Choetech Apple Watch Portable Keychain Power Bank review: the best Apple Watch accessory?

Anybody who’s bought an Apple Watch will appreciate how much the basic accessories can cost… if bought from Apple. Yet, as so many Apple electrical items are fake, you have to be wary of buying chargers. So can you trust the Choetech Apple Watch Portable Keychain Power Bank? I’d happily recommend it.

How it works

The Choetech portable charger is a round but chunky puck-like device – 55mm in diameter and 15mm deep. It’s easy to carry around on a keyring and has nothing but a micro USB socket and a single button on the side.

Press that button to power it on and it shows up to four blue LED lights to indicate its charge level – the charger itself is topped up via a Micro-USB cable, but when you’re using it to charge the watch there are no wires necessary. Switch the charger on, place your Apple Watch on top of it and it will happily charge itself up, no cables required.

Charging your watch

The device manufacturer reports that it can charge the Apple Watch up to twice. With a 900mAh battery inside and the Apple Watch with just 205-292mAh (depending on size and model), it seems odd that it can’t charge more than this. However, I can confirm that it will charge your watch at least once, but I struggled to get two charges from it.

That might be because it has one major failing – it doesn’t automatically switch off when it’s finished charging the Watch. It will keep charging even when the Watch is full. Choetech therefore recommend that you don’t leave your watch charging on it overnight, but remove it when it’s done. 

Thankfully, it doesn’t take too long to charge and I’ve happily used it on flights to recover a near-dead Watch that proved essential when trying to communicate with colleagues at the destination.

Verdict

Portable and neat, this is a great solution to charging your Apple Watch on the go.

The biggest upside – it costs a penny under £32. This compares to £29 for the Apple cable which, let’s remember, doesn’t provide any power. However, the fact that you can’t leave it charging overnight is irritating.

Now read this: Can I swim with an Apple Watch?