unitedskies

Q: Exchange Calendar Sync makes watch unusable

Ever since first installation the watch has been virtually unusable. UI was pretty much jerky most of the time. Calendar and other apps sometimes take forever to startup and load content. Worst part, iPhone gets really hot and drains battery, same on the watch side. The watch battery would not last for more than 4 hours without lot's of interaction. It all seems like there is something going on in the background that makes the processor on both sides constantly run at high performance. My simple test is running the Stopwatch. It runs smoothley just after a reboot, after a while it would start moving very jerky.

 

I have done all kind of test disabling and enabling various features. Turns out what makes the problem go away and the watch works flawlessley if I disable the calendar within my company exchange account. Every other calendar is fine, All other exchange features like e-mail or reminder are fine.

 

Does anyone have an idea what could be happening with the exchange calendar that causes the watch and iPhone processor to go crazy?

Apple Watch, iOS 8.3

Posted on May 20, 2015 2:38 AM

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Q: Exchange Calendar Sync makes watch unusable

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  • by nick101,

    nick101 nick101 May 20, 2015 2:55 AM in response to unitedskies
    Level 5 (5,113 points)
    May 20, 2015 2:55 AM in response to unitedskies

    This could be tricky to diagnose. It sounds as if either the phone or the watch is caught in a loop where it's constantly updating/trying to update. I'd be inclied to suspect the phone, since I assume (maybe wrongly) that the watch-phone interaction is the same regarddless of which calendar).

     

    If I'm right, and it's the phone-to-exchange server connection. maybe deleting and resinstalling the Exchange account would help.

  • by unitedskies,

    unitedskies unitedskies May 20, 2015 3:59 AM in response to unitedskies
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 20, 2015 3:59 AM in response to unitedskies

    Good point. I have tried deleting and re-adding my exchange account. Same result. One other data point, one of my coworkers has exactly the same behaviour oh his watch. He syncs with the same corporate exchange server.

  • by nick101,

    nick101 nick101 May 20, 2015 4:36 AM in response to unitedskies
    Level 5 (5,113 points)
    May 20, 2015 4:36 AM in response to unitedskies

    A couple of other things to try, in order of increasing effort:

     

    1. On the phone, reset all the network settings. That might give a kick to whatever is hogging in the background

    2. Rest the watch to factory settings; restart the phone. Re-pair the watch and set it up as new.

     

    Fingers crossed

  • by unitedskies,

    unitedskies unitedskies May 20, 2015 12:18 PM in response to unitedskies
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 20, 2015 12:18 PM in response to unitedskies

    Unfortunately, this did not do the trick. Still the same behavior as soon as I activate my exchange calendar. This however prompted me to do some more tests that might suggest the problem lies within the watch as apposed to the phone.

     

    My standard test is run the stopwatch an see if it runs smoothly or not. So once I reactive my exchange calendar the stopwatch runs jerky. Now, does it return to smooth operation once I deactivate the calendar? No, it does not. I even tried putting my phone in Airplane mode so it isn't connected anymore. Still jerky. After that I force quit the calendar and mail application on the watch. Still jerky. Only after a reboot does the stopwatch return to smooth operation.

     

    So my guess would now be that the exchange calendar sync triggers some sort of background operation on the watch that runs in a loop and does not come out of unless you do a reboot. It isn't the calendar application itself.

  • by unitedskies,

    unitedskies unitedskies May 24, 2015 2:14 PM in response to unitedskies
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 24, 2015 2:14 PM in response to unitedskies

    I finally solved the problem I was having. Turns out is was the calendar syncing to my corporate exchange account. apparently I had at least one corrupt calendar item in my outlook account which apparently forces the watch to constantly try to sync this item. I suspect it being one of the messages you get when someone accepts a calendar invite. I cleaned up my inbox and made sure there where no more accepted messages. The watch runs perfectly now, battery life is much better than I had expected. After a full day of normal wear and interaction I am at about 70%. This seems to be something that happen frequently, I now know of two other co workers who had exactly the same issue.

  • by EbE404,

    EbE404 EbE404 May 28, 2015 4:35 PM in response to unitedskies
    Level 1 (15 points)
    May 28, 2015 4:35 PM in response to unitedskies

    Thank you for posting this. I ordered two watches for my wife and myself, mine showed up early so I let her use mine for a few weeks until her's showed up a couple of days ago. She had no battery issues, but when I reset the watch and configured it for my use, I noticed that I was absolutely hemorrhaging battery life (I was at 35% after 6 hours with very moderate use)- something that she did not experience. Since she hadn't had a problem and it started when I began using it, a hardware issue seemed unlikely.

