If you’re looking for ways to extend the battery life of your Galaxy Watch, you may have heard that turning off Always-On Display (AOD), which keeps the screen on continuously, can help. However, real-world testing by Galaxy Watch owners shows that AOD actually consumes slightly less battery than the “Raise wrist to wake” or “Raise to wake” (RTW) mode, which turns on the screen when you raise your arm. The reasoning makes sense: Keeping the screen on all the time uses less power than turning it on every time your arm moves a certain way, especially considering how many times per day you can unintentionally activate the screen through regular movements.
Additionally, on the Galaxy Watch 4 and later models, AOD acts almost like a screensaver, preserving battery power until you touch the screen to fully activate the display. This is because AOD uses its own low-power processor separate from the watch’s main processor, while RTW engages the main processor every time it detects movement. AOD consumes even less battery when RTW and “Touchscreen to Wake” are both disabled. This requires you to press a physical button on the watch to fully activate the display.
However, AOD mode doesn’t always outperform RTW mode in terms of battery life. Galaxy Watch owners report mixed results when comparing the two, with some saying the AOD drains their watch’s battery noticeably faster. Other factors can also affect battery life, including the age and model of the smartwatch, screen brightness, and how often the screen activates when RTW is enabled.
Should you enable always-on display on your Samsung watch?
If your main concern is battery life, test AOD and RTW to see which works best for your watch. To ensure the longest battery life possible, it is best to disable both AOD and RTW. This means you’ll need to tap the watch face or press a physical button to activate the display. Additionally, reducing screen brightness can help preserve battery life, whether you’re using AOD, RTW, or neither.
If battery life isn’t a major concern for you, or you don’t notice much difference between AOD and RTW in terms of battery life, that’s entirely up to you and your personal preference. Some people like AOD because they want their watch to look like a watch at all times, instead of spending most of its time on a blank screen. Others prefer RTW because they don’t mind the watch face being empty when they’re not actively using it. AOD mode is not enabled by default when you activate a new Galaxy Watch. You can turn it on and off and change RTD and brightness settings in the display settings menu.
