How to Turn off Power Reserve on Apple Watch in Two Steps (With Photos)

Not having enough power on your Apple Watch happens more than we want it to, and it can be stressful having a low battery when you can’t access a charger. It’s something all of us have gone through. In situations like this, the Power Reserve Mode comes in handy. You can toggle this off and on whenever you need. Some watch functions are restricted to conserve power. Want to know how to use this feature and more about why we need this in the beginning? Read on to learn how to turn off Power Reserve on Apple Watch.

Why Do We Need the Power Reserve Mode on Apple Watch?

This Power Reserve Mode comes to your rescue when your Apple Watch battery runs low. It restricts most of the unnecessary background functions that drain power and leave only the most essential features active—one such feature is showing the current time. This helps you keep your watch running for longer until you can get it recharged.

Like many users, turning on the Power Reserve Mode is easy because the watch typically signals them to do so when it senses a low battery. However, switching off the Power Reserve Mode gets confusing if they need to access any restricted features before recharging. Well, let’s help you figure that out.

How Does the Power Reserve Mode Work on Apple Watch?

The Power Reserve guarantees that your watch will not die instantly and will survive as long as possible with the little energy it has left. Almost all of the watch’s functionalities are deactivated. Your watch will not keep track of the activities you participate in. The communication between your iPhone and watch, if they are connected, will be suspended until you leave this mode. 

Turning Off Power Reserve on Apple Watch

Did you know that one of the most often searched questions about Apple’s famous watch is how to turn off the Power Reserve on the Apple Watch? What many users don’t understand is the critical difference between Power Reserve and Low Power Mode. If you want to save some battery on your Apple Watch, it is best to put it in Low Power Mode.

Low Power Mode allows you to save battery without the limitations of Power Reserve. If you get stuck in Power Reserve Mode, don’t fret. Turning off this feature is pretty simple. All you need to do is:

Step 1: Press and Hold Down the Side Button

Hold the side button down until the Apple logo appears.

Step 2: Let the Watch Restart

Once your watch has restarted, it will be back to full mode. If the battery is too low, you may need to charge your Apple Watch before continuing.

Low Power Mode on Apple Watch

With the launch of WatchOS 9, your Apple Watch now has an additional mode to help save battery life. This feature is known as the Power Reserve Mode.

In contrast to Power Reserve, this mode disables just a select few capabilities, which means that you may continue to use your Apple Watch regularly even if its battery is taxed to its maximum capacity. 

Low Power Mode is a new feature introduced for the Apple Watch in WatchOS 9. This option allows you to conserve battery life by reducing the power your Apple Watch uses. Apple introduced the Low Power Mode as a long-awaited successor to the Power Reserve Battery-saving Mode that was previously available on the Apple Watch. 

After a specific amount of the battery has been used up, Power Reserve will lock your Apple Watch, limiting you to just being able to see the time on the display until you reboot the device. 

However, the Low Power Mode does not restrict your access to the watch’s other capabilities.

The Low-Power mode of your Apple Watch works well, but to save battery life, it turns off some of the more sophisticated capabilities of your watch. 

Here’s how it works.

• Disables the “Start a workout reminder” feature
• It prevents the device from measuring your background heart rate
• Turns off messages about your heart rate, including irregular rhythm and high/low alerts
• Stops measuring the oxygen saturation of the blood
• May delay incoming notifications
• Disables blood pressure readings
• Decreases the background app refreshing.
• Reduces complications updates
• Causes a delay in Siri’s responses
• Reduces animations and scrolling fluidity

Furthermore, while in Low Power Mode, making a phone call may take longer.

Enable Low Power Mode

To enable Low Power Mode, follow the steps below.

Step 1: Select the Battery Life Icon in the Control Center

Swipe up from the bottom of the watch face once you have unlocked your Apple Watch. Then select the icon that shows percentage of remaining battery life.

Step 3: Move the Slider for Low Power Mode to the Right

Once you have enabled Low Power Mode, hit the Proceed button.

Step 4: Verify Low Power Mode is Active

The slider shows yellow when the Low Power Mode is active.

Step 5: Check Battery Percentage in Control Center

Battery percentage in the Control Center also shows yellow when Low Power Mode is active. You should also see a yellow ring in the center at the top of your watch face.

In the following video, WorldofTech shows you how easy it is to get in and out of Power Reserve on an Apple Watch.

Conclusion 

There is more to it than meets the eye when understanding how to disable Power Reserve on an Apple Watch. It is simple to turn on Power Reserve, but it might be challenging to find out how to turn it off again afterward. Following the steps above, you can turn off Power Reserve and get back to using all of its features, as long as your watch still has enough battery life. One of the most significant shortcomings of the Apple Watch is its limited battery life. Apple is working toward a solution to this problem, at least in part, with its Low Power Mode. 

The image featured at the top of this post is ©Framesira/Shutterstock.com.