Fossil’s generation 4 smartwatch is one of more fashionable Wear OS watches and comes packed full of latest technology as well. The Explorist HR features standalone GPS, NFC, a heartrate sensor and 3 buttons on the side where 2 of them can be used as shortcuts.
So how is its battery life? Fossil labels it as a one-day, 24 hour battery life and under normal usage, that is true. Keep in mind if your using battery intensive functionalities like GPS, then the battery life can be expected to be shorter. Under normal usage, your Explorist HR watch should have no problems lasting more than 24 hours.
There are 2 settings that you should turn off in order to ensure that you get at least 24 hours, sometimes almost 2 days of battery life.
First, turn Tilt to Wake off. Without this, you’ll have to push the side crown button or touch the screen to activate the screen. We suggest that you turn off touch to wake as well to prevent accident activation of the watch face. The latest Wear OS has sleep functionalities built-in to get even more battery life so you should do everything possible to prevent accidental wake of the screen.
Second, turn off Google Assistant. This watch has to be constantly listening if this functionality is turned on. This drains the battery very quickly. You can always activate Google Assistant by long-pressing the crown button.
If you really want to save some battery juice, try the new Battery Saver feature as part of the system H update. It’ll turn off all communications to and from your phone. The watch will only show you time and date, so essentially, it goes into non-smartwatch mode. However, it continues to track your steps and heart rate activity if you have it turned on. This will more than double your battery life. Perfect for night or those times when you don’t need a smartwatch.
Make sure your watch is updated with the latest Wear OS and firmware. By turning off the above two functionalities or using battery saver option, your Fossil Gen 4 Explorist HR smartwatch will last well past 24 hours of normal usage.