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Expanded Low-Power Mode in watchOS 9 Will Work With More Apps and Features

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watchOS 9 will feature a new power-saving mode that will let users use an Apple Watch and its apps and features without taking up a significant amount of battery life, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported today.

watchOS 8 Green BG Feature
Currently, the Apple Watch features "Power Reserve" mode, which greatly limits Apple Watch functionality to only show users the time. With watchOS 9, Apple is looking to port over Low Power Mode from the iPhone to the Apple Watch, letting users use apps and features while using less battery life.

For watchOS 9, Apple also is planning a new low-power mode that is designed to let its smartwatch run some apps and features without using as much battery life. Currently, Apple Watches in low-power mode -- known on the device as Power Reserve -- can only access the time. The company is also planning to refresh many of its built-in watch faces currently shipping with the device.

The added new feature in watchOS 9 is part of Apple's overall efforts to improve battery life on the Apple Watch, which has remained mainly stagnant over the years.

watchOS 9 will also include a new detection feature for atrial fibrillation that will track how long an individual has been in a state of atrial fibrillation, according to Bloomberg. Apple will preview iOS 16, iPadOS 16, macOS 13, and watchOS 9 during WWDC from June 6 through June 10.

Related Roundup: watchOS 26
Tag: Bloomberg
Related Forum: Apple Watch

Top Rated Comments

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xyz369
52 months ago
Finaly just make them work without depending on the iPhone.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
S
_Spinn_
52 months ago
Sounds good to me. I really wish I could get at least 2 days off my watch battery.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
K
kevcube
52 months ago

seriously, make it 2 mm thicker and double the battery life, your consumers would prefer that to an imperceptibly thicker device.
count me out. I don't want a chunky tech watch protruding from my wrist.

I agree that current battery life isn't good enough, I had a Xiaomi Mi Fit that could do like 14 days, but also did about a tenth of the things my AW does.

At this point I've gotten used to finding an hour in my day to charge my watch. Whether it's during my shower, while sleeping, or working from my desk.

Upgrading from a s6 to s8 this year and I'm looking forward to the increased charging speeds that were introduced with s7. Even though I already charge over USB-C and I take advantage of the charge-speed improvements that came with series 6, it could always be better!
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
M
munpip214
52 months ago
Would be nice to see 3-4 day battery while on low power mode
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Robert.Walter Avatar
Robert.Walter
52 months ago

It’s gonna be called…Ultra Low Power Mode.
I can see the ads now:

“Limbo Power Mode …
… how low can you go?”
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
A
astrostu
52 months ago
Battery life has been my main complaint. I went from Garmin, which had given me 1-month battery even when using the GPS daily, to Watch which is almost a day, 1.5 days if I stretch it hard. Tim keeps hyping when they make it half a millimeter thinner ... seriously, make it 2 mm thicker and double the battery life, your consumers would prefer that to an imperceptibly thicker device.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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