Curious how well the battery inside your Apple Watch is doing? Apple offers a built-in tool that can help you monitor your watch’s battery health. In this article, we’ll tell you how you can check your Apple Watch’s battery health.
QUICK ANSWER
To check the health of your Apple Watch battery open Settings > Battery > Battery Health. Here you will find the current Maximum Capacity of your battery.
You may notice your Apple Watch battery drains even faster than the company claims. This could be for a number of reasons, but one possibility is that your battery is aging. Check on the health of your Apple Watch battery to see if it’s time to consider replacing it.
Check Apple Watch battery health
Here is how you can check your Apple Watch’s battery health:
- On your Apple Watch, open the Settings app.
- Scroll down and select Battery.
- Tap Battery Health.
- You’ll see the little message that tells you that your Apple Watch battery will become less effective as it ages. Scroll down until you see Maximum Capacity. This is the number that tells you about your battery health. If your battery has a maximum capacity of less than 80%, it may be time to replace it.
Optimized Battery Charging
When enabled, Optimized Battery Charging allows the Apple Watch to learn from your charging routine to reduce battery aging effects.
To turn on Optimized Battery Charging on your Apple Watch, follow the steps below:
- Open the Settings app on your Apple Watch.
- Scroll down, then tap Battery.
- Tap Battery Health.
- Turn on Optimized Battery Charging.
If you have Apple Watch Ultra, Optimized Battery Charging is always on.
Optimized charging is designed to only turn on when you are charging your Apple Watch in places where you spend the majority of your time — usually your home and office, for example. The feature is smart enough to turn itself off when you shift away from those regular habits, for example when you are traveling.
To allow Optimized Battery Charging to work properly the following have to be enabled on your Apple Watch (by default, they will be on):
- Privacy & Security > Location Services > Location Services
- Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services > System Customization
- Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services > Significant Locations > Significant Locations
Optimized Charge Limit
Another feature to help preserve battery life on your Apple Watch is the Optimized Charge Limit.
Optimized Charging Limit was originally unveiled for only the Apple Watch Ultra in watchOS 9. But starting with watchOS 10, anyone with the Apple Watch Ultra, Apple Watch SE, Apple Watch Series 6, Apple Watch Series 7, Apple Watch Series 8 or later can use the feature. It’s turned on by default.
The Apple Watch will learn your charging patterns before using Optimized Charging Limit. It will then use that information to dynamically allow for a full charge or a lower charging amount.
So, for example, when the Apple Watch determines that you will likely not use your Apple Watch extensively, it may only charge to 80 percent. On a different day, it may provide a 100 percent charge.
To check if Optimized Charging Limit is enabled on your Apple Watch, follow the steps below:
- Open the Settings app on your Apple Watch.
- Select Battery.
- Tap Battery Health.
- Make sure Optimized Charge Limit is turned on.