There’s are a reason Apple didn’t mention battery life once when it showed off the Apple Watch this past fall. Chances are, it was because the number was embarrassingly low and the company hoped to improve the figure significantly by launch. Now, sources tell 9to5Mac that the Apple Watch will offer very limited battery life, just like every other smartwatch.
The source revealed a few key targets Apple has been aiming to hit with the Watch, and hinted that it’s just now reaching those goals. Apparently, the Apple Watch can make it through 2.5 to 4 hours of active application use or 19 hours of combined active and passive use, 3 days of standby time, or 4 days in sleeping mode. When used in low power mode, the Watch may last as long as 2-3 days, so long as you don’t play Dots on it. The end result is a smartwatch that will last most users a day, and those who conserve energy a little longer.
If you leave the time on display on the Apple Watch, it should last you about three hours before conking out. During exercise tracking, it may only last 4 hours, the source said, although it’s unclear whether that figure is accurate for when it’s step counting in the background or just when it’s screen is on and you’re glued to your metrics, which no one would do anyway.
Even though the numbers sound scary, real life use of the Apple Watch will be more mixed, so the battery should last you through the day. Unless you use the Watch like a phone or check the time compulsively, you should get a good amount of use out of the Apple Watch — just like you would any Android Wear watch. Of course, comparable battery life isn’t ideal, and Apple is undoubtedly aiming for more.
In addition to the bad battery life news, the report hinted that the Apple Watch Edition may come with the MagSafe charger incorporated into a nice watch box. Other editions won’t get that, though.
