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Reduced battery life after updating watchOS

If you experience significantly reduced battery life on Apple Watch after updating watchOS, these steps may help:

 

1. Check for a paused workout

 

When viewing the time on your watch, check for a status icon of a runner at the top of the watch face:

runner-2.jpg

If you see this runner icon on your watch face:

 

  • A paused activity within the Workout app and/or within a third-party fitness app such as Strava may be causing the battery life issue.
  • Open each fitness app on your watch to check.
  • If you find a paused activity / workout, end it from within that app on your Apple Watch (not on your iPhone).
  • You may find that battery life immediately returns to normal, with no need to follow any further steps.

 

If you do not see this icon, move on to the next step.

 

2. Restart iPhone and Apple Watch

 

Next try restarting both your iPhone and Apple Watch:

 

  • Turn both devices off together, then restart your iPhone first.
  • To turn your watch off: press and hold the side button until you see the Power Off slider; drag it to turn off.
  • To turn it back on: press and hold the side button until you see the Apple logo.

 

3. Unpair and re-pair Apple Watch

 

If restarting does not help, next try unpairing and re-pairing your watch. The Watch app on iPhone takes watch backups automatically, including a fresh one when unpairing. When setting up your watch again, choose Restore from Backup when offered the option. Most data and settings will be restored, with some exceptions (eg Apple Pay cards, passcode).

 

 

4. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

 

More generally, for the best performance from Apple Watch (including the most power-efficient communication with your iPhone), keep both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth permanently enabled on your iPhone.

 

 

This user tip was generated from the following discussion: Battery Life Terrible After Updating To WatchOS 2.2

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