How long does the Pixel Watch battery last? Answers and tips for stretching it

The smartwatch landscape grows increasingly competitive with more health sensors, fitness tracking features, and task management tools than ever before. However, as beefed up as wearables become, battery life remains the biggest limitation to a positive user experience. Unfortunately, it’s one of the most common Pixel Watch problems as well. Find out how long the Google Pixel Watch’s battery life lasts (and how it compares to the competition).

How long does the Pixel Watch battery last?

Google claims that the Google Pixel Watch will last up to 24 hours on a single charge, including sleep tracking overnight. This claim is based on the following usage:

• 240 notifications
• 280 time checks
• An LTE phone call (five minutes)
• 45 min LTE and GPS workout with downloaded YouTube music playback
• 50 minutes of Google Maps navigation while connected to a phone via Bluetooth
• Default settings, including the always-on display set to off

Unfortunately, our real-world usage hasn’t been quite as successful. For starters, we found the first few days can be a bit harrowing in terms of battery life. This is likely due to background activity and extra use while setting up the device.

During our Pixel Watch review period, it took about four days for the device to level off. Even then, it will only just reach 24 hours before blacking out. Most likely, you won’t reach 24 hours without actively managing your battery life. According to Google, the Pixel Watch should provide 8 to 10 hours of battery life with continuous GPS use. Again, these values don’t jive with our experience.

That said, battery life can be quite subjective. How you use your device (and how often) will greatly impact how quickly the battery drains. Tracking GPS workouts, for example, drains the battery much faster than merely tracking activity in the background throughout the day.

7 tips for maximizing battery life

Luckily, there are a few easy ways to extend your battery life. The tips below should help you get a little more out of your device regardless of how you put it to work.

• Battery Saver: Turning on Battery Saver will disable the device’s always-on display and tilt-to-wake feature. Access Battery Saver by swiping down on your watch face and tapping the battery icon.
• Always-on display: Disable always-on display in the Settings menu listed under Display.
• Tilt-to-wake: According to Google, your watch will have tilt-to-wake disabled out of the box. If the feature is on, you can disable it in the Settings menus under Gestures.
• Bedtime mode: This mode greatly depletes battery drain overnight while still enabling sleep tracking. You can set Bedtime mode by swiping down on your watch face and tapping the moon icon.
• Download music: Saving music to your device will save battery as streaming music drains the device quickly.
• Mobile Mode (LTE only): If you own an LTE model of the Pixel Watch, you can also extend battery life by setting Mobile Mode to Automatic or Off. Automatic will connect the device to cellular radio when neither Bluetooth nor Wi-Fi is available.
• Adjust timeout settings: In the Settings menu, under Display, you can also adjust your screen timeout settings to maximize battery life. A 10 or 15-second timeout will use less battery than a 30-second timeout.

How long does the Pixel Watch take to charge?

The Pixel Watch will not charge with any charging accessory other than the official Pixel Watch charger. This USB-C magnetic charging cable ships with the device at purchase. The watch does not support Qi wireless charging pads or reverse wireless charging with a Pixel smartphone.

Once on its official charger, the Pixel Watch charges from 0 to 50% in about 30 minutes and 0 to 80% in about 55 minutes. According to Google, a full charge from 0 to 100% takes about 80 minutes. When reviewing the device we found these estimates accurate within ten or so minutes.

Pixel Watch vs other smartwatches

Most significantly, perhaps, the Pixel Watch falls very short compared to other Fitbit devices. We found the Fitbit Versa 3 lasts around 3.5 days between charges, as does the Sense 2, even under heavy use.

The Pixel Watch does technically beat out the Apple Watch, which officially claims 18 hours of use between charges. That said, our experience has always been that Apple underestimates its battery life. During our Apple Watch Series 8 review, we were consistently able to hit 24 hours without tapping into Low Power mode. Apple also offers fast charging, which fills the tank in just 45 minutes.

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