Apple Watch Battery Draining suddenly after Software Update

Same issue. Watch was 100% at 7am, completely dead by 11.30am. Was chatting to Apple support to no avail. I explained it was only occurring after the update. Was told there was nothing wrong and asked was I suggesting there was a correlation between the update and the issue.

** Work Around Suggestion **

Same issues here. First, watch battery dying w/in several hours, then software update not completing (stuck Preparing). All started today, after my phone updated last night. Checked the Battery on my watch and it shot to 100% the moment 17.4.1 installed on my phone. The issues are 100% related to the update.

First I powered off both devices entirely for 5 minutes to clear any connections & cache. Then I powered them both back on. I temporarily disabled bluetooth on my Phone to stop any communications between the two. I then temporarily disabled the "Auto" software update from the phone: Open the Watch App > General > Software Update > Automatic Updates > toggle OFF. Next I deleted the Update from my Watch - On Apple Watch, go to Settings > General Storage > scroll down and touch watchOS 10.4 > Delete. After this, bluetooth on the phone can be enabled again. The update should not auto-anything since that's been disabled. The two won't be on the same OS build but at least the watch stays charged for more than a few hours!

My watch is charging normally again and the phone should not update it automatically, so I'm going to wait a week or two and try again. While isn't a fix, it's a relevant work around to get someone through a 10K this weekend. If the issue doesn't resolve itself in a week or two, give it a few more weeks and an entirely different update will be released.

Well thanks for the solidarity, everyone. I wear my watch all day and night with a quick charge here and there with no issue. I was alerted early evening it needed to be charged so got it back up to 100% before bed because I use it as my alarm. Well you can imagine my surprise when I woke up an hour late to a dead watch 6 hours later. Got it charged again this morning to 100 and it’s already down 15% in an hour!!

I also recently got the iOS update. Watch update is stuck on “preparing”

what gives??

I’m having the same issue. I tried updating the software but it freezes in “preparing” mode. Yesterday it worked fine. Now what?!?

Same issue - my watch lost 80% charge while i was sleeping.

Just recharged it and it has lost 13% of charge in less than an hour, just by wearing it, literally no use besides wearing it.

I can´t update my watch it is stuck in the preparing mode, has been for hours now.

Fix it now

We would update our watches if we could!!

My watch was fully charged overnight, less than 10% after 4 hours wear this morning, recharged to about 75% and back to below 10% less than 2 hours later. iPhone 15 updated to iOS 17.4.1 overnight. Tried to update Apple Watch SE to iOS 10.4 and it is stuck at 60%.

Come on Apple - sort it out!

I have exactly the same issue. Upgraded my phone to 17.4.1 last night. Took my Apple watch off charge this morning as usual. By 2pm watch was on 10% battery. I haven’t used the watch at all, hardly even checked the time. It usually lasts until the following morning. Definitely a compatibility issue between phone IOS 17.4.1 and the watch.

Tried to upgrade Apple Watch but it’s stuck in Preparing.

Apple, what do I do?

We can't - the latest watch software update just gets stuck 'preparing'.

Same problem for me. Upgraded my iPhone to ios 17.4.1 and my Apple watch was dead after 4 hours from 100%. This issue should be solved in the next few days by Apple.

Can we downgrade to 17.4.0?

My watch is doing the same thing and it’s very frustrating! The battery drained so quickly yesterday, I thought that I didn’t charge my watch before leaving the house! Something has got to give!

Same issue. My watch has gone from 100% to 10% twice in one day and it’s only 6pm. Fix this Apple!

Same with me. Updated to iOS 17,4.1 yesterday and battery drained within 4 hours this morning. Recharged it to 100% and 4 hours later it’s dead again!

I’ve had this problem as well. While not an ideal fix. I seem to have found a work around. I restarted my watch and turned off automatic updates. I had to do this a couple of times between my phone and the watch to actually get auto updates to stay off. But my battery has stopped draining.

I’m in exactly the position with Apple Watch SE. Charged yesterday to 100% and dead by morning.

Recharged this morning and dead by 1pm. Recharged again and 5% by 4pm, when not in use and I was stationary. Spoke to Apple by message to be told my battery is fine and to not charge it to 100%.

I can’t update the watch, it’s been stuck on preparing for 2 days. I tried deleting the update and re-downloaded and still nothing.

Apple support were rubbish and I booked an appointment at the Genius Bar but sounds like I’m not alone!

they need to fix this. It’s ridiculous.

I had this problem too however I have just managed to do a SW update on my watch. In the watch app I turned auto update off then on again, after that preparing began advancing and then completed seccessfully. Could just be Apple fixed a problem with the Watch update. I will let you know if this resolves the battery drain problem