How to Improve the fenix 6X Pro or the Sapphire Battery Life

If you are charging your fenix 6X Pro or fenix 6X Pro Sapphire more frequently than expected, it could be due to the amount of usage or settings being used. Below is a list of functions that could cause the battery to drain faster than anticipated, for instructions on enabling or disabling these, visit the "Customizing Your Device" section in the owner's manual. 

Using Power Manager to Improve Battery Life

NOTE: It is important that before you address some of the functions that affected battery life, that you first make sure your watch is up to date:  How to Install Software and Map Updates to My fenix 6 Pro or Sapphire Series Watch

Your watch can perform a variety of functions, and any function the watch performs will require some power from the battery. Some functions, and how often you use them, will require more battery than others. 

Why is My Watch Battery Draining Quickly?

If your watch has a shortened battery life, here are some troubleshooting steps we recommend.

1. Be sure that you are on the latest software . 
2. Perform a Soft Reset .
3. Fully charge your watch to see if the issue has been resolved.
4. If your watch continues to drain battery quickly, check any recently adjusted settings that could contribute to a higher battery use. For help adjusting watch settings, see the How Can I Get More Battery Life? section below.

How Can I Get More Battery Life?

If your battery is being used faster than expected, or not lasting as long as it used to, read the information below to learn about settings and features that have a greater impact on battery usage. 

Adjust Settings

The default settings for your watch were configured to balance performance with battery life. Changed settings may be the cause of increased battery drain. If you forgot the settings you changed, you can restore the default settings for your watch. For help see, Reset Default Settings .

NOTE: Settings for the options listed below are located in the watch menu. Not all watches will support all listed features. Refer to your owner's manual for feature compatibility, and exact setting location.

• Pulse OX: Using All-Day Acclimation or During Sleep modes with the pulse oximeter will use the battery at a higher rate. To conserve battery life, it is recommended to set the acclimation mode to Manual. The watch will only analyze your oxygen saturation when you view the pulse oximeter widget. 
• Backlight: How bright the backlight is set, and how often it comes on, can use battery more quickly or less quickly. Having backlight set at 100% will use a lot of battery while the backlight is on. The manual backlight setting uses the least energy, and some settings, such as gesture, will use more battery.
• GPS: When enabled you will see a higher battery use, which is why GPS tracking is only activated during activities or navigation. 
• Music: Controlling music being played on your phone, downloading music over Wi-Fi, and playing music stored on the watch will contribute to higher battery use. We recommend charging your watch while downloading music if it supports this feature. 
• Bluetooth: Occasional text notifications and use of other connected features will drain far less battery than continually receiving texts, answering the phone, running a music player, or getting weather updates.
• Connected Sensors: Additional connected sensors like HRM chest straps, power meters, or Bluetooth headphones all require additional power from the watch to stay connected.
• Watch Face: Some watch faces, apps, widgets, and data fields may draw more power depending on how many things they do or whether they use GPS positioning or not.
• Widgets: Some widgets update data when you select them, like weather. Widgets like Altimeter, Barometer, and Compass (ABC sensors) are always active.

Clean Charging Contacts

Garmin recommends using a Garmin charging cable, and making sure the charging contacts on the watch and charging cable are free and clear of debris. For instructions on how to clean the charging contacts, see - Cleaning the Battery Contacts on a Rechargeable Garmin Watch.

Update Software

Make sure your watch is up to date on software. We recommend using Garmin Express to make sure your software is the most current version - Using Garmin Express to Update Your Watch's Software.

Perform a Soft Reset

This will not clear any user data or reset settings. Significant battery use can sometimes occur if an activity or another feature is left running in the background. Try the following steps to perform the soft reset:

1. Hold the LIGHT button.
   NOTE: You may need to hold for up to 30 seconds.
2. When the watch face goes blank, release LIGHT.
3. Press LIGHT to turn the watch back on.
4. Let the watch charge to 100% and use as normal.
5. Track how long the battery lasts after performing the soft reset.

Some of the functions are redundant, for example; steps and activities are uploaded both through WiFi and the Bluetooth connection to the Garmin Connect Mobile application. If using the Garmin Connect Mobile app continuously, it may be a good idea to turn off the Auto Upload setting to help conserve battery power. The Storm Alert function of the Barometer when a smart phone updates local weather is another redundant battery drain.

If battery drain still continues after making some settings changes, try returning the watch to factory defaults and seeing how long the battery lasts on a full charge without pairing it to smartphone again. If the battery lasts like it used to, then the battery drain would be the result of the choice of customized settings on the watch, or Bluetooth connected features.