The nine tips I always recommend to get the most out of a smartwatch and boost its battery

Smart watches have become popular a lot in recent years in Europe. Until not so long ago, quantization bracelets were the most popular purchases in terms of wearables, but smart watches have dropped their prices and as this is one of the main disadvantages of bracelets, their popularity increased.

Of course, unlike what happens in the bracelet sector, there are two very different types of smart watches, depending on their capabilities and autonomy. On the one hand, we have models with complex operating systems, like WearOS or WatchOS. They allow mobile payments, app installation and much more, but they also have a big drawback: battery.

These models only have one or two days of battery life, with the exception of the TicWatch or OnePlus models which reach 4. However, the brands like Huawei or Amazfit are banking on watches with slightly more limited functionswhich do not allow the installation of very powerful applications, but their great advantage is their autonomy. These watches can last two weeks without going near a charger. And that’s not all, if they are configured well we can achieve up to three weeks.

Amazfit has become one of the reference brands in Europe which concerns smart bracelets and smart watches. This brand is owned by Zepp Health, a company originally established under the name Huami, which is the company that manufactured the popular Xiaomi SmartBand. This name change also affected the application, which was renamed Zepp and which nevertheless still allows you to control Xiaomi accessories, such as its scale.

The company has expanded into the healthcare sector with products primarily limited to wearable devices on the wrist, such as watches and bracelets. However, they have recently entered a new sector, smart rings, with the Amazfit Ring. And with the latest price drop of this product, it has positioned itself as one of the most interesting options, even above the Samsung Galaxy Ring, especially thanks to free access to Zepp Aura subscriptions (29.99 dollars per year) and Zepp Fitness (19.99 dollars). dollars per year) for life.

But this is a nascent sector and Amazfit wants to continue to focus on the products that have given it the most success, affordable watches with long-lasting batteries. As we said, although They do not have the same functions as the Apple Watch or watches with WearOS (although it already includes some with mobile payments), its extreme battery life means that many prefer to use a watch of this type rather than one with an advanced system.

Under normal circumstances, watches of this brand, at least the larger ones, can give up to two weeks of battery lifeif we don’t do training or use GPS. But by configuring certain aspects it is possible to increase this battery much more. With these four settings, autonomy can increase up to 50%, exceeding 20 days on certain models:

• Turn off automatic stress control: This function consumes battery because it constantly measures parameters to establish a record in which to compare different times of the day.
• Turn off the sleep monitoring system: If you are someone who doesn’t have sleeping problems and doesn’t need to record your sleep with the watch, turning this feature off will add a few days of battery life.
• Disable breathing quality monitoring during sleep: the same thing happens with breathing during sleep. Some people with apnea and breathing problems will appreciate daily monitoring, but if not, turning it off will save battery life.

These three functions are in the Settings, in the section of Battery Manager. There they can be activated or deactivated easily and individually, but this is not the only way to save battery. Another aspect to take into account is the type of covers which we use in the watch. Those that are dynamic, such as those that display the weather or have animated elements, consume more battery, having to automatically refresh and connect to the internet. If we want to use less battery, it is better to use simpler ones.

The fifth option to save battery is change brightness. The most comfortable is to leave it in automatic mode, so that the watch is the one that sets the appropriate level, but if we do not usually use it in the sun, perhaps we can set it to a fixed brightness slightly lower than the normal. This will save battery life because screen brightness is one of the most power-consuming things in electronic devices.

It is also important control the number of notifications that reach the watch. The more apps we have configured, the more notifications the watch will receive and the more energy it will consume. Additionally, it’s not mentally healthy to get a vibration on your wrist every time an X or Instagram notification pops up. It is preferable to configure important applications, such as WhatsApp (provided you have silenced the groups), the SMS application, the banking application or the home alarm application if used, the car application … This is not practical for setting social networking or gaming applications.

The same thing happens with the activity notifications. By default, Amazfit watches warn every hour of the day so that we get up if we sit for several hours in a row. Unfortunately, this is currently very common due to many people’s work schedules. However, this is not always possible and if we usually make notifications disappear, it is better to turn them off to avoid wasting the watch’s battery.

Another function that allows you to control energy expenditure, in addition to being very comfortable on a daily basis, is the Night mode. This mode allows you to cancel vibrations, which is perfect when you are sleeping so as not to wake up. In addition, if we have the wrist raise function activated to turn on the screen, it cancels it during sleeping hours, so as not to dazzle us or our partner if we sleep with him.

Por último, es posible multiplicar la autonomía del reloj con el Modo Ultra Ahorro de Batería. La parte positiva es que estaremos semanas sin tener que cargarlo, pero porque funcionará exclusivamente como un reloj, no teniendo las funciones inteligentes operativas. Esta función es útil cuando nos queda muy poca batería y sabemos que no llegaremos a tiempo de cargarlo en casa o donde tengamos el cargador. Si activamos este modo al menos podremos usar el reloj para ver la hora, en vez de tenerlo apagado.