The watchOS 27 update is starting to appear on the horizon, but with months to go until it’s expected to be unveiled at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June this year, we still don’t know much about what’s supposedly on the way.
Despite that, though, I’m not concerned. At this stage, I’m not hoping for countless reams of new features to be added to all the best Apple Watches. In fact, there’s only one change I really want to see in watchOS 27: better battery life.
The one feature I really want
Looking back at watchOS 26, I struggle to pick out any new feature that I’ve found to be truly transformative since last summer. For example, Sleep Score is interesting but its real-world impact on my sleep and behavior is limited at best. Workout Buddy is far too upbeat for my taste – I got fed up and switched it off soon after testing it out.
Some features, like the new wrist flick gesture, are incredibly inconsistent and unreliable in my experience. Others, like the addition of Notes, just feel like bloat. The Apple Watch’s display is far too small for me to scroll through my notes, much less create new ones.
That’s led me to an inescapable conclusion: watchOS is mature enough now that it feels like the avenues for new innovations – especially on the software side – are narrowing. I’m sure Apple can add additional interesting features in the future, but it’s tough to dream up something truly transformative at this stage.
That’s why I don’t want to see any more fluff from Apple at WWDC. In fact, improved battery life is the only new feature I actually, truly want to be added to watchOS.
Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t say that Apple Watch battery life is actively bad right now. It gets me through an entire day and night at a time, and I just need to juice it back up first thing in the morning. But compare that to rival products and the differences are stark: the Garmin Fenix 8, for instance, lasted for 16 days on a single charge in our testing. That’s orders of magnitude better than the Apple Watch.
Things are even worse after a few years of use. My partner has my old Apple Watch Series 5, and she’s frequently frustrated by its lack of staying power. In fact, she can’t use it anywhere near as much as she wants to because it needs such frequent recharging.
Offering meaningful change in this area will have far more of an impact than some half-baked gestures and apps that no one asked for. It’s what Apple should be focusing on for WWDC.
The age of ‘all-day battery life’
Of course, there are good reasons for some of the glaring battery life differences when comparing the Apple Watch to rival devices. Looking at the Apple Watch Ultra 3, it uses a higher-quality LTPO3 OLED screen compared to the Garmin Fenix 8’s low-refresh-rate AMOLED display, while watchOS covers many more bases and offers a wider breadth of features than Garmin’s operating system. When you have a situation like that, it’s not surprising that the Apple Watch’s battery doesn’t last as long.
What’s more, any wearable watch – the Apple Watch included – is naturally going to be limited by its size. You can’t fit a massive battery in a case that’s only 49mm across at a maximum, as it is for the Apple Watch Ultra 3.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t hope for better from Apple.
Thankfully, there are indications that Apple might be heading in the right direction in time for WWDC. Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman has said that iOS 27, for example, will largely focus on small improvements rather than new features. One upshot of that is that iOS 27 could bring with it longer battery life as a result.
However, Gurman also notes that Apple might not make a big song and dance of this, which suggests to me that the battery gains could be fairly minor. Regardless, I’m hopeful that Apple will extend its battery focus to its operating systems, resulting in better battery life as part of watchOS 27 too.
It’s all I’m really hoping for this year when it comes to the Apple Watch. Please, Apple, concentrate on the one thing that could make an outsized difference to your smartwatch customers and extend the battery life to something much more significant. The company’s much-discussed “all-day battery life” has had its day. It’s time to work towards multi-day longevity.
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alexblake.techradar@gmail.com (Alex Blake)
