Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority
TL;DR
- The upcoming Wear OS 6 update may introduce a new adaptive charging feature designed to protect smartwatch batteries from degradation.
- This feature will likely pause charging at 80% and then intelligently resume to achieve a full charge based on the user’s typical daily habits.
- Evidence was found in the Wear OS developer preview, and competitors like Samsung are also reportedly developing similar battery protection functions.
To protect your device’s battery, it’s best to avoid leaving it on the charger for extended periods. That’s why many phones have features that pause charging at 80%, reducing battery stress and prolonging its lifespan. While most smartwatches lack these protections, the upcoming Wear OS 6 update could change that.
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While digging through the recent Wear OS 6 Developer Preview, I discovered strings in the ClockworkSysUiGoogle app that hint at a new “adaptive charging” feature. When enabled, charging will pause at a certain level and then resume to be fully charged by a specific time, likely based on your charging habits. You’ll also be able to override this feature at any time to charge your watch to 100%.
Code
Charging to full now
Adaptive charging overridden
Charging will be completed by %1$s
Adaptive charging is on
Override
Ready to go! Although the strings don’t specify the exact charging percentage or timing, the feature will likely mirror Adaptive Charging on Pixel phones. When this feature is enabled on Pixel phones, charging pauses at 80% and then finishes about an hour before you typically unplug your device. It’s reasonable to assume Adaptive Charging in Wear OS will function similarly, though again, we haven’t been able to confirm exact details.
Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
While features in developer previews don’t always make it to specific devices, there’s additional evidence for this one. We previously found clues in the Pixel Watch Management Service app suggesting Google is bringing Adaptive Charging to its own watches. We don’t know when Google plans to release this feature, but it could arrive with the Wear OS 6 update. Notably, Google won’t be the only one rolling out such a feature for its wearable lineup; Samsung is reportedly developing a similar battery protection feature for its Galaxy Watch series, expected in the One UI Watch 8 release.
