watchOS 9 Introduces New Low Power Mode on Apple Watch Series 4 and Later

Wednesday September 7, 2022 10:25 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

Apple today announced that watchOS 9 will feature a new Low Power Mode on the Apple Watch Series 4 and newer. When the Low Power Mode is enabled, the Apple Watch will be able to get up to 36 hours of battery life per charge.

Apple Watch Low Power Mode watchOS 9
Apple says Low Power Mode will temporarily disable or limit select sensors and features, including the always-on display, autostart workouts, heart health notifications, and more. Other features like activity tracking and fall detection will remain available.

The new Low Power Mode in watchOS 9 is separate from the Apple Watch's existing Power Reserve mode that only displays the clock when enabled.

Low Power Mode is just one of many new features that will be available on the all-new Apple Watch Series 8 and Apple Watch SE, which are available to pre-order starting today and will launch on September 16. Other new features for the Apple Watch Series 8 include a body temperature sensor focused on women's health and car crash detection.

As for the new high-end Apple Watch Ultra, Apple said a new battery optimization feature will be available later this year that allows the device to get up to 60 hours of battery life per charge. It sounds like this feature will be separate from the Low Power Mode.

Related Roundup: Apple Watch Series 9

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Top Rated Comments

_Spinn_

14 months ago

Low power mode is a welcome addition.

Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)

anticipate

Here's the details.

Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Mrjoedot

Shame this feature is buried in settings. Would have been great as a power button hold option

wrong.
can also just swipe up. tap on battery % and toggle low power there

Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

NJRonbo

$799 for the PRO is better than I thought. Would have to think about that.

This is basically the same thing as Power Reserve mode ?‍♂️

No, it’s not even close. Power reserve mode shuts off the watch and just shows you the time when you click the side button. Low power mode continues to run to watch, you can raise your arm, look at the time, track steps, you get notifications. It’s completely and utterly different.

Shanghaichica

It’s not the same thing. In power reserve mode you can only see the time and nothing else. Here you’ll still be able to see your notifications, messages etc. it’s just the fitness tracking, AOD and health sensors that aren’t available.

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