My OG Ultra lasts 3 days if I turn off the always on display, which I do because it doesn't serve much of a purpose, I can just tap the watch to wake it. It charges from 0 to full in 1.5 hours, pretty linearly, so dropping it on the charger for half an hour or an hour while I'm on a work call every other day or so keeps it plenty charged.
This one will have even more battery life, and gets 12 hours of use in 15 minutes, which I suspect will mean for me without the always on display I may well be able to charge it only while I'm actively in the shower (when I'd take it off anyway as I hate wet bands) and be good for the day.
ON battery life, I would love some kind of dumb phone/ ultra low power mode that we can set when we just want watch mode at certain times and nothing else. I imagine that would give us a week of battery.
They used to have this with "Power Reserve Mode" (PRM) which turned off everything except showing the time briefly when you pressed the side button.
If you got below 10% it would ask if you wanted to switch to this mode. You could also turn it on in the battery settings.
I've read that in this mode you could get a week or two on a full battery.
Sometime around watchOS 9 they replaced this with "Low Power Mode" (LPM). LPM reduced things like notifications, background processing, and update frequency enough to get about 50% more life out of a non-Ultra and 100% more on an Ultra 2.
LPM is gone from watchOS now but the underlying functionality still works and there is still a way to access it. You have to turn the watch off. While it is off if you press the crown it will briefly display the time.
If you wanted to frequently switch between normal operation and this low power time-only mode it would be somewhat of a pain since you'd have to turn the watch off and on to switch modes, and watchOS boots really really slow.
If you don't have to quickly switch between modes though it might be reasonable.
The way Apple is iterating slower and slower on all product lines is kinda sad. It's not like there's a shortage of things to do - it just feels like they got in the habit of small increments to cut costs everywhere (keep the design exactly the same to reuse the same machines, minor software tweaks, etc). The updates are so minor, they don't even bother to put on a show (like this one - a major product, launched as a release note).
The biggest perk of the apple watch for me is to be able to keep my phone in my purse or on my desk and not ever miss calls. Important call from a doc I work with? Easy to see it with haptic and a glance at my wrist and I can step out and take it.
Does anyone know if wearable BP monitoring can actually be accurate? I have a relative who is unwell and this could be useful for them but, equally, would be very unhelpful with inaccurate data.
Also some existing watches will support BP features:
As of September 9, 2025, hypertension notifications are currently under FDA review and expected to be cleared this month, with availability on Apple Watch Series 9 and later and Apple Watch Ultra 2 and later.
The wrist cuff from Omron Gold is probably the least-worst option out there, but they'll still have to take it at specific times per day, not wear it constantly. However a lot of my patients use it and like it and I find it relable. Same brand we use in the office.
Huawei Watch D2 has an actual blood pressure monitor with inflatable strap. I have no personal experience with that but think it warrants a closer look. The reviews note instrusive phone software though.
In a conversation with my parents (who both have an apple watch) we realized they will likely be the first generation to navigate aging with a consistent and extensive history of health data from these devices. I’m curious what benefits and challenges that will bring.
In a conversation with my parents (who both have an apple watch) we realized they will likely be the first generation to navigate aging with a consistent and extensive history of health data from these devices. I’m curious what benefits and challenges that will bring.
I read an article in the newspaper recently about how now that we're several decades into the computerization of medical records, it's possible to spot trends that were previously untrackable.
One item was cancers. It's emerging that different generations get different types of cancers more often.
For example, Baby Boomers have a lot of cancer x, while Gen X gets a lot of cancer y, but very little cancer x. And Millennials get cancer z, which is almost never seen in the other two cohorts.
There was one type of cancer that seemed to hit Millennials almost exclusively. Unfortunately, I can't remember which one, as I read the article back toward the beginning of the year.
probably literally nothing, just like google and LLMs also have had basically zero effect on patients experiences for the same reasons. maybe it varies by location but in my experience doctors will virtually put their fingers in their ears and say BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH if you mention apple watch data before kicking you out. i had one doctor confidently tell me that "apple watch blood pressure measurements had been proven to be inaccurate compared to BP monitors" and that she refuses to look at them for that reason after mishearing something i said. apple watches obviously do not even have the ability to measure blood pressure and never have done, but she was very eager to lie in order to disregard whatever concerns i may have had just in case.
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[ 4.4 ms ] story [ 45.0 ms ] threadGarmins easily last a week.
This one will have even more battery life, and gets 12 hours of use in 15 minutes, which I suspect will mean for me without the always on display I may well be able to charge it only while I'm actively in the shower (when I'd take it off anyway as I hate wet bands) and be good for the day.
I just want you all to think back just 10 years ago, when your average consumer neither knew what that meant, nor cared about it. How far we've com.
If you got below 10% it would ask if you wanted to switch to this mode. You could also turn it on in the battery settings.
I've read that in this mode you could get a week or two on a full battery.
Sometime around watchOS 9 they replaced this with "Low Power Mode" (LPM). LPM reduced things like notifications, background processing, and update frequency enough to get about 50% more life out of a non-Ultra and 100% more on an Ultra 2.
LPM is gone from watchOS now but the underlying functionality still works and there is still a way to access it. You have to turn the watch off. While it is off if you press the crown it will briefly display the time.
If you wanted to frequently switch between normal operation and this low power time-only mode it would be somewhat of a pain since you'd have to turn the watch off and on to switch modes, and watchOS boots really really slow.
If you don't have to quickly switch between modes though it might be reasonable.
I guess even that saves some money too...
So if I am in a critical situation in the mountains, with only 8h battery left, I hope rescue teams will find me in that 8h window.
My Garmin will give me a week at least, and in low power mode two to three weeks?
Are there better alternatives?
As of September 9, 2025, hypertension notifications are currently under FDA review and expected to be cleared this month, with availability on Apple Watch Series 9 and later and Apple Watch Ultra 2 and later.
At least based on their own website they seem to be among the most accurate ones.
https://consumer.huawei.com/en/wearables/watch-d2/
I read an article in the newspaper recently about how now that we're several decades into the computerization of medical records, it's possible to spot trends that were previously untrackable.
One item was cancers. It's emerging that different generations get different types of cancers more often.
For example, Baby Boomers have a lot of cancer x, while Gen X gets a lot of cancer y, but very little cancer x. And Millennials get cancer z, which is almost never seen in the other two cohorts.
There was one type of cancer that seemed to hit Millennials almost exclusively. Unfortunately, I can't remember which one, as I read the article back toward the beginning of the year.