The Battery Drain
Starting with the Series 5, Apple introduced the “Always-On Display” to the Apple Watch. Rather than the screen turning completely black when you drop your wrist, the watch artificially lowers the refresh rate and dims the brightness, but keeps the time and your complications faintly visible. While this makes it feel like a traditional watch, powering those OLED pixels 24 hours a day consumes a massive amount of battery life. If your watch struggles to survive from morning until night, disabling this feature is the single most effective way to dramatically extend your battery.
How to Turn Off the Always-On Display
You can force the screen to shut down completely via the Display settings.
- Open the Settings app directly on your Apple Watch (the grey gear icon).
- Scroll down the main list and tap on Display & Brightness.
- Scroll down and tap on Always On.
- Look for the master toggle switch at the top labeled Always On.
- Toggle this switch to the Off position (the green background will disappear).
Maximum Battery Life
The change is instantaneous. The moment you lower your wrist or turn your arm away, the Apple Watch screen will immediately power down, turning pitch black. The OLED pixels will completely shut off, saving an incredible amount of power. The screen will only illuminate when you explicitly raise your wrist to look at it or physically tap the glass, easily adding hours of battery life to a single charge.