WatchOS 11 Beta Thread

[goldmac2006]

LTE connectivity (if you don't bring your phone and use it) can drain a lot if network conditions are poor.
Another important factor is sun exposition. In very bright conditions, watchOS pushes luminosity to keep the watch readable, and it also eats a lot.

Really? My Apple Watch never drains battery due to time in daylight measurement. It only matters when it comes to brightness and the always on display.

 

[rbart]

Your watch automatically adjusts brightness. By night it's very low, outside, with sun, it's very high.
If you spend a lot of time on a sunny day, your battery will decrease faster.
Nothing surprising

 

[Howard2k]

Beta 6 was a bit draining for me too, especially as I went hiking with it, esim activated. One 24+ km hike made it run out of power at about 22-23 km. It was going in and out of cellular coverage, I guess that was a factor too. The hiking data up to the point it shut down was available after charging.

You didn't have your phone with you?

 

[goldmac2006]

Your watch automatically adjusts brightness. By night it's very low, outside, with sun, it's very high.
If you spend a lot of time on a sunny day, your battery will decrease faster.
Nothing surprising

Of course y’all with Apple Watch Series 6 and later have witnessed this. That series onwards and the S9 is also the latest to get brighter than ever displays, and we had an advantage of the always on display being more visible in sunny environments. The Apple Watch Series 5, the first Apple Watch to have AOD, is darker and almost not as bright it can be.

But yes, since low power mode got introduced in watchOS, it states that background measurements in blood oxygen (Apple Watch Series 6 to Apple Watch Series 8), heart rate and time in daylight hours (requires watchOS 10 and later in S6 and newer) is suppressed, due to the fact that the ambient light sensor underneath the screen is responsible for brightness.

 

[goldmac2006]

You didn't have your phone with you?

Beta 6 was a bit draining for me too, especially as I went hiking with it, esim activated. One 24+ km hike made it run out of power at about 22-23 km. It was going in and out of cellular coverage, I guess that was a factor too. The hiking data up to the point it shut down was available after charging.

@sifpilsen that’s a long distance, man! As an Apple Watch Ultra user the battery life would not be cut short like that, as these models are designed to handle up to two days on a single charge. But cellular can cut it down as well.

If you did not have beta watchOS 11 how much battery would it take on average per hike? When do you usually charge your Ultra?

 

[gwang73]

I have made an automation in the shortcuts app so when starting my run, it turns on always on display. When finishing the run it turns it off. Almost never works

Do you run with your iPhone and watch or just watch?

I the same automation and it always works and my watch is always connected to my iPhone. I have two Shortcuts Automations. One is set when I start a Workout, it turns on Always On and the other is when I stop a Workout, it turns off Always On. I also have a separate Focus for Fitness set as well.

 

[xDKP]

Do you run with your iPhone and watch or just watch?

I the same automation and it always works and my watch is always connected to my iPhone. I have two Shortcuts Automations. One is set when I start a Workout, it turns on Always On and the other is when I stop a Workout, it turns off Always On. I also have a separate Focus for Fitness set as well.

I had the same two as you did - first set up on the iPhone part - Haven't really used these automations before, so now I have tried to setup the automations in the watch tab in the Shortcuts app - tied it to my Fitness Focus mode and it has been working flawlessly since - very nice

 

[Grayburn]

So no new beta for the watch then?!?!?

 

[goldmac2006]

So no new beta for the watch then?!?!?

Let’s see, I think the GM for watchOS 11 will be out somewhere around this week… Apple probably wanted to move forward with the updates and only released beta 8 iOS and iPadOS 18 for bug fixes.

 

[fantomcheung]

after updating the b7, found that fitness ring complication goes dim from time to time.

 

[xDKP]

So no new beta for the watch then?!?!?

Wasn't it also a day behind the iPhone last week?

 

[oMc]

Wasn't it also a day behind the iPhone last week?

Nah, same day.

 

[goldmac2006]

after updating the b7, found that fitness ring complication goes dim from time to time.

Did you pause your rings? If you did the activity rings are gray.

 

[fantomcheung]

Did you pause your rings? If you did the activity rings are gray.

definitely no

 

[Grayburn]

after updating the b7, found that fitness ring complication goes dim from time to time.

I get this from time to time on a certain face i recently set up.

 

[jacklroberts]

Let’s see, I think the GM for watchOS 11 will be out somewhere around this week… Apple probably wanted to move forward with the updates and only released beta 8 iOS and iPadOS 18 for bug fixes.

NO. The GM / RC build for watchOS 11 will be released after the Apple event on September 9th. There may be a beta 8 but it’s a case of wait and see.

 

[goldmac2006]

definitely no

Then it is related to updating your complications. I believe that has to be a bug itself.

NO. The GM / RC build for watchOS 11 will be released after the Apple event on September 9th. There may be a beta 8 but it’s a case of wait and see.

I think so! I forgot that RCs and GMs are early previews of final iOS 18/watchOS 11 versions, so they are typically pushed out after September Apple Events. Thank you so much for the clarification, man. Potentially Beta 8 may be delayed...

 

[fantomcheung]

finger crossed for b8

 

[jkel777]

Dang, looks like we'll have to wait for beta 8, potentially next Monday/Tuesday. I doubt they'd go three weeks between beta 7 and RC.

 

[jkel777]

Finally tracked my sleep with my AW for the first time last night. Pretty cool and I’ll probably continue doing it going forward, especially for the vitals data. I’m bummed that I need a full weeks-worth of vitals data before it’ll even show me any recordings, though.

 

[kendo88]

My Apple Watch isn’t getting through the day on singe charge now. I unpaired it and restored from backup, and it’s somehow got worse. Put it on at roughly 8am this morning, it’s now 5:30pm and I’ve just took it off to charge it because it’s 19%

 

[goldmac2006]

My Apple Watch isn’t getting through the day on singe charge now. I unpaired it and restored from backup, and it’s somehow got worse. Put it on at roughly 8am this morning, it’s now 5:30pm and I’ve just took it off to charge it because it’s 19%

I noticed that as well… today and yesterday. I had a long day of work yesterday and typically my watch would be around 60-50% after my lunch break, but I still had to whip my charger out when it hit 30% that time.

Today had a lot of errands from 10am-5pm, my Apple Watch went from full to 15% of battery upon getting home. I had to put it on low power mode before putting it on the charger. This only happened since my iPhone updated to iOS 18 developer beta 8.

Besides that, I slept in again today and my watch caught it. Second time witnessing the automatic sleep tracking hidden feature.

 

[d245770q]

This latest beta has been horrible for battery life. Having to charge my Ultra 1 daily now.

Same for me!

 

[southnorth]

My Apple Watch isn’t getting through the day on singe charge now. I unpaired it and restored from backup, and it’s somehow got worse. Put it on at roughly 8am this morning, it’s now 5:30pm and I’ve just took it off to charge it because it’s 19%

Same for me!

And me on my ultra 2!

 

[Nicj56]

My Apple Watch isn’t getting through the day on singe charge now. I unpaired it and restored from backup, and it’s somehow got worse. Put it on at roughly 8am this morning, it’s now 5:30pm and I’ve just took it off to charge it because it’s 19%

For me on my Ultra 1, but it lasts a evening + sleep tracking + a full working day and it needs a new charge!