I turned off these 5 background features on my Apple Watch - now my battery life lasts longer and I don't notice the difference

If you're looking to buy an Apple Watch, now's the time. Series 12 is the most accurate wearable yet, with new sleep and daily health tracking features and the introduction of a Readiness Score.

It's an impressive upgrade, but battery life remains at 24 hours with constant use, only rising to 38 hours in Low Battery Mode. Turning this mode on saves power, but I don't do it. It limits some health-tracking features, and I use the watch as a fitness tracker above anything else.

That's the same battery life as the Apple Watch Series 11, released last year. I took this older watch out for a second spin ahead of the new release, testing it again for all its fitness, sleep, and health-tracking benefits. Straight away, I turned off five features I knew were running in the background.

These were the biggest drains on my battery life, and ones I felt I could turn off with little effect on my everyday watch use. For example, I'm never going to turn off the GPS function for my workouts. It uses up a lot of battery, but I love running and walking, and I need this feature for those activities.

How to improve battery on Apple Watch

1. Turn off the Always On display

By default, the Apple Watch has an always-on display. This means it stays dimly lit throughout the day so you can look at the time without having to wake up the watch.

It's useful, but newer watches have improved gesture sensitivity, and the Series 9 and beyond have Raise to Wake. This feature immediately turns the screen on when you lift your wrist. A deliberate flick of your wrist will do the job, too. Like most people, I tend to do this when I'm checking the time anyway.

You can also just tap the screen or the crown on the side.

To turn off the always-on display:

• Open the Settings app on your Apple Watch.
• Tap through to Display and Brightness.
• Toggle the Always On option off.

2. Turn off Background App Refresh and Automatic Downloads

It's useful to have the latest data from your favourite apps, so you see new emails in Mail and know if it's time to bring the washing inside from the Weather app, but it drains battery life on the Apple Watch when they are all refreshing constantly in the background. I turned off this setting so only my most-used apps refresh.

The same goes for automatic downloads from the App Store. I don't have this feature on my phone, and I don't notice the difference. When an app needs updating, I just go manually into the store and update it.

Here's how to turn off background refresh on your Apple Watch:

• Press the crown on the side of the watch. This takes you to your app screen.
• Tap Settings and go to General.
• Tap Background App Refresh.
• Turn off the switch, or scroll down and turn off individual apps you don't use very often.

3. Stop Sleep Apnoea detection

Now, this is really a personal choice. One of the key health features on the Apple Watch is sensors to detect sleep apnoea overnight. However, if you know you don't struggle with your breathing when asleep or aren't concerned about this, it's one feature to turn off to save your battery life.

Some forums suggest it can save up to 25% of your battery while you're asleep, which is a serious saving.

How to turn off sleep apnoea detection:

• Open the Health app on your iPhone.
• Tap your icon in the top right corner.
• Go to Health Checklist and then to Sleep Apnoea Notifications.
• Toggle them off.

4. Stop streaming music from the Watch

These days, you can play music through your fitness tracker straight to your exercise headphones with most good smartwatches. The Apple Watch Series 11 and 12 are two of them. While it's a huge benefit for anyone with a cellular-enabled device, as they can leave their phone at home when out exercising, playing music this way is a big battery drain.

When I go on my running or walking workouts, I tend to bring my phone with me anyway. More out of habit than anything else. So I switched to playing music through the app on my phone rather than through my watch, and I did find my battery life lasted longer.

You could also download certain playlists or albums to your Apple Watch to listen to, but this would still use more battery than playing it through your phone.

5. Limit cellular use

There are two versions of the Apple Watch: Cellular and Non-Cellular. The first is more expensive, and you can use it as a near-replacement for your phone, since it can take and receive phone calls, access apps, and more over its own connection.

It's always worth opting for this model if you have the cash, but I try to use the Cellular connection as little as possible since it's one of the biggest ways to save battery life.

So, I rarely go out without my phone. The cellular connection is automatic. If your watch can use the connection from your phone nearby then it will do this over using its own and save you a few hours of battery.

What is quick charge on the Apple Watch?

Quick Charge gives the Apple Watch a few more hours of life with only a few minutes on the charger. For example, if you run out of battery before going to sleep, you can get eight hours of sleep tracking with just five minutes on the charger.

30 minutes on the charger will get you up to 80% battery, and 15 minutes on the charger will give you eight hours.

You have to use the charger included with your Apple Watch to get the quick charge feature, and results will vary with the adaptor you use and other environmental factors, but this simple habit was so useful for me.