In a new watchOS 9 update for Apple Watch, the company is finally bringing a real power-saving mode to extend the watch’s battery life when needed. It can be activated manually through the Control center or the settings menu. It also prompts the user when there’s a 10% battery charge left. It turns off automatically once it reaches 80% on the charger.
The battery-saving mode turns off the more demanding features such as AoD, heart rate notifications, arrhythmia tracking, heart rate and blood oxygen measurements. Workout reminders are also turned off.
Interestingly enough, if there’s no iPhone connected to the watch nearby, it will turn off Wi-Fi, and cellular connections. Incoming calls and notifications are also disabled. Surely, if you need a certain app that requires data or Wi-Fi connection, the system will re-enable those. And if the watch stays within the phone’s connection range, it will postpone notifications and deliver them every hour.
Of course, the overall performance of the watch in the new battery-saving mode will also be reduced, so animations and navigation as a whole won’t feel as smooth.
Source (in Chinese)
