Close Apple Watch Apps & Restrict Background Updates To Save Battery

close apps on apple watch

Close apps on Apple Watch!

Whenever you exit an app on your Apple Watch, the software won’t shutdown completely. It remains active in the background. Sometimes you need the application idle, because you can resume using it from the last screen you worked with. However, other apps will burn battery juice while remaining active in the background, without bringing too many benefits. This is why you can extend your Watch’s usage time, if you close apps when you stop using them.

The same way as your iPhone’s battery needs extra care to last for a complete day of heavy usage, the power of your watch OS gadget has to be carefully managed, if you want to avoid Power Reserve mode until you reach bedtime. So, here are a few handy tricks that allow you to close any running app on your smartwatch and limit the refresh in the background!

Press & Hold the Side Button
closing twitter app on apple watch If you finish using an app like Twitter, for example, you usually press the Digital Crown to return to the home screen or the watch face. Notice, the next time when you wish to check your tweets, the application opens on the same screen that you used last time around. This means that it never closed completely and it remained idle in the background. To close it when you exit, simply press and hold the side button until the Shutdown sliders appear. Now, release the hold for a second and press & hold the same side button again. This will force close the app. Notice, that if you open the same application now, it will resume from the home screen and not from the last screen you used the app on.
If an app on your Apple Watch ever jams, you might need to force reboot your watch OS gadget.

Disable Apple Watch Background App Updates
iphone background app refresh settings Since most of your smartwatch’s apps are synced from the paired iPhone, you can restrict background app refresh on your iOS device and the setting will impact your Watch too. Grab your iPhone and open Settings -> General -> Background App Refresh. Here, you can disable or allow apps to use your device’s Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connectivity, to update data while in the background. Filter the less important ones out and maintain only the really important ones active in the background.

Airplane Mode
A brutal way to avoid apps from updating in the background and sending data packages to your Watch is by activating Airplane Mode on your wrist gadget. However, this is will kill access to almost all apps and functions and should only be used when the battery levels are really low. You can read here about the few features that remain active when your Apple Watch is disconnected from its paired iPhone.