I tested every Apple Watch feature for battery drain. The usual advice is wrong

We turned off each Apple Watch feature to see how much it affected battery life, and we were surprised by the results.

- BY HALYNA KUBIV

There are countless online guides offering to help you stretch your Apple Watch's battery life (fave.co/3HvZRTf), generally by turning off all the flashiest features. But I wanted to be more scientific about it.

I wanted to know which features drain the battery the most and how much extra life you'll gain by turning each of them off. That way we can decide for ourselves whether it's worth the sacrifice to turn off the always-on display, for example, or the watch's various health features. Let's test!

HOW WE TESTED

For this experiment, I wore two identical watches (the 46mm Apple Watch Series 10 without cellular) for two weeks. We did our best to ensure that they were in largely the same condition. One had 120 charges under its belt, the other— borrowed from a colleague—had 162. The number of recorded workouts on the two devices should be comparable, too: My colleague cycles, while I dance. Not together, of course.

As you can see, it makes a significant difference whether you have the always-on feature active.