This Garmin feature is killing users’ battery life — here’s how to disable it
Garmin’s new voice activation feature seems to be killing users’ battery life.
Garmin users have noticed a significant reduction in battery life after updating their watches to the latest software version. One potential reason for this could be the new "OK Garmin" wake word feature, which is enabled automatically. The feature requires the watch to listen for the wake word "OK Garmin" constantly, which can put a strain on the battery.
Users have reported battery life estimates dropping from 15 days to just nine days, a 40% decrease. Other users have experienced reductions in battery life ranging from half to complete loss. The Forerunner 970 manual even warns that enabling the "OK Garmin" wake word can reduce battery life, although the extent of the impact is not specified.
To disable the feature, users can navigate to Watch Settings, then System, and finally Voice. From there, they can disable the OK Garmin feature. While other issues might be causing the battery drain, given the numerous reports linking the OK Garmin feature to reduced battery life, it's worth trying to disable it to potentially improve battery performance.
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