Apple Watch Series 10 battery life is much better than estimates

As I type this, my Apple Watch Series 10’s battery has dropped to 26%. I’m about to put it on the charger for about an hour before I go out for my next run. I last charged it almost 30 hours ago.

Marathon training is the main reason why I decided to buy the Apple Watch Series 10 even before I chose my iPhone 16. The battery of the Apple Watch SE 2 I used for about two years degraded to under 80% to the point where I had to recharge the device twice a day. I no longer trust the Apple Watch SE 2 would last me an entire marathon race.

Sure, I could have just replaced the battery, but I also wanted the new Apple Watch Series 10 features, including the design tweaks, improved health tracking, and much faster charging. As for battery life, I was happy with the 18-hour estimate that Apple has used since the first-gen Apple Watch. That’s what all-day battery life means for non-Ultra devices.

Imagine my surprise to realize that my Apple Watch Series 10 had been awake for 29 hours and 26 minutes since the last charge. During this time, I ran a 10K training session with plenty of walking on top of that. I never took the watch off, and I tracked my sleep.

How did the Apple Watch Series 10 pull off such great battery life? I suspect that all I had to do was change this one setting to boost battery life significantly.

I’ve explained before the various Apple Watch battery tips and tricks I use to ensure I get the best possible battery life out of the Watch SE 2 model. In short, I remove most notifications from the device and use it mostly for health and fitness tracking. That means always wearing it when it’s not on a charger.

I never put it in Low Power Mode, which will impact the health tracking features. I usually recharge the watch when the battery is under 30%. I’m actually tempted to see how many hours the remaining 26% would get me. But I have to account for the possibility of it dying during my next run. I won’t jeopardize tracking that.

When I switched from the 40mm GPS Apple Watch SE 2 to the 42mm GPS Apple Watch Series 10, I used the Watch backup on the iPhone to transfer everything to the new device. All the app settings, as well as the watch faces and screen complications, carried over.

This is where I performed the only change compared to the SE 2. I disabled the Always On display, which should not surprise anyone who knows I’ve never used the iPhone’s Always On display functionality since Apple introduced it.

I do not need to see the clock at all times, nor do I care about how the watch face looks with the dimmed screen showing the time when Always On is enabled. I’ll just raise my wrist to check the time, my form during training, or take a peek at data from complications. It’s all I need from the screen. 

I hoped this change would improve battery life, but I never expected it to get this good. I charged the watch to 96% on Tuesday morning and used 70% of the battery for nearly 30 hours.

Again, I’ll never use Low Power Mode, which could get me 36 hours of theoretical battery life. I want the Apple Watch Series 10 to capture all the data it can. That includes blood oxygen readings, which are still available to me, seeing that I’m in Europe, where there’s no ban.

I will point out the obvious caveat here. I’m an Apple Watch Series 10 user who works from home. There’s no need for me to have the Always On functionality enabled so I can look at the display inconspicuously and not bother others around me or stand out during meetings, classes, or any other social setting where checking your devices might be frowned upon.

That said, the Series 10’s battery life is amazing. I never expected it. The only thing I wanted was a new battery with fast-charging support to better serve my health interests than the SE 2 model. I could always go for the Apple Watch Ultra 2 for even better battery life. But I’m not a fan of the size. It’s why I had a 40mm device before and went for the 42mm model this year. I think I could always go screen-less if that were an option for future Apple Watch wearables.

Disabling the Always On functionality is the only thing I can “blame” for getting almost 30 hours of battery life from the Apple Watch Series 10. I am speculating because I haven’t tested the alternative, leaving Always On enabled.