Everyone knows devices use more battery when screens are on—pushing pixels on a high-resolution display isn’t easy. But what if I told you enabling the always-on display on a Samsung Galaxy Watch could bring better battery life? Sounds wrong, but it’s true.
The magic lies in how Galaxy Watches power the always-on display. However, there are some settings you’ll need to enable to make the most of it. Let’s demystify how and why this works, and extend your battery in a very unorthodox way.
Galaxy Watches have special tech
The AOD isn’t a normal display
Credit: Bertel King / How-To Geek
Since the Galaxy Watch 4 in 2021—the first with Google’s Wear OS—Samsung smartwatches have included a dedicated low-power coprocessor, and this is what the always-on display uses. That alone makes a difference, but it’s not the whole story.
First and foremost, the always-on display doesn’t have to act like the normal “powered-on” display. It can’t be interacted with unless you tap the screen or press a physical button. The coprocessor doesn’t have to worry about the Wear OS UI or multiple inputs. Most of the time, it just sits there updating the info on screen and running a few sensors.
It’s only when the display turns on that the watch becomes “fully operational.” That’s why the typical reasoning of display on = more power doesn’t apply to the always-on display—at least for Galaxy watches.
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Always-On Displays use less battery than you think—if you set it up right
If you have a modern phone with a recent OLED screen, there’s a decent chance that it comes with an AOD or Always-On Display feature. With this active, your screen will stay on and show information even when it’s locked. Your first instinct might be to turn this off, or never turn it on because you think it’s just going to tank your phone’s battery.
Make sure you don’t get in the way
One key setting ensures the AOD saves battery
Credit: Joe Fedewa / How-To Geek
I’ve mentioned that the coprocessor is only part of this oxymoronic situation. In order to make sure that keeping the display on saves battery, you’ll also need to disable the “Raise wrist to wake” gesture is disabled.
Samsung wants the watch to be ready to use immediately upon waking up—and you do, too. It would be annoying if you had to wait a beat for the UI to warm up before you could open an app or swipe over to a notification. In order for that to be possible, the main processor needs to spring into action when the screen is woken up. That is what uses the most battery, not the always-on display.
With this information in mind, we can take a different approach to saving battery. Rather than simply trying to limit how often the display is on, we should limit how often the screen is woken up. Disabling “Rase wrist to wake” is one thing, but there are a few other settings that can help, too.
First, the “Raise wrist to wake” gesture can be disabled from the watch and the Galaxy Wear app on your phone. Go to Settings > Display > Raise wrist to wake. While you’re on this screen, toggle off “Touch screen to wake,” too. This will ensure no accidental wake-up with touches—you’ll have to use the physical buttons.
Next, you can disable “Turn on screen when notifications are received.” This isn’t enabled by default, but it’s personally one of the first things I turn on. Making sure it’s turned off will further prevent the screen from fully turning on.
Rewiring how we think about battery life
I get it, leaving the screen on all the time feels completely counterintuitive to save battery. As a long-time smartwatch wearer, it’s the reason why I’ve never really used the AOD. However, modern devices are very good at optimizing how much power is used with the AOD. It’s more productive to think in terms of limiting the processor than the display. Of course, if you want to save even more battery, you can adjust the settings above and disable the always-on display. But where’s the fun in that?
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How to Customize the Always-on Display on a Samsung Galaxy Phone
Wondering about the missing always-on display (AOD) customization features on your Samsung Galaxy phone? You’re not alone. The options aren’t in the AOD settings menu anymore. So where are they? Let’s find out.