With every software update, iOS users always harbour an apprehension that their devices might get slowed down by the new update. This is what happens to many Apple Watch users; they are not ready to download the latest watchOS 4 on their smartwatches.
However, experts say you should update your watch to the latest software version, though it takes some time of yours. If you ask me, people are not ready to update their devices only because they doubt if the battery performance is not affected by the shifting of software.
To some extent, they are right. But to enjoy more benefits and new features, you must update your iOS devices to the latest software update.
For your Apple Watch battery drain issue, we have compiled a few tips to increase the battery performance. There are some basic tips, which a pro user has already got their hands on, and some tips are fresh.
How to Fix Apple Watch Battery Drain Issue Running watchOS 4
Quick Links:
Use Your iPhone More
Select the Right Watch Face
Control Notifications
Turn on Power Reserve Mode
Remove Apps from Dock
Toggle Background App Refresh OFF
Shut Down Emergency SOS
Disable Detect GYM Equipment
Turn Off Wrist Raise Feature
Restart or Reboot
Use Your iPhone More
Having an Apple Watch on your wrist doesn’t always mean that you should use it as speaker phone. If your iPhone is close by, you should avoid using Apple Watch and use your iPhone. Remember that 18 hours of battery life reduces to just 3 hours of talking.
Select the Right Watch Face
Apple Watch display is built on AMOLED technology; if you use black colours, your watch will burn less battery. Hence, you need to select watch face for your Apple Watch that’s primarily black. Watch faces with lot of animation will surely consume more battery of your smartwatch. People love to use Mickey Mouse watch face; this uses more CPU cycles and consequently guzzles more power. Apart from Mickey Mouse, users use many other animations and special effects that chomp through battery.
You should enable Reduce Transparency and Reduce Motion options in your Apple Watch: General → Accessibility → Reduce Transparency and Reduce Motion.
Control Notifications
Without receiving notifications, a smartwatch is not a smartwatch. But it is fact that Notifications can speedily devour battery life. Your Apple Watch flashes when you receive notification; moreover, if you have opted for ‘Show Alerts’ for email, you will continuously receiving pings your iPhone.
To improve battery life, you should think of controlling notifications in the apps you really need every day. Make sure that you have enabled only those notifications that are must-have.
Turn on Power Reserve Mode
Power Reserve Mode automatically turns on when your watch is running on critically low battery. This action will shut down all other non-serious functions in your watch, which has now become just a wrist watch for the next 72 hours. It just shows you time, nothing else.
You can enable Power Reserve Mode manually by long pressing the side button and then sliding the Power Reserve option.
Remove Apps from Dock
The Dock is an awesome feature on your Apple Watch running on watchOS4. But there is a flip side to this feature; apps in the dock continue to run in the background. On brighter side, this feature allows you to quickly access your favourite apps or the apps you use frequently in a day. For a pro watch user, Dock can be a superb feature but it drains battery. You should make all efforts to reduce the number of apps from the Dock to save your watch’s battery life.
You can discard apps from the Dock directly from Apple Watch. Simply swipe up on the app from Dock and tap Remove button. Alternatively, you can use Watch app on iPhone: Select Dock → Tap Edit and then tap ‘-‘ button next to the app. This will transfer the app to Do Not Include section.
Toggle Background App Refresh OFF
Apps running in the background will remain an eternal problem in every smart device; your Apple Watch is no exception. And this burns battery of your watch. You can control this draining by using Watch app on iPhone.
Open General → Background App Refresh. Now you can turn this feature ON and OFF for each app.
Shut Down Emergency SOS
Emergency SOS is a safety feature Apple Watch offers to users, who have poor health. They can dial their emergency contacts with a single push of a button, but it drains a lot of battery power on your Apple Watch. You can disable this feature through the Watch app on iPhone.
Launch General → Emergency SOS and turn off Hold to Auto Call mode.
Disable Detect GYM Equipment
In watch OS 4 Apple added an amazing feature of detecting and synchronising GYM equipment with your Apple watch. This feature will keep track of your metrics like heart rate, calories and speed.
By default, Detect Fitness Equipment is ON in watch OS 4. So to turn off this feature, you need to follow these steps:
Step #1: Launch Apple Watch App from iPhone
Step #2: Tap on Workout
Step #3: Now, simply Toggle off Detect GYM Equipment.
Turn Off Wrist Raise Feature
We all know that wrist raise is an awesome feature introduced by Apple. But this feature consumes lot of battery and it results into Apple Watch battery drain issue. So let’s disable Wrist Raise feature.
Step #1: Go to Apple Watch from your iPhone
Step #2: Tap on General
Sep #3: Toggle off Wake Screen on Wrist Raise.
Note that once you disable this feature, you need to tap on display or hit button to see time.
Restart or Reboot
Restarting or rebooting Apple Watch is one of the ultimate solutions for all your problems. Follow these steps to reboot your Apple Watch running Watch OS 4.
Step #1: Press and Hold Digital Crown and Side button at once.
Step #2: Hold one till you see Apple Logo.
Hope this solutions will fix your Apple Watch battery life problem. If you think that you can add a point or two to this information, do share your feedback with us on Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus.