Allow more than 24 hours

As a long-time Apple Watch user who upgraded to the Apple Watch Series 10 a few weeks ago, I was amazed at the amazing battery life I got with the device. The Series 10 has the same estimated 18-hour all-day battery life as its predecessors. But I can get 30 to 36 hours of use out of it on a single charge. It’s much better than I could have imagined.

I made a change to the Apple Watch Series 10 and thought it would explain the significantly improved battery life. I disabled the Always-On feature because I don’t currently need it from the Apple Watch.

It turns out I’m not the only Apple Watch Series 10 owner to praise its surprising battery life. Others also had better-than-expected battery life, with many leaving the Always-On Display enabled.

I’ve been using a 40mm Apple Watch SE 2 for the past few years. It was an amazing device. However, I would like the wearable to have more health monitoring options. That was one of the reasons I switched to the 42mm Apple Watch Series 10.

The reason for the purchase for me was the battery life. The battery health of my old SE 2 had dropped below 80%.

At this point, the Apple Watch SE 2 was not a reliable device for my marathon training and racing needs. I had to charge it multiple times a day, which meant I spent more time not wearing the watch. Again, I want to record as many health parameters as possible between charges. This should also cover my sleep.

When I started using the Apple Watch Series 10, I realized how great it is for my needs. First, the new watch charges much faster than before. What’s most impressive, however, is the battery life. I can easily do 30 hours even when I’m working out, which is most days. I increased the running time to 36 hours and I’m sure I could have gotten even more out of it. But I don’t want to drain the battery below 20%. I usually charge the device when the battery life drops below 30%.

I expected others to point out the wearable’s great battery life, and it didn’t surprise me to see Redditors posting stories about the Apple Watch Series 10’s battery life.

One person said they got 27 hours of charging time with the always-on display active. Another added that they get “about 30 hours” if they don’t record their workouts during that time.

One user said he got over 24 hours of battery life “every day.” They probably meant every charge, of course. In this case, the person has all watch functions active and tracks 30 to 60 minutes of exercise every day.

One Redditor offered an even more detailed report on his 46mm Apple Watch Series 10’s battery life for a typical day of use:

I had the same wow moment on 11.0.1 with S10 46mm. I charged it to 95% before bed (always wear it at night) at 10pm. Biked for 5 hours (3:30 hours of actual cycling, but activity tracking runs continuously) with Polar H10 for heart rate. My watch’s display is turned off when I’m exercising, but it’s not in power saving mode for GPS. I generally set the brightness to the lowest level as that is bright enough for me. At 11pm, 25 hours later, I was still at 13%. My S8 would have died during training.

Another person calculated that their Apple Watch Series 10 uses about 4% of battery life per hour. Depending on the activities they track, they will get around 24 hours per charge.

Finally, one user reported getting 40 hours of battery life with the Apple Watch Series 10 with Always-On Display enabled. The battery can last 50 hours when Always On is turned off. This user hasn’t said whether he uses it to record workouts.

I believe my Apple Watch Series 10 could reach 40 hours with the always-on display disabled while recording between one and three hours of exercise over that period. These can include running sessions, which usually last at least an hour, walking sessions and strength training.

For now, I’m so happy with the Apple Watch Series 10’s battery life that I don’t need it to set records. If I get 30 hours of battery life on each charge and only use about 80% of the battery, that’s good enough for me. Keep in mind that given the faster charging speeds, I was happy with 18 hours of runtime on a single charge of the Series 10.

In the Reddit thread, other Apple Watch users commented on various Watch models, including the Ultra 2, Series 9, and Series 8. Some of these models also appear to have better battery life than expected.