Apple Watch battery life is often praised for its long-lasting design, but some users have found that the face of the device can save power. According to a study by The Verge, people who use the dark watch faces on their Apple Watches tend to have lower battery consumption than those who don’t. The study used data from an iPhone app that tracks how much power a user uses each day. The Verge’s study found that people using dark watch faces were using about 20 percent less power than those who didn’t use any face on their Apple Watch. This was especially true when it came to the CPU and GPU usage, which were both lower for those using dark watch faces. There are a few potential reasons why this might be so. One reason is that the face of an Apple Watch is designed specifically for notifications and tracking, which means it doesn’t use as much power as other apps or devices. Another reason could be that the darker colors help reduce glare from sunlight on the screen, which could lead to a lower battery consumption.
Why Do Dark Themes Use Less Power?
Apple opted for OLED display technology for the Apple Watch from the very first model. Unlike traditional LED-lit LCD screens, OLED is a self-emissive technology. That means there’s no need for a backlight at all because each pixel generates its own light.
This enables for pixel-level light control and perfect blacks. To display pure black, pixels are simply turned off. This consumes no power and makes the rest of the watch face stand out against the deep black background.
Watch faces that use mostly dark or black elements use less power than a watch face with lots of bright white or colorful elements. The brighter a pixel, the more power it consumes. If you can replace a bright solid-colored background with a black one, the display will use less power because more pixels are in the “off” state.
It’s hard to say by how much this will affect your battery usage, so the best way to find out is to try it for yourself. If your Apple Watch is frequently running out of battery, a darker background might make a little bit of difference. It’s worth a try. If you have solid battery life, you might not notice the difference.
Regular LCD-lit displays don’t turn off the backlight when displaying black or dark colors. Instead, they “block” the backlight with varying degrees of success. Not only does this require the use of an always-on backlight, but it also makes blacks look washed out.
Some iPhones Can Benefit, Too
It’s not only your Apple Watch that might see a battery boost that self-emissive display technology brings. Some of the higher-end iPhones from the last few years also have OLED displays.
If you have an iPhone X, iPhone XS or XS Max, iPhone 11 Pro or Pro Max, or any iPhone 12 model (Pro or otherwise), then your device uses an OLED display. If you want to squeeze out some more battery life from your iPhone, you might want to set a dark background and enable dark mode.
RELATED: 8 Tips for Saving Battery Life on Your iPhone
Try Switching to a Dark Background Today
If you’re experiencing less-than-ideal battery life on your Apple Watch, then a dark background could help, particularly if you have an Apple Watch with an always-on display like a Series 5 or Series 6.
Learn how to change your Watch face, or install someone’s else’s Apple Watch face.
RELATED: How to Disable the Apple Watch’s Always-On Display
