As a long-time Apple Watch user, I upgraded to the Apple Watch Series 10 a few weeks ago and was blown away by the amazing battery life I got from the device. The Series 10 estimates the same 18-hour “all-day” battery life as its predecessor. However, you can use it for 30-36 hours on a single charge. Much better than I could have dreamed of.
I made one change to Apple Watch Series 10 that I thought would explain the significant improvement in battery life. I disabled the Always On feature because I don’t need it on my Apple Watch for now.
It turns out I’m not the only Apple Watch Series 10 owner who praises the amazing battery life. Some people also found battery life was longer than expected, and many people left the always-on display enabled.
I’ve been using a 40mm Apple Watch SE 2 for the past few years. It’s become an amazing device. However, the wearable needed more health tracking capabilities. That was one of the reasons I upgraded to the 42mm Apple Watch Series 10.
What made the purchase a must for me was the battery life. My old SE 2’s battery health was dropping to less than 80%.
At that point, the Apple Watch SE 2 wasn’t a reliable device for my marathon training and racing needs. I had to charge it several times a day, which meant I spent a lot of time without wearing the watch. Again, we want to record as many health parameters as possible between charges. That should cover your sleep as well.
As soon as I started using Apple Watch Series 10, I knew it met my needs. First, the new Watch charges much faster than before. But what’s most impressive is the battery life. Even when I’m training, I can easily get 30 hours on most days. I pushed it to 36 hours, and I’m sure I could have gotten more out of it. But I don’t want to drain the battery below 20%. I usually charge my devices when the battery life is below 30%.
I was expecting others to point out how great this wearable’s battery life is, but I was surprised to see a Redditor post about the Apple Watch Series 10’s battery life. I didn’t.
One person said they could use it for 27 hours on a single charge with the Always On display activated. Another added that it takes “about 30 hours” if you don’t track your training during that time.
One user said they get more than 24 hours of battery life “every day.” Of course, they probably meant all the accusations. In this case, the user has all Watch features activated and sports tracking for 30-60 minutes each day.
The Redditor provided a more detailed explanation of his experience with the battery life of the 46mm Apple Watch Series 10 during a typical day of use.
I had the same surprising moment with the 11.0.1 w/S10 46mm. I charged it to 95% at 10pm before going to bed (I always wear it at night). 5 hours of cycling (3 hours and 30 minutes of actual cycling, but activity tracking was running throughout) using Polar H10 for HR. The watch display turns off during sports, but not on low GPS power. It’s bright enough for me, so I generally changed the brightness to the lowest setting. At 11pm, or 25 hours later, it was still at 13%. My S8 could have died during training.
Another person calculated that the Apple Watch Series 10 consumes about 4% of battery life per hour. Depending on the activity you’re tracking, you can use it for about 24 hours on a single charge.
Finally, one user claimed that turning on the Always On display on the Apple Watch Series 10 will give you 40 hours of battery life. When Always On is off, the battery lasts 50 hours. The user did not say whether he uses it to track his workouts.
I think my Apple Watch Series 10 can reach 40 hours with the Always On display disabled and tracking 1-3 hours of training in between. This usually includes at least an hour of running sessions, walking sessions, strength training, etc.
At this point, I’m very happy with the Apple Watch Series 10’s battery life, so I don’t need a battery to set any records. 30 hours of battery life on a single charge while using about 80% of the battery is good enough for me. Considering the Series 10’s fast charging speed, it lasted 18 hours on a single charge.
In the Reddit thread, other Apple Watch users comment on various Watch models, including the Ultra 2, Series 9, and Series 8. Some of these models also seem to have better battery life than expected.
