Does cellular use more Apple Watch battery?
Jim Martin / Foundry
Yes. Cellular connectivity can drain an Apple Watch battery faster, particularly when you’re using the Watch independently of your iPhone for extended periods.
Apple itself says battery life varies according to cellular coverage. We’ve also found in previous Apple Watch testing that battery life is affected by how much cellular connectivity you use. That’s because an Apple Watch is most power-efficient when it’s connected to its paired iPhone over Bluetooth. When the iPhone isn’t available, Wi-Fi uses less power than a mobile network.
Signal strength matters too. Apple advises connecting to a strong Wi-Fi or cellular signal where possible because maintaining a connection in an area with poor coverage can consume more battery power.
That means activities such as making calls, streaming music or using online apps over cellular for long periods are likely to have a greater impact than receiving the occasional message or notification.
Buying a GPS + Cellular model doesn’t mean the Watch will constantly use its mobile connection, however. Apple Watch automatically chooses the most power-efficient available connection: Bluetooth to your iPhone first, followed by Wi-Fi and then cellular when the other connections aren’t available.
Interestingly, Apple has sometimes fitted cellular versions of a Watch with a larger battery than the equivalent GPS model. The 44mm first-generation Apple Watch SE, for example, had a 1.129Wh battery in its cellular version compared with 0.994Wh in the GPS model. This hasn’t been consistent across Apple Watch generations, however, and many later GPS and cellular models have used identical-capacity batteries.
Apple rates the Series 12 for up to 24 hours of normal use and the Ultra 4 for up to 50 hours, while the SE 3 is rated for up to 18 hours.
We’ve also seen much better real-world results from the Series 12. In our first full battery test, the Series 12 lasted 51 hours before running out of power. However, battery life varies significantly according to how the Watch is used, and this wasn’t a test of sustained cellular use.
If you’re trying to extend battery life, Low Power Mode can help. When your iPhone isn’t nearby, Low Power Mode normally turns off Wi-Fi and cellular connections along with incoming calls and notifications. If you open an app that requires data, however, the Watch can temporarily reconnect so the app works.
If you expect to spend many hours away from your iPhone making calls, streaming or using data over cellular, battery life should therefore be a more significant consideration when choosing between GPS and GPS + Cellular.
If maximum battery endurance matters more to you than remaining connected when your iPhone isn’t nearby, the GPS-only model removes cellular as a potential source of additional power consumption.
