How to turn on Low Power Mode on your Apple Watch
- To open Control Centre, press the side button (for watchOS 9 or earlier, touch and hold the bottom of the screen, then swipe up).
- Tap the battery percentage button.
- Turn on Low Power Mode.
You can also turn on Low Power Mode in Settings.
- Open the Settings app on your Apple Watch.
- Scroll down, then tap Battery.
- Turn on Low Power Mode.
Each time you turn on Low Power Mode, an information screen appears. Scroll to the bottom, then tap Turn On or Turn On For. If you select Turn On For, you can choose On for 1 Day, On for 2 Days or On for 3 Days.
When your Apple Watch is in Low Power Mode, a yellow circle icon 
appears at the top of the screen.
The battery percentage button in Control Centre, the charging animation and the time in Nightstand mode all turn yellow in Low Power Mode.
Use Low Power Mode based on battery percentage
When your Apple Watch battery goes down to 10%, a Low Power Mode alert asks if you want to turn the feature on.
Low Power Mode turns off automatically when your battery is charged to 80%, unless you chose to turn it on for a number of days.
Low Power Mode turns off these features
- Always On display
- Double-tap gesture
- Time in Daylight
- Heart rate notifications for irregular rhythm, high heart rate and low heart rate
- Background heart rate measurements
- Background blood oxygen measurements
- Start workout reminder
Low Power Mode turns off these features when your iPhone isn’t nearby
- Wi-Fi and mobile data connections
- Incoming phone calls and notifications
When you're in Low Power Mode without your iPhone nearby and you open an app that requires a data connection, Wi-Fi or mobile data turns on so that the app can work. This can cause significant battery consumption.
Missed phone calls and notifications are retrieved once an hour when you're in Low Power Mode.
Low Power Mode affects these features
- Making a phone call can take longer
- Background app refresh happens less frequently
- Complications update less frequently
- Siri can take longer to process a request
- Some animations and scrolling may appear less smooth
Workouts in Low Power Mode
When you use the Workout app in Low Power Mode, your battery lasts longer while metrics such as heart rate and pace are still measured.
You can turn on Low Power Mode in Control Centre or Settings, or you can have Low Power Mode turn on automatically:
- Open the Settings app on your Apple Watch.
- Scroll down, then tap Workout.
- Tap Low Power Mode.
Now Low Power Mode will turn on automatically when you begin any workout in the Workout app.
Preserve more battery life with reduced GPS and heart rate readings
When you do an outdoor walking, running or hiking workout with the Workout app, you can have your Apple Watch take fewer GPS and heart rate readings. Reducing the frequency of these readings can extend your battery's use significantly during long workouts.
This feature is available with watchOS 9.1 and later on Apple Watch SE (2nd generation), Apple Watch Series 8 and later, and Apple Watch Ultra and later.
- Open the Settings app on your Apple Watch.
- Scroll down, then tap Workout.
- Tap Fewer GPS and Heart Rate Readings.
Now, the feature will turn on automatically when Low Power Mode is active and you begin an outdoor walking, running or hiking workout in the Workout app. Your watch needs to be in Low Power Mode for this feature to work.
When this feature is active, all of the power-saving features of Low Power Mode are applied. In addition, workout alerts are turned off, splits and segments aren’t recorded and metrics such as current pace aren't available.