I’m a heavy Apple Watch user so it wasn’t uncommon for me to find my 44mm Series 5 at 10% battery life or worse at the end of my day. When the Series 6 came out, people on MacRumors were extolling the amazing new battery life on the Series 6. So I decided to buy one for this reason alone. But I found battery life not be discernibly any different from my Series 5. And conversely, I’ve found my Series 6 to be better than my Series 5 in ways that I didn’t expect.
I never turn features off on my Apple Watch. And the last feature I would turn off would be the always-on-display (AOD). Turning off the AOD might get me an extra 5% battery life for the day but the cost is too high. I like seeing the time on my wrist without having to do the “wrist flip”.
The heart rate monitor and the blood oxygen testing are much larger factors than the AOD when it comes to running your battery down. But I do like the background testing and record accumulation those give me so I’m not going to turn those off either.
My Series 6 will typically end the day at between 10-20% battery life. This is very similar to my Series 5. This doesn’t mean anything to anyone without some context. So here is my typical day.
6:00am Get my watch off the charger. It’s at 100%
10:00am 15 minute morning walk. Activity engaged
3:00pm 15 minute afternoon walk. Activity engaged
5:30pm 1 hour workout. Activity engaged
8:00pm Bluetooth streaming to AirPods while working around the house/yard
11pm Watch goes back on the charger. It’s between 10-20% battery.
If i just sit around the house all day. My Series 6 will finish the day at 50% or more. But my Series 5 was no different. I’m not seeing any battery gains whatsoever on my Series 6 compared to the 5. Since I charge every night, it doesn’t really make that much of a difference. Whether it’s 10% or 50% is really irrelevant.
I upgraded more out of a fear of battery degradation in the future. I know that 10% vs 50% is irrelevant today, but I don’t want to be running out of juice at 9pm in a year.
But That New Processor
However, the thing that I have really been impressed with is the speed of the Series 6 processor. Where it really shines is when using Siri or pairing my AirPods. This is something that online videos never try to test.
Those YouTube “speed tests” always consist of opening and closing apps. This is helpful to a degree but it doesn’t really show where the Series 6 is better. Because the Series 5 was already speedy at opening and closing apps. I don’t think there’s much difference there.
But I use Siri all the time when I’m out running. It’s mainly out of necessity due to my sweaty fingers. And the Series 6 responds to Siri commands much…much quicker than the Series 5. On my Series 5 if I ask Siri to skip ahead 2 minutes in a podcast, it’ll do it, but it may take 3-5 seconds to complete my command and I’m listening to content again. On my Series 6 it takes less than half the time.
The first time I was out on a run and I asked Siri to rewind or fast-forward it happened so fast that I was like “Whoa!, that was fast!”.
But it’s not just Siri. I frequently use my AirPods and switch back and forth between my iPad and Apple Watch. With my Series 6, the pairing time is much faster. When you are switching devices maybe 5 times a day or more, you really appreciate this.
In Conclusion
I’m not alone in finding my Series 6 with about the same battery life as my Series 5. I was watching a YouTube video from Desfit and he actually found that the Apple Watch SE had better battery life than the Series 6. And the SE has the same processor as the Series 5.
So don’t go out and buy a Series 6 because you think you’re going to get a big jump in battery life. You probably won’t. But if you’re a big Siri user like me or pair your AirPods to your Apple Watch all the time, you won’t be disappointed with the upgrade.
The heart rate monitor and the blood oxygen testing are much larger factors than the AOD when it comes to running your battery down. But I do like the background testing and record accumulation those give me so I’m not going to turn those off either.
My Series 6 will typically end the day at between 10-20% battery life. This is very similar to my Series 5. This doesn’t mean anything to anyone without some context. So here is my typical day.
6:00am Get my watch off the charger. It’s at 100%
10:00am 15 minute morning walk. Activity engaged
3:00pm 15 minute afternoon walk. Activity engaged
5:30pm 1 hour workout. Activity engaged
8:00pm Bluetooth streaming to AirPods while working around the house/yard
11pm Watch goes back on the charger. It’s between 10-20% battery.
If i just sit around the house all day. My Series 6 will finish the day at 50% or more. But my Series 5 was no different. I’m not seeing any battery gains whatsoever on my Series 6 compared to the 5. Since I charge every night, it doesn’t really make that much of a difference. Whether it’s 10% or 50% is really irrelevant.
I upgraded more out of a fear of battery degradation in the future. I know that 10% vs 50% is irrelevant today, but I don’t want to be running out of juice at 9pm in a year.
But That New Processor
However, the thing that I have really been impressed with is the speed of the Series 6 processor. Where it really shines is when using Siri or pairing my AirPods. This is something that online videos never try to test.
Those YouTube “speed tests” always consist of opening and closing apps. This is helpful to a degree but it doesn’t really show where the Series 6 is better. Because the Series 5 was already speedy at opening and closing apps. I don’t think there’s much difference there.
But I use Siri all the time when I’m out running. It’s mainly out of necessity due to my sweaty fingers. And the Series 6 responds to Siri commands much…much quicker than the Series 5. On my Series 5 if I ask Siri to skip ahead 2 minutes in a podcast, it’ll do it, but it may take 3-5 seconds to complete my command and I’m listening to content again. On my Series 6 it takes less than half the time.
The first time I was out on a run and I asked Siri to rewind or fast-forward it happened so fast that I was like “Whoa!, that was fast!”.
But it’s not just Siri. I frequently use my AirPods and switch back and forth between my iPad and Apple Watch. With my Series 6, the pairing time is much faster. When you are switching devices maybe 5 times a day or more, you really appreciate this.
In Conclusion
I’m not alone in finding my Series 6 with about the same battery life as my Series 5. I was watching a YouTube video from Desfit and he actually found that the Apple Watch SE had better battery life than the Series 6. And the SE has the same processor as the Series 5.
So don’t go out and buy a Series 6 because you think you’re going to get a big jump in battery life. You probably won’t. But if you’re a big Siri user like me or pair your AirPods to your Apple Watch all the time, you won’t be disappointed with the upgrade.
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