10 ways to improve battery life for smartwatches

If you haven't tried to optimize your smartwatch before, there are many steps you can take to reduce power consumption.

Smartwatches are increasingly powerful tools that offer many of the same features as smartphones. However, the downside of these devices is that when the battery runs out, they can't even function as a normal watch.

If you own a smartwatch, you may be wondering how to increase its battery life. Battery life varies by model, but you can make it last longer by following a few simple tips no matter what type of watch you own.

If you haven't tried to optimize your smartwatch before, there are many steps you can take to reduce power consumption. Here are 10 ways to make your battery last longer.

10 ways to improve battery life for smartwatches Picture 1 10 ways to improve battery life for smartwatches Picture 1

1. Stop receiving unnecessary notifications

People often buy special smartwatches to receive notifications right from the device on their wrist. However, along with being useful, they also drain battery life. And if you get a lot of notifications, the overall power usage will actually increase. Go through every app that sends you notifications and decide which one you really need. Text messages are obviously important, but do you really need every social media notification? You should also ask if you want both your phone and watch to send identical alerts.

2. Reduce screen brightness

Smartwatches have increasingly powerful screens, but the brighter they are, the faster they use up their batteries. The high brightness setting is useful in direct sunlight, but other than this, there's little benefit to leaving the display at full brightness. If your watch has a light sensor, you can set it up to automatically adjust brightness based on available light. Otherwise, you should try different percentages manually until you find the right balance between aesthetics and battery life.

3. Turn off Always-on Display

Always-on Displays are popular because they allow you to tell the time without shaking your wrist. However, Always-on Display also makes your watch use more battery, so it is best to turn this feature off.

4. Turn off Bluetooth and WiFi

Many smartwatch features require Bluetooth or WiFi access. Many applications need Internet access, and your watch cannot interact with your phone without Bluetooth. Disconnecting the meter completely is obviously impractical, but you can save a lot of energy by turning off these connections when you are not using them. Besides, many apps on the smartwatch will still work despite the absence of Bluetooth or WiFi.

5. Change the watch face

Smart watches offer a variety of faces. Many of these options are highly interactive, and while this additional information is helpful, they also require more power to operate. If you want to limit how much power your watch uses, you should look for a watch face that displays less information.

6. Use energy saving mode if available

Some smartwatches have a power saving mode that automatically optimizes settings to use less power. Enabling this feature can significantly improve battery life, if your smartwatch has it. However, it's important to note that this mode often turns off many of the watch's features. Therefore, you should test it before wearing the watch to an important place.

7. Turn off Tilt to Wake

If you don't use Always-on Display, most smartwatches will use tilt or touch mode to wake the device. These features are obviously convenient, but they also mean that the watch has to constantly monitor the wrist and screen. Instead, you can save battery life by turning off these features and waking your watch with the press of a button.

8. Turn off Voice Assistant

Voice Assistants are very popular in smartwatches because they provide an alternative to using very small screens to give directions. However, in order for the voice assistant to work, the voice assistant must hear everything you say. This uses a lot of energy (not to mention privacy concerns). If you want to turn off the voice assistant and still be able to use it when needed, many watches allow you to re-enable voice detection with the push of a button, allowing you to voice commands when you want and does not waste the battery at other times.

9. Uninstall apps

Installing too many smartwatch apps can degrade performance. This can also increase power consumption if those apps are running in the background. Therefore, you should go through all your installed apps and uninstall any that you don't need.

10. Using Theater Mode

Many smartwatches have a Theater Mode that allows you to temporarily turn off many features. Depending on the watch, this will turn off notifications and prevent the screen from lighting up. This is ideal if you want to increase battery life for a specific amount of time and get your watch working properly afterwards.

Smartwatches can be optimized to use less battery, and many users will find that they can significantly increase battery life by making the right adjustments.

If you've tried the steps in this article and your watch's battery life still doesn't last as long as you'd like, you should try a different watch designed for better battery life.

Hybrid models offer the best battery life, allowing you to enjoy the functionality of a smartwatch with the battery life of a standard watch. Besides, many standard smart meters that focus on energy saving are also worth considering.