Apple Document Details watchOS 4.1 Battery Life Expectations

Apple on Tuesday released its anticipated watchOS 4.1 software update, which enables a number of previously-unavailable features on the Apple Watch Series 3, including the ability to stream Apple Music and Beats 1 Live Radio over a cellular LTE connection.

Now, less than a day after it was released to the public, Apple has published a new watchOS support document to its website which outlines battery performance users can expect while enjoying the new features on their LTE-capable Apple Watch.

While the company touts how all of its Apple Watch S3 models can achieve 10 hours of battery life playing music housed on their SSD storage chips, Apple added that when streaming Apple Music content over LTE, battery longevity ratings dip to just seven hours.

Unsurprisingly, battery performance only continues its downward decline from there.

When streaming Beats 1 Live Radio over LTE, which is possible on Apple Watch Series 3 via an all-new Radio app made available in watchOS 4.1, battery life expectancy drops to just five hours.

Apple says when performing outdoor workout sessions where watch owners are streaming audio, GPS, and LTE simultaneously, users can expect battery life to drop even further to an estimated three hours.

Of course, while Apple is clear that “actual battery performance” will vary from user to user based on a number of factors such as chosen configuration, which wireless LTE network they’re using, its signal strength, their streaming quality settings and more — a friendly bit of advice to those who purchase an Apple Watch S3 with LTE for the sake of ‘unlocking its full potential’: just be forewarned that once it’s off the charger, the clock (quite literally) starts ticking.

Have you upgraded your Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE to watchOS 4.1 yet? What kind of battery performance are you experiencing so far? Let us know in the comments!