Here’s how fast Apple Music streaming drains your Watch 3 battery

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Apple Watch Music
Beware battery life drain with Apple Music streaming.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple has updated its Apple Watch Series 3 battery guidelines following the rollout of watchOS 4.1 on Tuesday.

The update adds big new features, such as Apple Music and Beats 1 streaming, that significantly impact the usage you’ll get in between charges.

Battery life on Apple Watch 3 can be a mixed bag; it varies wildly depending on how you use it. Apple says you’ll get up to 18 hours for basic tasks, while a phone call over LTE can reduce that to as little as one hour.

New battery life guidelines for Apple Watch

WatchOS 4.1, which is now being beta tested by developers, adds other features that dramatically impact battery life. Streaming Apple Music over LTE will get you just seven hours of use, while listening to Beats 1 can reduce that to just five hours.

You’ll get ten hours of use if you play music stored locally on your Apple Watch, so you’ll want to save your favorite playlists if you need to conserve battery life. LTE is a massive battery drain on such a small device.

watchOS 4.1 is available now

You can download watchOS 4.1 now on all Apple Watch models. In addition to Apple Music and radio streaming, it adds a new Wi-Fi toggle for Series 3 devices that lets you force LTE connectivity, support for new emojis, and more.

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