How to save the battery of your smartwatches

• Airplane mode: Disables connectivity, including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, LTE, and GPS/GNSS. You can turn them back on individually, or turn off Airplane mode again to turn them all back on.
• Theater mode: Temporarily turns off your screen and suspends notifications and incoming calls.
• Do not disturb: Disables all notifications and incoming calls, but you can usually set exceptions for repeat callers, specific contacts, and alarms.
• bedtime mode: Generally mirrors Do Not Disturb by disabling all notifications and incoming calls except repeat calls, specific contacts, and alarms. WithStandby on an Apple Watch, the screen also dims and shows a simplified watch face.

Change display settings

The screen is the biggest drain on your smartwatch’s battery, but there are things you can do to reduce power consumption.

apple watch

• Go toSettings>Display and Brightnessand you can reduce the brightness, turnAlways ondisplay off, toggleWrist alarm clock off, and choose a shorter oneWake-up time.
• You can also save a small amount of battery life by choosing a watch face with a black background and minimal fuss or animations. You can long-press on your current watch face to browse, change, and select options, but it’s easier to browse options on your iPhone in theShowapp on theFace Gallerytongue.

Google Wear OS Watches

• Go toSettings>Display, and you can changeBrightnessto fall overScreen always on AndSunburn off, and choose a shorter oneScreen Sleep. You can also go toSettings>Gesturesto switchTilt-to-wake disabled.
• You can also save battery life by choosing a watch face with a black background and minimal fuss or animations. You can long-press your current watch face to browse, change, and select options. You can browse watch faces in the Wear OS app on your phone.

Samsung Galaxy Watch (Wear OS models)

• Swipe down from the top and tap theBrightnessicon to reduce the brightness. Go toSettings>Display switchAlways displayed turn off and reduceScreen Sleep.
• Switching to a simple watch face with a dark background can also save battery life. Long press on your current watch face and drag or rotate the bezel to cycle through the options. It might be easier to open theGalaxy Wearable app on your phone and browse theLook at the faces tongue.

Minimize notifications

A constant stream of notifications will drain your smartwatch battery, so it’s worth deleting anything you don’t think you need. Here’s how.

apple watch

• Open theShowapp on your connected iPhone and selectNoticeon theMy watch tongue. You can change some settings at the top. Scroll down to find individual apps and decide which notifications, if any, you want them to send to your Apple Watch.

Google Wear OS Watches

• Open theWear the operating system the app, go toSettings>Noticeand you can choose toBlock app notifications. You might find more options in your watch maker’s companion app (if there’s a separate one).

Samsung Galaxy Watch (Wear OS models)

• Open thewearable galaxy app, tapWatch settingsthen pressNoticeand you can decide which notifications you want to receive.

Cut connectivity

Photography: Apple

You can still use Airplane mode to quickly mute all connectivity, but you can also mute things individually. Most smartwatches connect to smartphones via Bluetooth LE (Low Energy), which is the lowest power option.

apple watch

• Swipe up from the bottom of the screen and you can tap to disableWireless AndMobile data. You can also go toSettingsturnBluetoothdisabled.

Google Wear OS Watches

• Go toSettings>Connectivity,and you can turnWireless,Mobile dataAndBluetooth disabled.

Samsung Galaxy Watch

• Go toSettings>Connections,and you can turnWireless,Mobile dataAndBluetooth disabled.

Disable voice

If you don’t use voice commands with your smartwatch, you can save battery power by telling it not to listen to voice assistant wake words. Here’s how.

apple watch

• Go toSettings>Siriand disableListen to Hey Siri AndStand up to speak.

Google Wear OS Watches or Samsung Galaxy Watches

• Go toSettings>Google>Assistantand turn offHi Google.

Samsung Galaxy Watch

• OpenBixbygo toSettingsand turnVoice alarm clock disabled.

Reduce sound and vibration

Smartwatches emit various sounds and vibrations, and they are often superfluous. Turn them off or reduce the volume, and you can save some battery life.

apple watch

• Go toSettings>Sounds and Hapticsand you can mute the sounds and vibrations or reduce the volume.

Google Wear OS watches or Samsung Galaxy Watch

• OpenSettings>sound and vibrationand you can mute various sounds and vibrations and reduce volume levels.

Limit background app refresh

By default, many of your apps work behind the scenes to update data, but this can drain your smartwatch battery, and you probably don’t need every app to constantly update (it will pull data when you will open it anyway). Here’s how to limit background app refresh.

apple watch

• Open theShowapp on your connected iPhone, then tapGeneral>Refresh the app in the background to turn it off completely or disable individual apps.

Google Wear OS Watches

• This is handled automatically on Wear OS watches, but you can limit app permissions by going toSettings>Apps and Notifications >Application permissions (just be careful, as some apps won’t work properly if you limit their permissions).

Check battery usage

Figuring out what’s draining your smartwatch battery makes it easier to fix. Check the battery usage and you will be able to know what changes might be effective. Unfortunately, there is no way to see this information on an Apple Watch, but you can check the battery status inSettings>Battery>Battery health.

Google Wear OS Watches

• Open the Wear OS app or your smartwatch companion app on your phone, then go toSettings>Advanced settings > watch battery to see which apps are draining your battery.

Uninstall apps

Any apps you don’t use should be uninstalled to make sure they don’t affect battery life.

apple watch

• press thedigital crown to display the application screen, press and hold anywhere, and chooseEdit apps. Press theX AndDelete app to get rid of all the apps you don’t want.

Google Wear OS Watches

• press thePowerbutton, scroll down and pressplay storeSOMy Apps. Tap any app you want to remove, scroll down and tapUninstall.

Samsung Galaxy Watch (Wear OS models)

• Go to theappsscreen, long-press the app you want to get rid of, then tapUninstall,SOALL RIGHTor theDELETEicon, then press the icontick confirm.

Disable other features

There are probably several other features and functions on your smartwatch that can be turned off to save battery life, so take a look at your device settings. On the Apple Watch, for example, you can accessSettings>Activityto turn off reminders, orCoachingwill passLow power mode during workouts and activateFewer GPS and heart rate readings. Dig into the settings and disable anything you don’t need or want to use.

Get a portable charger and battery

Photography: Otterbox

If you don’t want to disable features, you can always increase your load set. An extra charger on your bedside, your desk at work, or even in your pocket or bag could make the difference. Unfortunately, most smartwatches require proprietary chargers, but there are several options for Apple Watch owners, like the OtterBox 2-in-1 Power Bank with Apple Watch Charger ($50) and Wireless Power Bank Satechi Quatro ($100).

You can find more options in our Best Apple Watch Accessories, Best Wireless Chargers, Best Portable Chargers and Best 3-in-1 Apple Chargers guides.