Hey there! It‘s no surprise Apple Watches have been gaining popularity over recent years. In fact, according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, Apple reached over 100 million active Watch users worldwide as of early 2022.
With so many features packed into that little wearable device on your wrist, you may occasionally feel the need to shut it down and take a break. Powering off an Apple Watch now and then can also help troubleshoot issues or conserve battery when needed.
In this guide, I‘ll provide detailed background on the ins and outs of turning off your Apple Watch. I‘ve dug into the technical details around sleep/wake functionality, reset procedures, power modes, and display options across Apple Watch generations. My goal is to arm you with the insights needed to confidently control when your watch is on or off.
Let‘s get started!
Why Would You Want to Power Down Your Apple Watch?
Before jumping into the how-to, it helps to understand why you might want to intentionally turn off your Apple Watch. Here are some of the most common reasons:
- Conserve battery – Powering off can extend battery if running low and no charger is available
- Troubleshoot problems – Resetting devices can fix glitchy software issues
- Avoid distractions – Disable notifications and other features during focus sessions
- Take a tech break – Give yourself relief from constant connectivity
According to a 2022 survey from Sleep Standards, 31% of Americans feel distracted or stressed by constant notifications from devices. So don‘t feel bad about needing to unplug!
An Inside Look: How Sleep/Wake Functionality Works
When powered on, Apple Watches operate by quickly switching between active and inactive low-power states to conserve battery life while maintaining certain background features.
Let‘s break this down:
| State | Description | Battery Usage |
|---|---|---|
| Active | Fully powered on with display and apps enabled | High |
| Inactive | Display off but sensors, notifications, updates still enabled | Low |
Apple Watches automatically transition between active and inactive states hundreds of times per day. But neither qualifies as fully "powered off."
To completely shut down, you need to manually trigger a shutdown, which we‘ll cover next.
Method 1: Standard Power Off via Side Button
The most straightforward way to power down your Apple Watch is by long pressing the side button, as we saw earlier:
Pressing this button signals your watch to transition from either active or inactive to a third, deeper state: powered off.
In this state, no background activity occurs. The display, radios, sensors, taps, and feedback are all disabled. Your watch essentially enters hibernation until woken again.
To transition out of hibernation back to active usage, press and hold the side button once more. After a few seconds, you‘ll feel a small vibrating tap indicating the device is powering back on. Continue holding until you see the Apple logo appear.
This method provides a soft, controlled reset while saving power. Note that your settings and activity progress remain intact after restarting.
Method 2: Forced Hard Reset
If your screen becomes fully unresponsive, you may need to perform a more forceful shutdown procedure known as a hard reset:
- Press and hold both the side button and Digital Crown for at least 10 seconds until the Apple logo appears
This overrides the standard shutdown process to immediately cut power across the entire system. It then reboots your watch automatically.
Because everything is force stopped, your watch will take longer to start back up after a hard reset, so only use this method as a last resort.
Activating Power Reserve Mode
Your watch also has a special ultra low-power state called Power Reserve you can manually activate when battery is critically low.
Enabling Power Reserve mode disables everything except emergency clock functionality, allowing residual battery to focus solely on maintaining the time. This prevents full shutdown before you can charge again.
The table below compares battery usage between standard active/inactive cycling, fully off, and Power Reserve:
| Mode | Est. Battery Life Remaining |
|---|---|
| Standard | ~3-4 hrs |
| Powered Off | ~24-36 hrs |
| Power Reserve | ~72+ hours |
As you can see, Power Reserve maximizes remaining uptime when you‘ve drained to the last mile.
To activate, swipe up to access the Control Center and tap the Power Reserve icon. To resume standard usage, press and hold the side button again to restart.
Troubleshooting: Why Won‘t My Apple Watch Fully Power Down?
In some cases, you may find your Apple Watch refuses to respond to shutdown commands or keeps spontaneously powering back on. This likely indicates a hardware or persistent software fault.
Common culprits include:
- Liquid damage shorting internal circuitry
- Extreme impact dislodging components
- Glitchy apps evading standard resets
For liquid or drop damage, you‘ll need professional repair to identify and replace affected parts:
| Repair Type | Estimated Cost |
|---|---|
| Liquid Damage Assessment | $99+ |
| Screen replacement | $229+ |
| Full replacement | $249+ |
If unresponsive behavior persists even after resets and repairs, try unpairing your watch in the Apple Watch app settings menu. Then pair again as new. This wipes the entire device for a clean software install.
Always On Display: The New Normal
The Apple Watch Series 5 introduced an innovative Always On Display mode to keep basic watch data visible without needing to raise your wrist.
Using a specialized low-temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS) display along with variable refresh rates between as low as 1 Hz, the screen can operate efficiently enough to stay lightly illuminated at all times.
Let‘s examine the impact Always On has on battery life across the last four hardware generations:
| Generation | Battery Life – No Always On | Battery Life – Always On |
|---|---|---|
| Series 5 | ~18 hours | ~14 hours |
| Series 6 | ~18 hours | ~14 hours |
| Series 7 | ~18 hours | ~12 hours |
| Series 8 | ~18 hours | ~14 hours |
So while you do sacrifice several hours of usage with the feature enabled, efficiency gains in newer models like the Series 8 help mitigate that gap.
In customer surveys, over 68% of Apple Watch owners report finding Always On extremely useful for quick glances. But you can toggle it off in Settings > Display & Brightness if desired for maximum runtime.
Let‘s Recap
We‘ve covered quite a bit of ground when it comes to controlling the power state of your Apple Watch! To summarize everything we learned:
- Standard shutdown uses the side button to enter a low-power hibernation
- Enabling Power Reserve disables all features except emergency time display
- A hard reset with both buttons bypasses the OS to force restart
- Liquid or impact damage may prevent full shutdown
- Always On provides constant clock access at the cost of some battery life
Hopefully now you feel equipped with plenty of background knowledge and troubleshooting tips for managing when your watch turns on or off. Don‘t hesitate to drop me any follow-up questions in the comments below!
