptic Alerts: On
• Theatre Mode: Off, period
• Overnight/tracking my sleep: Sleep the only time AOD is off.

I'm averaging 24-36% drainage a day with these usage habits. That being said I am also not using my watch heavily outside of side glance time checks, during workout, I am not messaging more than 10-15 a day, or using too many apps actively on the watch. 1-2 manual heart rate and blood oxygen tests a day.

 

[Alhagar]

Just got mine yesterday. One thing I haven't seen mentioned (apologies if I am wrong) is that it does take a long time to charge (which makes sense - bigger battery), but for those of us who wear it to sleep you might have trouble charging it up to 100% before leaving the house for work in the morning. Perhaps it will make more sense to charge it to 100% every evening before bed.

I understand that one should not pay too much attention to battery life on a newly set-up Apple product, but I am a bit concerned. I went out WITHOUT PHONE at about 8 with battery at 100% for 2.5 hours (15 miles of bike riding (using the workout app), grocery shopping, a few texts, listening to downloaded podcasts (Overcast)) and when I got home I was at 65%. I was hoping that I could leave my phone at home some days but that might not be the case. Obviously I will not make any decisions about the watch yet, and will report back (I did restart the watch when I got home (in the 1.5 hours since I've been back home and with phone I have lost another 10% with VERY light usage).

I do have the display turned to max brightness. If I am going to keep the watch I want to be able to benefit from the increased brightness over my AW series 7.

 

[akidokraja]

I ran yesterday for 30 min and lost 7% with streaming offline music to my APP.

That is not good. So 6 hours total with offline music? That’s worse than regular AW.

 

[akidokraja]

Just got mine yesterday. One thing I haven't seen mentioned (apologies if I am wrong) is that it does take a long time to charge (which makes sense - bigger battery), but for those of us who wear it to sleep you might have trouble charging it up to 100% before leaving the house for work in the morning. Perhaps it will make more sense to charge it to 100% every evening before bed.

I understand that one should not pay too much attention to battery life on a newly set-up Apple product, but I am a bit concerned. I went out WITHOUT PHONE at about 8 with battery at 100% for 2.5 hours (15 miles of bike riding (using the workout app), grocery shopping, a few texts, listening to downloaded podcasts (Overcast)) and when I got home I was at 65%. I was hoping that I could leave my phone at home some days but that might not be the case. Obviously I will not make any decisions about the watch yet, and will report back (I did restart the watch when I got home (in the 1.5 hours since I've been back home and with phone I have lost another 10% with VERY light usage).

I do have the display turned to max brightness. If I am going to keep the watch I want to be able to benefit from the increased brightness over my AW series 7.

That is not good. Might be still syncing in background. Keep us posted.

 

[xxBlack]

That is not good. So 6 hours total with offline music? That’s worse than regular AW.

I lost 15-20% with my S6.

14% in 1h would result in 7h workout.

 

[ArchEtech]

Battery use today: start time 9:30 am 2 hours of use, cellular only, music download 4 songs, messing with apps, and clockology. 5% loss

Yes for sure use a fast charging wall charger. It goes fassst.

Update: 4 hours of use so far today, 8% of batter gone with some moderate use all on cellular, no phone bluetooth connection, some wifi use, downloading songs etc as I stated before, and clockology running all the time.

Update: 7 hours down 17%

Update: 10 hours Still at 75% one workout, and the same as above still going.

 

[Hankster]

Just got mine yesterday. One thing I haven't seen mentioned (apologies if I am wrong) is that it does take a long time to charge (which makes sense - bigger battery), but for those of us who wear it to sleep you might have trouble charging it up to 100% before leaving the house for work in the morning. Perhaps it will make more sense to charge it to 100% every evening before bed.

I understand that one should not pay too much attention to battery life on a newly set-up Apple product, but I am a bit concerned. I went out WITHOUT PHONE at about 8 with battery at 100% for 2.5 hours (15 miles of bike riding (using the workout app), grocery shopping, a few texts, listening to downloaded podcasts (Overcast)) and when I got home I was at 65%. I was hoping that I could leave my phone at home some days but that might not be the case. Obviously I will not make any decisions about the watch yet, and will report back (I did restart the watch when I got home (in the 1.5 hours since I've been back home and with phone I have lost another 10% with VERY light usage).

I do have the display turned to max brightness. If I am going to keep the watch I want to be able to benefit from the increased brightness over my AW series 7.

You don't need to charge the Watch to 100% before leaving the house. The Watch can last (with heavy use) two days. Also, charge IMO isn't that slow. Mine got about 75-80% in close to an hour. I charge my Watch either before taking a shower and getting ready for bed or after I wake up and I'm getting ready for the day. A quick 35-40 minute charge gives at least 50-60% which is more than enough.

And I believe for most people who take an hour to get ready for the day...charging it from waking up to walking out the door is a solid hour. That's your 100% there because most Watch will still have 20-30-40% battery.

 

[someoneoutthere]

My watch charged 0-100 in about 40 minutes - maybe a little more. No issue with that. It is a little sensitive to connecting securely to the charging disc.

I set it on and thought it was charging for 20 minutes and it wasn’t actually charging.


I feel like that’s pretty fast charging.

I let my Watch die on my wrist yesterday. It turned on after sitting on the charger for 10 minutes with 4% charged, took 30 minutes to get to 20%, an hour to 30%, 1.5 hours to 67%, 2 hours to 90% and a grand total of 2h 25m to 100%.
I had the USB-C Watch charger that shipped with the AWU box plugged into my MacBook. Next time my Watch dies, I will plug it in directly to the wall using a 20W USB-C power adapter and see if it makes a substantial difference.

