Google’s Wear OS operating system has had a resurgence in recent years thanks to watches like the Galaxy Watch, OnePlus Watch 2and the company itself Pixel Watch line. From attractive designs to improved performance and software capabilities, these are some of the The best smart watches with Android operating system ever.
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But you know what remains a challenge for many of these devices? Battery life. OnePlus may have cracked the code for multi-day battery life on a Wear OS device, but the same can’t be said for most wearables on the market. If you own a Wear OS watch, chances are you’ll need to charge it at least once a day, which can be pretty inconvenient if you’re having a heavy usage day.
You might be wondering how you can extend your watch’s daily battery life. Fortunately, there are several ways to get more juice throughout the day so your Wear OS device doesn’t die before dinnertime. Below, we’ve broken down the 10 most effective ways to save your Wear OS watch’s battery life. They apply to all recent Wear OS models, so you shouldn’t have any issues using them.
1. Disable the always-on display
One of the biggest culprits of poor battery life on Wear OS watches is the always-on display. For some reason, companies keep saying that this feature only marginally drains the battery during the day. But in reality, that’s never the case. The always-on display can be the difference between your watch lasting all day or dying before you get home in the evening. While it’s one of the most convenient features to have enabled on your watch, it’s best to turn this off when you need more battery.
As: On your watch, swipe down from the top of the screen and then tap the gear icon to access Settings. From there, scroll down to Display and then tap “Always-on display.” You’ll then have the option to turn it off. Follow the same steps to turn it back on.
2. Switch to a watch face with fewer complications
Your watch face is a great tool to express your style and add utility to make your Wear OS device as useful as possible at a glance. But if you have too many data-dependent complications (we’re talking three to five), your watch will pull new data in the background and consume more power. If you want to reduce power consumption, you’ll need something simpler with just a couple of complications.
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As: Tap and hold on the watch face to bring up the customization menu. You can then swipe between different default faces and make changes to existing faces you’ve set up to remove things like data-hungry widgets. It’s also smart to keep the color scheme a little simpler.
3. Use automatic screen brightness
If your Wear OS watch’s display is too dark, you may need to turn it up too high to be able to see it in bright sunlight. The problem is that if you keep your display at full brightness all the time, you’ll be using more battery than you think. An easy way to fix this is to use auto-brightness. Now your watch will dim when you don’t need as much brightness to see.
As: Swipe down from the top of the screen to access quick settings, then tap the sun icon to reveal brightness settings. From there, you’ll have the option to increase or decrease screen brightness and enable “Auto-Brightness.” On some watches, like the Galaxy Watch 6, you may need to go into the Settings app and visit the Display section to find the toggle to turn on “Adaptive Brightness,” which does the same thing.
4. Get rid of power-hungry apps
When you install an app on your phone, it’s common for it to automatically install on your watch. This method is a convenient way to ensure that your phone’s settings are reflected on your watch. But if you don’t use apps on your watch and rely strictly on notifications, it’s time to delete them. Not only do apps eat up the small amount of storage on your Wear OS device, but they can also drain your battery when you’re not looking.
As: On your Wear OS watch, access the apps list by pressing the power button once. Then, tap Play Store. From there, swipe down from the top of the screen to find the “My Apps” button. You’ll be presented with a list of all the apps you have installed on your watch. Find the one you want to remove, tap it, then scroll to the bottom and tap “Uninstall.”
5. Disable “Hey Google” detection
Having the convenience of a voice assistant on your wrist is great for getting things done quickly, and it’s even more useful when you can just raise your wrist and start talking. But as you might guess, keeping “Hey Google” detection on can drain your Wear OS watch’s battery pretty quickly, as it’s constantly using the microphone, waiting for those magic words to be said. Luckily, it’s easy to turn this feature off.
As: Swipe down on your watch face, then tap the gear icon to access Settings. Next, go to the “Google” section and scroll down to find “Assistant.” Tap that option and you’ll see the option to turn off “Hey Google” detection.
6. Reduce screen downtime
When you lift your wrist to look at your watch, the screen will stay on for a while after you’re done. Ideally, the screen will go dark as soon as your wrist drops back to the side, but if you’ve noticed your battery draining more than usual, it could be because the screen is staying on for too long. Here’s how to adjust how long it stays on for.
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As: Swipe down on the screen and tap the gear icon to go to Settings. Then, scroll down to Display > Screen timeout and choose 15 or 10 seconds. This way, the screen will turn off much sooner and you’ll save battery.
7. Reduce the number of notifications you receive
By default, your Wear OS watch is set to send all notifications you receive on your phone to your wrist. This method can be overwhelming with the constant beeps and buzzes from social media apps. Notifications can also cause excessive battery consumption. All that beeps and buzzes consume power, and an easy way to fix that is to limit the notifications that are sent to your watch.
As: On your watch, go to Settings > Apps & notifications > Notifications and choose “Show all” to see the full list of apps currently sending notifications. Then, tap the app you want to mute and toggle the switch on. You won’t receive notifications from that app on your watch anymore, but they’ll still be sent to your phone so you won’t be completely left out of the loop.
8. Turn off location and Wi-Fi when you don’t need them
Wear OS watches connect to the internet through your phone, and rely on sensors and specs to pull in data and information. When your phone isn’t within reach, your watch uses its Wi-Fi and GPS to keep you connected. However, if you tend to have your phone nearby most of the time, there’s no real reason to keep Wi-Fi or location settings on your watch, and turning them off when you’re not using them is an easy way to save some extra battery life.
As: To turn off Wi-Fi, go to Settings > Connectivity > Wi-Fi and turn on the switch. To turn off location services and GPS, go to Settings > Location and turn off Use Location. You can follow the same steps to turn on either feature later.
9. Disable the tilt function to activate
This is a last resort option, but it’s still a nice one. In order for your Wear OS watch to display the time when you raise your wrist, it needs to use a series of sensors to detect the movement of your wrist. With excessive or unintentional use throughout the day, this feature can lead to excessive power consumption and leave you with much less battery. If you want to see if changing this setting will save you battery (users have reported that it doesn’t save battery and that the battery lasts longer depending on the watch they have), here’s how to disable the feature.
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As:On your watch, go to the Settings app and scroll down to “Gestures.” There, you’ll find a switch to disable the tilt-to-wake feature. To save even more battery life and avoid accidentally waking your device, you can also disable the touch-to-wake feature, but you’ll need to press the crown to wake the screen.
10. Use power saving mode
Of course, the most obvious thing you can do to save battery on Wear OS is to turn on Power Saving Mode. The name may differ depending on which watch you have, but it will do the same thing: it will disable certain background features, dim the display, reduce animations, and otherwise slow down performance just enough to get the most out of your battery. It’s a fantastic mode when you’re in a pinch and need your watch to last you through the rest of the day, or if you’ve got a long day ahead of you and need the best battery life possible.
As:On your watch, go to Settings > Battery to enable Battery Saver. If you have a Galaxy Watch, it may be called Power Saver, but it will have the same functionality.