Be it a smartphone or a smartwatch, battery drain is probably the biggest concern for users. I keep Always-on Display enabled on my Galaxy Watch 5 because I love this feature. However, it causes the battery juice to evaporate within a day. The Galaxy Watch comes with 2 modes to help you enjoy longer battery life. The regular Power saving mode doubles the battery life compared to the normal mode. There is also a Watch only mode that extends the battery life to about 15 times. In this tutorial, we’ll see how we can enable and turn off the Power saving mode and Watch only mode on Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and 5.
Earlier, I wrote a very detailed tutorial on customizing and controlling Samsung Galaxy Watch using ADB commands. Make sure you check out that post as well.
Difference Between the Power Saving and Watch Only Modes
While the main purpose of both these modes is to extend the battery life of your Samsung Galaxy Watch 4/5, there is a big difference between them.
Turn Off/On Power Saving Mode on Samsung Galaxy Watch
When you turn on the power saving mode on your Galaxy Watch, it restricts certain features and processes to save battery so that you have to charge your device less frequently. The power saving mode turns off the wake-up gesture, Wi-Fi, and the Always On Display. It also limits CPU speed, background data usage, background syncing, and background location. Also, the screen brightness is decreased by 10% and the screen timeout is reduced to 15 seconds. Moreover, your Galaxy Watch won’t receive any software updates when the power-saving mode is enabled.
There are 3 ways you can enable or disable the Power Saving mode on your Samsung Galaxy Watch 4/5.
- Swipe down from the top of the watch screen to open the quick settings page. Now swipe left to view the next page and tap on the Power saving icon to turn it on or off.
- Open the quick settings page by swiping down from the top of the screen and tapping on the Settings icon. You can also open the watch settings by swiping up from the bottom of the home screen to open the app drawer and tap on the Settings icon. Once you enter the settings page, go to Battery > Power Savings and tap on the toggle button to enable or disable it.
- Open the Galaxy Wearable app on your Samsung phone, tap on Watch settings > Battery, and turn the Power saving on or off.
Turn Off Watch Only Mode on Galaxy Watch 5
While the Power saving mode extends the battery backup of the Galaxy watch significantly, the Watch only mode increases it drastically. When you turn on the Watch only mode, the screen will show the current time on the watch face in HH:MM format as a very simple white text on a black background. The time will show up only for 5 seconds and then it will go off. If you want to view the time, you’ll either need to tap on the screen or press one of the side buttons on your watch.
Please note that you cannot customize the watch face in the Watch-only mode.
If you want to turn on the Watch only mode on your Galaxy Watch 4 or 5, follow the steps given below.
- Swipe down from the top of the screen to open the quick settings on your Samsung Galaxy Watch.
- Tap on the Gear icon (⚙️).
- Go to Battery and tap on it.
- Scroll up the screen to find the Watch only button and tap on it.
- On the next screen tap on the Turn on button.
Once the Watch only mode is turned on, you won’t be able to access any other feature or function of your Galaxy Watch. If you want to turn off the Watch only mode, press and hold the Power or Home key for 3 seconds.
Doing so will reboot your Galaxy Watch to the standard watch mode. Now, you’ll be able to use all the functions of your watch as you normally do.
Disabling watch-only mode on your Samsung Galaxy Watch is a fairly straightforward process that can be completed in a few easy steps. By following the instructions in this article, you should now have all the information you need to successfully disable watch-only mode and enjoy full access to all of your Galaxy Watch’s features.
