wow the Galaxy Watch 3 battery isn't good at all

[Tomster88]

So I got my Galaxy watch 3. And I really like it, but I've noticed the battery life is pretty bad. I'm coming from an original Galaxy watch, which I would get 3-day battery life no problem. With this new watch I'm getting a day or a day and a half tops. Has anyone else noticed this?

 

[swebb]

What size GW3 do you have? Would not be surprised if it was the 41mm with bad life as that battery is pretty small. And comparing the larger sizes, the GW has a beastly 472 mah battery compared to GW3 340 mah. If AOD is enabled and continuous heart monitoring, or if you use gps a lot, I can see the day and a half life.

I'm using default settings (none of the above enabled) and get almost 3 days on my 45mm GW3.

 

[Peter621022]

Well, going from a 472 mAh in the GW-47mm to a 340mAh one in the GW3-45mm, it's not surprising the GW3 battery doesn't last as long, significantly.

You'll have to make choices in the settings depending on what functionality you need vs how long you need the battery to last. This wasn't an issue with the GW, so like you I had to get used to it.

Love the GW3 though. Apart from the battery life I think it's a better watch on all fronts. As long as the battery lasts at least a day, I'm fine with it.

 

[Tomster88]

What size GW3 do you have? Would not be surprised if it was the 41mm with bad life as that battery is pretty small. And comparing the larger sizes, the GW has a beastly 472 mah battery compared to GW3 340 mah. If AOD is enabled and continuous heart monitoring, or if you use gps a lot, I can see the day and a half life.

I'm using default settings (none of the above enabled) and get almost 3 days on my 45mm GW3.

Wow that's amazing! I have most everything turned off. And I do have the 45mm I have to go back in my settings and check for sure. I know I set it so the heart rate wasn't checking all the time, but maybe I have it set to every 10 minutes or so.

 

[Tomster88]

Well, going from a 472 mAh in the GW-47mm to a 340mAh one in the GW3-45mm, it's not surprising the GW3 battery doesn't last as long, significantly.

You'll have to make choices in the settings depending on what functionality you need vs how long you need the battery to last. This wasn't an issue with the GW, so like you I had to get used to it.

Love the GW3 though. Apart from the battery life I think it's a better watch on all fronts. As long as the battery lasts at least a day, I'm fine with it.

I love it as well. It is better on all fronts. I just wish the battery lasted longer. But I'll recheck my settings.

 

[Tomster88]

Well, going from a 472 mAh in the GW-47mm to a 340mAh one in the GW3-45mm, it's not surprising the GW3 battery doesn't last as long, significantly.

You'll have to make choices in the settings depending on what functionality you need vs how long you need the battery to last. This wasn't an issue with the GW, so like you I had to get used to it.

Love the GW3 though. Apart from the battery life I think it's a better watch on all fronts. As long as the battery lasts at least a day, I'm fine with it.

do you happen to know that if I turn the heart rate setting to manual, will it still track my sleep properly?

 

[swebb]

Wow that's amazing! I have most everything turned off. And I do have the 45mm I have to go back in my settings and check for sure. I know I set it so the heart rate wasn't checking all the time, but maybe I have it set to every 10 minutes or so.

I'm doing heart rate at 10 min also. It only checks HR when you are not moving for some duration, so it shouldn't really affect battery life much. The continuous setting is the battery killer.

Check what is using your battery in the galaxy wearable app on your phone. After you open the app, tap the top area that has shows your remaining battery percent, then tap battery. You'll see the top apps listed. Tap the app and you'll have options to uninstall or force stop it. Hopefully that will help.

 

[swebb]

do you happen to know that if I turn the heart rate setting to manual, will it still track my sleep properly?

I don't know this (I do strongly suspect it would) but as I mentioned in prior post, 10 min HR setting has minimal impact on my battery life.

 

[Tomster88]

I'm doing heart rate at 10 min also. It only checks HR when you are not moving for some duration, so it shouldn't really affect battery life much. The continuous setting is the battery killer.

Check what is using your battery in the galaxy wearable app on your phone. After you open the app, tap the top area that has shows your remaining battery percent, then tap battery. You'll see the top apps listed. Tap the app and you'll have options to uninstall or force stop it. Hopefully that will help.

So I checked my battery list, and it seems to be the watch face taking up the most battery. I'm using a default watch face so I'm a little surprised that it would eat so much battery up. Guess I'll have to find a watch face that doesn't drain the battery. I posted a picture of the watch face I was using.

 

[Tomster88]

I'm doing heart rate at 10 min also. It only checks HR when you are not moving for some duration, so it shouldn't really affect battery life much. The continuous setting is the battery killer.

Check what is using your battery in the galaxy wearable app on your phone. After you open the app, tap the top area that has shows your remaining battery percent, then tap battery. You'll see the top apps listed. Tap the app and you'll have options to uninstall or force stop it. Hopefully that will help.

This was the list of apps taking up the most battery.

 

[Peter621022]

It's normal that the watch face takes most of the battery. You can lower battery usage by choosing a dark watch fase, lowering the brightness setting (6 on my watch), and choosing a watch face with a dark AOD. Switching AOD off makes a huge difference in battery life.

Sleep tracking works fine with heart rate measurement frequency set to every 10 mins.

With AOD off, sleep tracking every night, above settings and automatic training detection on, my watch uses typically around 25% battery a day. I charge it twice a day while I am in the bathroom after waking up or before going to bed. That way the battery charge level varies between 70 and 100%.

 

[swebb]

I leave the brightness at the default setting of 7. 15 second timeout and automatic dimming. No AOD. My current watchface is not nearly as bold as yours, though I've used some in the past that were closer to yours. Still got at least 2 full days of battery life, usually closer to 3.

You could experiment with some minimalist watchfaces and use settings that lessen power to the watchface and see if that makes a difference. Your watchface usage is definitely higher than mine, but does not look terrible. Nothing else is out of line.

 

[Tomster88]

It's normal that the watch face takes most of the battery. You can lower battery usage by choosing a dark watch fase, lowering the brightness setting (6 on my watch), and choosing a watch face with a dark AOD. Switching AOD off makes a huge difference in battery life.

Sleep tracking works fine with heart rate measurement frequency set to every 10 mins.

With AOD off, sleep tracking every night, above settings and automatic training detection on, my watch uses typically around 25% battery a day. I charge it twice a day while I am in the bathroom after waking up or before going to bed. That way the battery charge level varies between 70 and 100%.

Thanks. I have my brightness set to 6 and I never use AOD. I'll keep experimenting with it and see what I find.

 

[Tomster88]

I leave the brightness at the default setting of 7. 15 second timeout and automatic dimming. No AOD. My current watchface is not nearly as bold as yours, though I've used some in the past that were closer to yours. Still got at least 2 full days of battery life, usually closer to 3.

You could experiment with some minimalist watchfaces and use settings that lessen power to the watchface and see if that makes a difference. Your watchface usage is definitely higher than mine, but does not look terrible. Nothing else is out of line.

What watch face do you use the most?

 

[Peter621022]

https://apps.samsung.com/gear/appDetail.as?appId=com.watchface.JewelerGTHornet

 

[swebb]

What watch face do you use the most?

It's called classy modern. I've also used the Iris faces below that are bold. No real difference in battery life.