     

    I have an Exchange account that I use for email but not Calendar, Reminders, or Notes- however, those were set to sync on my phone and to the Watch. I did not have any Calendar entries, but after deactivating the sync for everything other than email and rebooting both devices, the battery drain appears to have stopped. I will need to keep an eye on it for a couple of days to see how substantial of a difference this actually makes, but this definitely seems like a bug.

  • by EbE404,

    EbE404 EbE404 May 29, 2015 2:24 PM in response to unitedskies
    Level 1 (15 points)
    May 29, 2015 2:24 PM in response to unitedskies

    Well, I can confirm that this was the issue that I was having. Yesterday, with the Exchange Calendar sync active, I was at 38% battery after 6 hours. Today, after turning off the sync (and actually tuning things like animations back on), after 12 hours I am at 62% battery life.

     

    There is definitely something amiss with something in Exchange Calendar sync.

  • by unitedskies,

    unitedskies unitedskies May 29, 2015 3:43 PM in response to EbE404
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 29, 2015 3:43 PM in response to EbE404

    It is definitely the exchange sync. However permanently tuning that off was not an option for me.

     

    Try cleaning up your Outlook Mailbox on your desktop client. Remove all Email Messages you have in your inbox where someone accepted or declined any of your calendar invites. This is what solved my problem. My watch has been running perfectly for a week now with exchange calendar sync turned back on. After 12 hours I also have more than 50% charge.

  • by Moppermokum,

    Moppermokum Moppermokum Jun 5, 2015 1:39 PM in response to unitedskies
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 5, 2015 1:39 PM in response to unitedskies

    I don't know how you found this out, but it is great that you did. I was having the same problem. About 6-7 hrs battery life, my iPhone drained quickly as well. After I read your post, I checked my stopwatch - also not smooth. So, I removed all "Accepted" and "Declined" emails from my company mail box, and now all seems well again. I hope this doesn't come back too often - but at least there is a simple remedy... Thanks a lot!

  • by unitedskies,

    unitedskies unitedskies Jun 5, 2015 11:29 PM in response to Moppermokum
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 5, 2015 11:29 PM in response to Moppermokum

    Isn't this strange? The solution seems too crazy to even try. I have created a rule in my Outlook Mail account where all accept and declined replies get pushed into a separate folder right away. This folder does not sync with my phone or watch, I do get the calendar notifications, just not the e-mail. The problem has never returned since, have been using the watch for over two weeks now.

  • by Rainbow18,

    Rainbow18 Rainbow18 Jun 14, 2015 9:06 PM in response to unitedskies
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 14, 2015 9:06 PM in response to unitedskies

    Thank you for finding this solution...it worked for me too.  Bizarre...I have no idea why it works or how you discovered this..  I went to my inbox and deleted (or could have moved to another folder) all emails that are responses to invitations.  I deleted all emails that have the Subject line of the email begin with "Accepted:", "Declined:", and "Tentative:".  This immediately worked for me!  I now have events posting to the Watch face and the calendar within the Watch is finally populated!  Also, I just created a rule within Outlook inbox that will automatically move future incoming messages with Accepted, Declined, and Tentative to a separate folder as you suggested.  Thank you!

  • by bray386,

    bray386 bray386 Jun 15, 2015 3:12 PM in response to unitedskies
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 15, 2015 3:12 PM in response to unitedskies

    You, my friend, are a genius !!

    This corrected my watch not syncing with my calendar events.  I only use Exchange and the iphone calendar.

     

    THANKS !!

  • by CrispyYak,

    CrispyYak CrispyYak Jun 18, 2015 8:53 AM in response to unitedskies
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 18, 2015 8:53 AM in response to unitedskies

    Unfortunately I have the same problem, but the meeting response fix isn't working for me.   Everything is good until I activate my Exchange calendar and then I can virtually watch my battery drain.  Any solutions others have come across?

  • by Moppermokum,

    Moppermokum Moppermokum Jun 19, 2015 11:43 PM in response to CrispyYak
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 19, 2015 11:43 PM in response to CrispyYak

    Hi CrispyYak, I've had a second occurrence of the issue, and it wasn't fixed as easily either. It was finally fixed when I first archived my exchange calendar for any items older than today and removed all my messages from my outlook inbox to a folder that is not replicated to my iphone. I then unpaired and paired my watch again, and the issue was gone. Perhaps that is something you should try as well...

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