Power saving mode will appear in your old rusty Apple Watch on September 12

Low Power Mode is not just for the Apple Watch Ultra, but for older models as well when the watchOS 9 software is publicly released on September 12th.

Power saving mode on older Apple Watch models

iPhone users are familiar with Power Saving Mode, which temporarily reduces background activity such as receiving mail and automatic downloads to conserve battery power. This feature is also available on iPad and Mac, and you can now use it on your Apple Watch Pro. Read: What is power reserve? How to use it on Apple devices?

The watchOS 9 software provides a low power mode in the Control Center of your Apple Watch. Switching to low power mode on your Apple Watch will temporarily disable auto-start workouts, heart notifications, always-on display, and a few other non-essential features. If you keep it on all the time, Low Power Mode can double the battery life of your Apple Watch Series 8 or Apple Watch Ultra.

Apple confirmed during its “Far Out”presentation on September 7th that Low Power Mode is not just for new watches, but for every Apple Watch model since Series 4. So even if you don’t have the latest and greatest Apple Watch, you you can still enjoy the benefits of Low Power Mode. However, you’ll need to install watchOS 9, which Apple says will release on September 12th.

It’s unclear if Low Power Mode is supported on the Apple Watch SE. The Verge was unable to get any comments from Apple about this. Power saving mode is also not mentioned on the iPhone SE page.

5 Benefits of Power Saving Mode

Here are five ways Low Power Mode can be good for your Apple Watch.

• Extends battery life
• Improves battery health
• Slows down battery aging
• Extends device life
• Makes old clocks usable again

Obviously, Low Power Mode is especially handy when you don’t have a charger handy, but would like to get a little more runtime out of your old watch.

With it, you can even use your watch for a few days before it runs out of battery, depending on which model you have. But low power doesn’t work wonders, so don’t expect it to magically squeeze more juice out of a worn out battery.

If your watch needs a battery replacement, Apple will do it for $79.

How to Enter Low Power Mode on Apple Watch

You can activate Low Power Mode on your Apple Watch by tapping the battery percentage icon in Control Center and then toggling the switch to turn the feature on or off.

1. Swipe up from the bottom to go to Control Center
2. Tap the battery percentage icon.
3. On the charging screen, turn on the switch labeled “Low Power Mode”.

Alternatively, you can also find this toggle in Settings → Battery on the watch itself and in the companion Clock app on a paired iPhone.

Apple Watch Ultra expands Power Saving Mode even further

The Apple Watch Ultra battery lasts up to 36 hours of typical iPhone use. Apple’s definition of “regular use”implies 180 time checks, 180 notifications, and 90 minutes of app usage. It also includes a 60-minute workout with music played from your device via Bluetooth, eight hours of LTE connectivity, and 28 hours of iPhone connectivity via Bluetooth for 36 hours.

The company says that should be enough to complete a long triathlon consisting of a 2.4-mile (3.9 km) swim, 112-mile (180 km) bike ride and a 26.2-mile (42.2 km) full marathon.. Read: How to get a bike route on Apple Watch

To extend battery life by up to 60 hours, your Apple Watch Ultra must use a special battery optimization setting available in watchOS 9. This will reduce GPS and heart rate readings, according to Apple.

The company claims that turning on this extra low power setting will give you 15 hours of workouts, over 600 time checks, 35 minutes of app usage, 3 minutes of talk time, 15 hours of sleep tracking, and 5 hours of iPhone connection via Bluetooth for 60 hours.

When will watchOS 9 be available for installation?

Apple will launch watchOS 9 with Low Power Mode and other new features on Monday, September 12th. As mentioned, watchOS 9 will be available for all Apple Watch models from Series 4 and up. Update requires iPhone 8 or later and iPhone SE 2nd generation or later with iOS 16 software.