falloutgirl91

Q: Watch OS 3 Draining Battery Very Quickly

Since updating to Watch OS 3 last night, my Watch's battery life depletes ridiculously fast. Every 20 mins, I witness a battery drain of at least 4-5% without usage. It is even worse when I am using the workout app. I have turned off background app refresh and the problem still stays. I've also tried rebooting the phone & watch as well as unpaired and restored from backup. Still nothing. 

<Edited by Host>


iPhone 6s, iOS 10

Posted on Sep 14, 2016 3:36 AM

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Q: Watch OS 3 Draining Battery Very Quickly

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  • by Jonathan UK,

    Jonathan UK Jonathan UK Sep 14, 2016 3:40 AM in response to falloutgirl91
    Level 8 (36,432 points)
    Apple Watch
    Sep 14, 2016 3:40 AM in response to falloutgirl91

    Hi

     

    Battery life varies depending on use and other factors.

     

    In tests, for example, Apple achieved 18 hours of battery life with the following usage: 90 time checks, 90 notifications, 45 minutes of app use and a 30-minute workout with music playback from Apple Watch via Bluetooth.

     

    As you have already tried unpairing and re-pairing your watch, the following further steps may help:

     

     

    • Check for and install any available updates for third-party apps on your iPhone and watch.

     

    • Check that you do not have a workout running or paused in the built-in Workout app.

     

    • If you have ever (not necessarily only recently) previously used any third-party fitness tracking apps such as Strava to record workouts on your watch, check on your watch to see whether there is presently a paused activity within any of those apps. If there is, end that activity from within that app on your watch (not on your iPhone).
      • If in doubt, it may help to remove any such third-party fitness app from your watch.

     

    • Under earlier software versions, some users reported experiencing battery life issues in connection with using corporate profiles and/or Exchange Calendars. If you are using an Exchange Calendar, one or more of these steps may help:
      • Archive your Exchange Calendar for all items before today.
      • Remove / delete all old inbox messages relating to calendar invites (accept and decline notifications).
      • Create a rule in your Outlook Mail account that moves all future accept and decline replies, immediately upon receipt, into a separate mail folder that does not sync with your iPhone and Apple Watch.
      • Check your Exchange Calendar for errors.

     

    • Finally, it may help to remove all third-party apps from your watch and then monitor battery performance after adding them back, one at a time. The same applies in respect of watch face complications.

     

    Having tried the previous steps, if your watch continues to experience significantly shorter battery life than Apple's examples suggest you should expect, contact Apple Support (mail-in service may be available) or make a Genius Bar reservation with a view to having your watch checked, if recommended by Apple (under warranty, if eligible):

     

     

    More information:

    http://www.apple.com/watch/battery.html

  • by srsilva,

    srsilva srsilva Sep 14, 2016 4:00 AM in response to falloutgirl91
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Apple Watch
    Sep 14, 2016 4:00 AM in response to falloutgirl91

    Please, if you could reply with more information about your watch's battery life it would be great! Thanks

  • by Jonathan UK,

    Jonathan UK Jonathan UK Sep 14, 2016 4:04 AM in response to srsilva
    Level 8 (36,432 points)
    Apple Watch
    Sep 14, 2016 4:04 AM in response to srsilva

    Examples of expected battery life are provided in the article linked at the bottom of my previous reply.

  • by srsilva,

    srsilva srsilva Sep 14, 2016 5:41 AM in response to Jonathan UK
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Apple Watch
    Sep 14, 2016 5:41 AM in response to Jonathan UK

    Hi Jonathan, thank you for your reply.

     

    I undestand that apple provides general information about the battery duration while performing some usual tasks; what I would like is to have information from someone that already used the watch on previous version of WatchOS and now have upgraded and continue using the same applications in the new OS.

  • by Tshanks,Helpful

    Tshanks Tshanks Sep 14, 2016 10:52 AM in response to falloutgirl91
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Apple Watch
    Sep 14, 2016 10:52 AM in response to falloutgirl91

    I have the exact same problem. Installed Watch OS 3 last night and on a full charge with minimal usage it drained in about 4 hours. It has been sitting on my wrist silently all morning and other then looking at the clock face to tell the time it has not been used. Previously I could get through the whole without a charge.

