For 2021, Apple Watch finally needs a battery that lasts more than a day



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The Apple Watch cannot stay on my wrist all the time … because of the battery.

Vanessa Hand Orellana / CNET

More than steps, more than active minutes, I strive to make sure I get enough sleep every day. This has been a work-from-home problem for much of 2020-2021. Apple’s latest watch and the WatchOS software focused, among other things, on added sleep tracking it might help make bedtime more regular. It sounds good. Except … the battery life of the Apple Watch is getting in the way.

I could tell the Apple Watch needs new health sensors, or some other medically approved metric like blood pressure. (I have high blood pressure, so that would be nice, if not unrealistic right now.) But really, first, you need better battery life. Of all the fitness trackers and wearable devices I have alternated in over the past year, the Oura ring, Fitbit Sense, Amazon Halo Band and Withings Scanwatch – the Apple Watch was the last in battery life.


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You, the owner of the Apple Watch, can say: charge it every day, no problem. It’s not that easy when you wear it all night and supposedly track your sleep. The watch can run for a day and a half in a row on a charge, in my experience, but then it comes down to when that moment would be: in the shower? Sitting at my desk? It takes at least half an hour to collect a reasonable sum.

Longer battery life isn’t always the perfect answer, either. It’s easy to lose track of how many extra nights a ring or watch can last. I find I miss a day or two of follow-up with Fitbits, Oura, or Halo Band, or whatever else I don’t charge on a daily basis. Still, having more days, if not hours, of battery life helps. Apple could incorporate a low power mode or a new chip that helps with the battery. Or, maybe, install a bigger battery. Or add some kind of battery watch band, which would be the equivalent of this smart iPhone battery case.

That being said, don’t expect a new watch until fall, as always. Apple released its connected Apple Watch Fitness Plus service last month, and maybe it has more connected services like this in store for 2021.

I’ll just say that the Apple Watch is working pretty well for me right now. Except for battery life, of course.

Read more: Manage my locked-in weight gain with Apple Fitness Plus

There are many other ways that the Apple Watch could improve. It could become a better remote control to connect to phones and computers. (I use the camera remote all the time to start and stop self-shot videos, but I’d like more.) It should have some kind of biometrics, like Touch ID. It could have a real, real watch face store.

I would ditch them for better battery life. If the Apple Watch only gets something new in 2021, so be it.

The information in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended for health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have about a medical condition or health goals.

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