Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Samsung’s new Galaxy Watch 8 series introduces a “battery protection” feature designed to extend the device’s battery longevity.
- The feature works by stopping the charge at 90% and only resuming it when the battery level drops down to 85%.
- This prevents the battery from sitting at a full 100% charge, which reduces stress and helps slow long-term battery degradation.
Most people don’t upgrade their smartwatch every year, opting to keep their device until something much better comes along or the battery degrades. Unlike smartphones, however, most smartwatches don’t offer robust battery protection features, which limits your ability to extend their longevity. Fortunately, more smartwatch makers are starting to introduce these tools, with Samsung being the latest to do so in its new Galaxy Watch 8 series.
On previous Galaxy Watch models, the Settings > Battery menu only lists two options under the “Charging” section: “show charging info” and “auto power on.” The former controls whether your watch displays its battery level while charging to full, and the latter determines if your watch automatically powers on when you connect it to a charger.
While setting up my Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, however, I spotted a new, third option called “battery protection.” This new feature stops your watch from charging when the battery level reaches 90% and then resumes charging when it drops to 85%. Essentially, this feature keeps your watch’s battery between 85% and 90% of its maximum capacity.
Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
This kind of feature is important because consistently keeping a device with a lithium-ion battery at a 100% charge can shorten its lifespan due to the stress a high state of charge places on the battery. This is why many smartphones offer similar protections, though they typically limit charging to 80% rather than the Galaxy Watch 8’s 90%. While an 80% limit is even better for battery longevity, smartwatches have small batteries, so Samsung likely didn’t want to cap the charge too much for fear of degrading the user experience.
Regardless, it’s great to see Samsung finally add a meaningful battery protection feature to the Galaxy Watch. We’re hoping that Samsung will bring this capability to older watches with the One UI 8 Watch update, but we won’t know for sure until the company rolls out the update.