A couple of weeks into its official launch, the Pixel Watch as a first-generation product wasn’t without its shortcomings. One of these is the one-day battery that many are struggling to live with. Although on paper, Google estimates the Pixel Watch’s battery to last up to 24 hours, many are finding that battery life results can greatly vary, and it usually has to do with the settings or features that are turned on. Here are our top 5 recommendations for settings you can tweak right now to improve the battery life on your Pixel Watch.
Always-on screen
The always-on screen, or how it’s commonly known as “always-on display,” is the biggest offender when it comes to consuming battery. Luckily, this setting is not turned on by default, but if it is, here’s how you can turn that off.
- Open the Watch app on your smartphone
- Scroll down and select “Watch preferences”
- Select “Display and geatures”
- Toggle the “Always-on screen” setting OFF
Bedtime mode
Unfortunately, the “Bedtime mode” that’s built into the Pixel Watch has no connection to bedtime settings on Pixel phones or Nest devices, so it is up to us to turn it on manually. I hope this changes in the future and Google makes it possible to control the watch’s bedtime settings via our phones or the Home app routines. In the meantime, here is how you can turn on the setting manually every night and then turn off again in the morning.
- Swipe down on your Watch to reveal the Quick Settings
- Tap on the “Bedtime mode” icon, which looks like a moon
- You will get a dialog screen confirming you want to turn on Bedtime mode.Scroll down and tap “OK”
Screen timeout
Turning off the “Always-on screen” stops your watch from staying on all of the time, however, changing how long the screen stays on every time can save a significant amount of battery as well. By default, you will find that the setting is set at 15 seconds. However, you can change it to 10 seconds instead to get as much as you can out of the battery’s life.
- Open the Watch app on your smartphone
- Scroll down and select “Watch preferences”
- Select “Display and geatures”
- Change the “screen time out” from 15 seconds to 10 seconds
Minimize notifications
By default, your Pixel Watch will have notifications turned on for pretty much every single app you have on your phone. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be this way, and you are able to select or unselect the apps you want your Watch to notify you about. Keeping notifications to a minimum or to just the absolute must-haves will go a long way in preserving the battery.
- Open the Watch app on your smartphone
- Scroll down and select “Notifications”
- Select or Unselect apps frm the “From phone apps” section
Reminders to move
If you are using the Fitbit functions of your Pixel Watch, you may be receiving a notification 10 minutes before every hour when you haven’t reached 250 steps. This setting is found within the Fitbit app and can also be turned off.
- Open the Fitbit app on your smartphone
- Tap on your icon found on the top left of the app>
- Select “Google Pixel Watch” from the list of devices
- Select “Reminders to Move”
- Toggle the setting to OFF
Featured photo source: Triyansh Gill on Unsplash
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