  • by clyde2575,

    clyde2575 clyde2575 Sep 14, 2016 2:22 PM in response to falloutgirl91
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apple Watch
    Sep 14, 2016 2:22 PM in response to falloutgirl91

    The same thing is happening to me. 

  • by Mike Eversoll,

    Mike Eversoll Mike Eversoll Sep 14, 2016 2:52 PM in response to falloutgirl91
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 14, 2016 2:52 PM in response to falloutgirl91

    I have the bare minimum added to my watch. I've removed access from third party applications, and my battery before WatchOS 3, would be at 60% by 5:30pm. Today at 5:30pm, the battery went to 13%.

     

    and going from power reserve mode to reboot, it used another 4% battery in 20 minutes.

  • by tboerner,

    tboerner tboerner Sep 14, 2016 5:20 PM in response to falloutgirl91
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 14, 2016 5:20 PM in response to falloutgirl91

    Yesterday I made the same bad experience. After installing watch OS 3 I created a new face based at the "Simple" theme using the complications: messages, calendar, heart rate and weather (temperature).

    After 12 hours of normal use (no hard working or moving or so...) the batterie runs out of energy. After reloading the watch and switching back to my former favorite theme "Chronograph" the watch looses 8 percent of batteriy life during 6 hours... The configured complications are moonphase, activity, temperature and the horrible always automatic on-switching timer.

    By the way: is it possible to use the Chronograph-theme without the app in the upper right corner?

  • by hawtboi,

    hawtboi hawtboi Sep 14, 2016 6:37 PM in response to Jonathan UK
    Level 1 (10 points)
    iTunes
    Sep 14, 2016 6:37 PM in response to Jonathan UK

    @Jonathan UK, crappy answer...

     

    I have the same problem since updating to Watch OS 3. Had to disable Weather and Ecobee complications, disabled heart rate monitor and fitness monitors, changed to single color face and disabled other stuff I have no real use of. It got better but not as good as it was with Watch OS 2.

  • by iwillsurvive,

    iwillsurvive iwillsurvive Sep 14, 2016 7:18 PM in response to falloutgirl91
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Apple Watch
    Sep 14, 2016 7:18 PM in response to falloutgirl91

    Same problem here. I have Strava but haven't used it ever since I updated to OS 3 so I'm not sure it's the one to blame

  • by BertingAP,

    BertingAP BertingAP Sep 14, 2016 9:31 PM in response to falloutgirl91
    Level 1 (31 points)
    Apple Pay
    Sep 14, 2016 9:31 PM in response to falloutgirl91

    I used my watch all day today as usual and noticed a little more battery drain, but not much. Today I was down to 35% at the end of the day where before it was about 40% on average. As is often the case with a new Apple OS there will probably be a fix for this in a few weeks.

  • by koocmj,

    koocmj koocmj Sep 14, 2016 10:31 PM in response to falloutgirl91
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Sep 14, 2016 10:31 PM in response to falloutgirl91

    YYesterday was my first day out with watch os 3. Normally I had 30 percent battery at the end of the day.  Yesterday it was 10%!

     

    even allowing for more use because it was a new os, this is a big shift.  It has also seen my iPhone 6 battery die very quickly.

     

    digging around, I see Apple have now allowed apps to background refresh.  Maybe this is using the extra battery.

     

    every app by default seems to background refresh.  I have disabled this for most apps, except the ones I use regularly.  I will see what difference that makes.

  • by hansfromobdam,

    hansfromobdam hansfromobdam Sep 15, 2016 12:57 AM in response to falloutgirl91
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apple Watch
    Sep 15, 2016 12:57 AM in response to falloutgirl91

    Same problem here, 4 hours after taking it from the charger the watch has only 50% left.

  • by srsilva,

    srsilva srsilva Sep 15, 2016 2:14 AM in response to hansfromobdam
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Apple Watch
    Sep 15, 2016 2:14 AM in response to hansfromobdam

    This is a massive complain, its not random; Apple have to release a new version quickly with some fix for this, even that it have to go back (or find an intermediate solution) with this new (??) feature that allows apps in background to improve launch speed...

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