 

[OneMike]

New test. Last charged to 100% Sunday 9:25pm. 2.5 hour workout monday. Roughly 3 hours today including some basketball. Currently sitting at 33%.

Fast charge took around an hour last time. Technically should have enough power to wear it to sleep tonight but I’m up before I’d have time for a full charge.

Again im very happy.

 

[Camwin]

Just got mine yesterday. One thing I haven't seen mentioned (apologies if I am wrong) is that it does take a long time to charge (which makes sense - bigger battery), but for those of us who wear it to sleep you might have trouble charging it up to 100% before leaving the house for work in the morning. Perhaps it will make more sense to charge it to 100% every evening before bed.

I understand that one should not pay too much attention to battery life on a newly set-up Apple product, but I am a bit concerned. I went out WITHOUT PHONE at about 8 with battery at 100% for 2.5 hours (15 miles of bike riding (using the workout app), grocery shopping, a few texts, listening to downloaded podcasts (Overcast)) and when I got home I was at 65%. I was hoping that I could leave my phone at home some days but that might not be the case. Obviously I will not make any decisions about the watch yet, and will report back (I did restart the watch when I got home (in the 1.5 hours since I've been back home and with phone I have lost another 10% with VERY light usage).

I do have the display turned to max brightness. If I am going to keep the watch I want to be able to benefit from the increased brightness over my AW series 7.

Are you using the USB-c charger and an appropriately sized USB-C Charging block?

 

[Zippy3505]

Took off charger Saturday morning. Normal errands, etc over the weekend. Worked Monday. Apple CarPlay directions. Off work today, currently at 16%

 

[M33-1]

I have been yes. I haven't been hypermiling the watch, like a lot of those here.

• Brightness: 100%
• Cellular: Always On
• Face: Wayfinder in Night mode 100% of the time
• Background refresh: On
• Workouts: Screen on the whole time, average of 90 minutes a day
• Installed apps: Lots
• AOD: Always on except when sleep tracking
• Wake on Wrist Raise: It's never asleep
• Wake on Crown Up: It's never asleep
• Wake Duration: Always except sleep
• Chimes: On
• Listen for "Hey Siri": On
• Raise to Speak: On
• Haptic Alerts: On
• Theatre Mode: Off, period
• Overnight/tracking my sleep: Sleep the only time AOD is off.

I'm averaging 24-36% drainage a day with these usage habits. That being said I am also not using my watch heavily outside of side glance time checks, during workout, I am not messaging more than 10-15 a day, or using too many apps actively on the watch. 1-2 manual heart rate and blood oxygen tests a day.

I’m using those exact settings and watch face today, and I’m averaging 4% loss per hour. Cellular through Att. 100% charge at 8 AM and now 73% charge at almost 3 PM.

 

[M33-1]

If you run ultra marathons, this video is for you to determine battery life.

 

[DontGetTheCheese]

Did an approximate 48 hours (+/- a couple hours) test and the watch is at 41%. One short workout, no music or podcasts but with cellular. That means 3 days, while stretching, might be doable for me but 2 should be easily doable under even more strenuous days.

This should be plenty good enough.

 

[Johnly]

Day one on 2nd full charge. After 12 hours AOD on. I am at 87%. If this cycle goes like the last cycle it will last well past 48 hours concluding that one charge every two days is all that’s necessary. That’s means this watch will cycle at 1/2 the rate my previous one did. I expect the battery will degrade just as slowly, relatively speaking.

 

[chanerz]

I took off weather complication and compass. The battery dramatically improved !

 

[powerslave65]

I went 49 hours and still had 23%. 2 sleep sessions 2 short workouts 3 walks. 2 1 min ph calls some texts. The last 5% of charging is crucial if you want to experience the max battery life on this thing. I think the algorithm used to show how much charging there is left is a little wonky but fully charged this thing delivers.

 

[ArchEtech]

40% loss from 8:30am to 1:15am on cellular only, Clockology running all the time, some music downloads, workout, lots of app use and heart monitoring. I thought I started at 9:30, but not according to the battery tracking.

 

[The Game 161]

How much are people losing per night with the watch on? Mine drained about 13% 9 hours overnight

I’m on about 31 hours off the charger with 23% left. Considering my series 7 died after 15-16 hours I’m happy so far

How many of you are using the low power mode?

 

[xxBlack]

How much are people losing per night with the watch on? Mine drained about 13% 9 hours overnight

I’m on about 31 hours off the charger with 23% left. Considering my series 7 died after 15-16 hours I’m happy so far

How many of you are using the low power mode?

when on 100% i lose around 4% in 7h. If I'm below 100% I tend to lose around 6-7% in 7h so basically 1% per h.

Edit: I dont use low power mode.

 

[Hankster]

I let my Watch die on my wrist yesterday. It turned on after sitting on the charger for 10 minutes with 4% charged, took 30 minutes to get to 20%, an hour to 30%, 1.5 hours to 67%, 2 hours to 90% and a grand total of 2h 25m to 100%.
I had the USB-C Watch charger that shipped with the AWU box plugged into my MacBook. Next time my Watch dies, I will plug it in directly to the wall using a 20W USB-C power adapter and see if it makes a substantial difference.

That is very slow charging. Nothing similar to my experience. It is likely due to the brick or how you're charging the watch. I use an iPad Pro brick connect to a wall outlet. 80% within an hour easily using the cord from the Ultra box.