9 tips to improve battery life on your Garmin watch

As part of the hockey stick curve in the exponential rise of technology, smartwatches have evolved from wearables to essential items on the wrists of athletes and casual users alike.

Among the many brands that make the best smartwatches in the world, Garmin is undoubtedly one of the most popular. The company offers a variety of devices, catering to users who need to track specific fitness, as well as ordinary people who want to track their daily activity and health markers.

However, even with all the amazing features offered by Garmin’s smartwatches, they are prone to the same shortcoming that all wearables suffer from — limited battery life. While regular watches need a battery replacement once every few years, smartwatches need to be charged every few days, and that’s a very good situation. Fortunately, there are several ways you can significantly increase the battery life of your Garmin watch.

1 Enable Battery Saving Mode

Your first stop

Some Garmin watches allow you to turn on Battery Saver Mode. With one tap, you can significantly extend the battery life of your device. Unfortunately, Battery Saver Mode isn’t available on all Garmin smartwatches, but if you own a recent model, you’re probably in luck. The following models include Battery Saver Mode:

• Episode 165
• Next 255
• Predecessor 255S
• Antecedent 265
• Predecessor 265S
• Preceding 945
• Prediction 955
• Prediction 955
• Episode 2
• Episode 2S
• Venu 2 Plus
• Area Sq 2
• Episode 3
• Episode 3S
• Vivoactive 5

Depending on the model, the Battery Saver Mode location may vary, but in general, navigate to your device’s power management settings and enable Battery Saver Mode.

2 Lower the screen brightness settings

A little can go a long way

Lowering the brightness of your watch screen is an easy way to make the battery last longer. Of course, there is an obvious drawback; it will be very difficult to see what is on the screen, especially when it is bright outside. However, getting a few more hours out of your watch can be worth it if battery life is important.

3 Disable Wi-Fi and LTE

Both can be a big draw

When it comes to phones, Wi-Fi and cellular connections are rarely a bad thing for battery life. Smart watches are a different story. Because of their relatively small batteries, even leaving Wi-Fi on can be a big drag.

That’s why turning off Wi-Fi and LTE (if available on your model) can be a good idea if you need to keep your watch alive as long as possible.

4 Disable GPS

Some jobs don’t require it

Even though having a GPS module built into your smartwatch is incredible, it’s also a feature that can quickly drain your device’s battery. That’s why, unless you absolutely need it, it’s worth turning off the GPS connection on your Garmin watch.

Of course, if GPS is important to your next run, there’s not much you can do about this battery drain.

5 Disable Bluetooth connection

You don’t need to see your notifications every run

I know, it’s hard to beat the convenience of connecting your smartwatch and phone together. You can use the clock to check your notifications, skip songs, and reply to texts.

However, that connection can put a lot of strain on your smartwatch’s battery. If you really need to maximize battery life, turning off your watch’s Bluetooth connection and unplugging it from your phone is a great way to get more battery life. Best of all, you won’t lose all the data your watch tracks; you can just connect it to your phone after that to complete the data sync.

6 Close All Day Pulse Ox tracking

Useful but expensive

The Pulse Ox, Garmin’s name for blood oxygen tracking, is one of the most battery-draining devices the company offers. Although having it around all the time has its benefits, if you want to prioritize battery life, it may be best to adjust your device settings to be more Pulse Ox friendly.

On most Garmin devices, you typically have three options for tracking the Pulse Ox. The first is continuous tracking, which, as you can imagine, is a powerful battery. You can also turn off the feature to increase battery life. That being said, you will still be able to measure SpO2 manually. An intermediate option is to allow your Garmin watch to measure Pulse Ox only when you are asleep. It’s a good middle ground that will allow.

7 Disable the always-on display

Give that screen (and your eyes) a rest

Smart watches may have many useful features, but they are also watches. That’s why the always-on display is such an important part of every device in this category — it allows users to quickly check the time without the need to wake up the entire watch.

That being said, it can also drain the battery to keep the screen on all the time. So, if you really need to prioritize battery life over convenience, turning off the always-on display is a great way to make your smartwatch last longer.

8 Disable automatic job tracking

Just remember to remember

If you’re a dedicated smartwatch user, automatic activity tracking is a handy little feature. It automatically tracks all your walks and runs, helping you save your tasks or forget to start them manually.

This feature, unfortunately, can affect the battery, since your watch has to track your movements at all times. So, to save a little battery, you can consider turning it off.

9 Switch from an animated watch face to a static one

Sacrifice a little cooling in the name of battery life

Finally, you may want to sacrifice a little of your smartwatch’s ringing in the name of battery life. Although some Garmin smartwatches allow you to set animated watch faces, doing so will quickly drain your available battery. Instead, if you want your watch to last longer on a charge, consider changing the watch face to a fixed one. It may not be that great, but its impact on battery life is very low, helping your Garmin to save energy.