Massive battery drain after WatchOS 5.2 update

I took my watch to the local Apple Store. They were really great, ran a complete series of diagnostics on the watch all of which came back perfect. At this point my battery was lasting only two hours because I was leaving town and needed a watch I bought a new Series 4. BTW The new series 4 is much better than my Series 2 . However, I will not be updating to watchOS 5.2 1. LOL

I have tried it all to fix this issue. My battery used to last all day. I am having to recharge at noon now. I just went into the watch app on my phone and turned off the Background App Refresh and it's definitely helping.

I have tried it all to fix this issue. My battery used to last all day. I am having to recharge at noon now. I just went into the watch app on my phone and turned off the Background App Refresh and it's definitely helping.

I also never had any battery drain issues until 5.2.1 on my 44mm series 4 and 12.3.1 on my iPhone XS Max. I put my watch on anywhere between 5:30 and 6:30 am every day. Before the update, I would get at the minimum one and a half to two days out of the watch if necessary but generally charge it nightly. I charge my watch on the Apple charger nightly 95% of the time and battery level was always between 50% - 60% pre update when i put it on the charger. Since the update, My watch has been between 20% - 30% by 8pm. I currently show 47 minutes of usage and 2 hours 9 minutes on standby time and my battery is at 94%. I’ve turned off background app refresh and removed any apps that I never use on my watch. Very frustrated at this point as there is pretty much no way I can get a full day out of it if I use it all day and need it at night and I have yet to test it using cellular, not confident at all that I could get even half a day if I want to leave my phone at home. Hoping the next update fixes it.

So shortly after my post I went to the Apple store where they said the battery is advertised to last 18 hours. They were also able to look at the battery usage since I last synced as a new watch and it showed what they considered mine to have a normal battery drain. The said I could send it for repair which, since I did not have Apple care, would cost $200. I promptly left the store with my draining watch.

While backing up my iPhone 6 I noticed there was another phone update so I did that and setup my watch again as a new watch. There was no change in the battery drain, by 5pm the watch was complaining of a low battery. I use a timer nightly to charge the watch and phone so they are not over charged but ready for the day.

Then, almost a week after my Apple store visit and I noticed that my watch battery was back to normal. The iwatch seems to last two days now. I have no idea the change but these are the steps I took.

I would recommend that if your watch is having similar issues that you stay the course and see if the watch goes back to normal also. I don't plan to update the watch anytime soon. It is 4:30pm and I am at 76%! Good luck all.

I’m having a similar experience. Last night before I came to work, my series 4 watch (running 5.2.1) was at 100%. Right now as I write this it is at 13%. It hasn’t even been a full 12 hours since I’ve been at work.

I have experienced this issue a few times over the last few weeks. I am not doing anything different and I have tried unpairing and pairing my watch and this has not corrected the issue. Do to the odd charging device I am often left with a dead watch on my wrist in the late afternoon. This is extremely frustrating and I have researched on how to fix it and am unable to determine how to repair this issue!!! Please help!!!!

Same. Ever since the update, my watch has been dead by the end of the day when it normally has around 50%. I have reset my setting, disconnected it from my phone and it still is dying fast. It was fully charged and now, 2 hour shift later it is already down to 71%.

I believe I discovered what is causing the drain on my watch (second version). After restarting, and paring/unpairing with no change whatsoever, I finally turned off heartbeat monitoring with the new atrial fib notification. Bam, battery life restored.

I have unpaired, wiped, turned off the afib monitoring and nothing has really helped. Now when I try to check for an update, it says that it is unable to check for updates because it isn’t connected to the internet.

I'm having same problems. I updated to 5.2.1. battery barely makes it thru an 8hr workday now, whereas is used to last at least a 15hr work day and still have 40-50% charge left. I have gone thru and tried everything: hard re-starts, un-pair/re-pair, complete wipe and reset/pair. Any advice on what to try next?

Same here. I updated my watch s4 to the 5.2.1 update and my battery drains really fast. It doesn’t even last me for work. I have tried everything. Resetting it. Turning it off and on and even unpairing it.

I am still experiencing the issue. Done the rest several times. Un-paired and re-paired to my phone 3 times. Still horrid battery life. Is there any way to just reset it back to the previous update? I just got this s4 and don't want to have to send it in

You seem to have tried all the user level fixes, and there is no way to downgrade the software (I don’t think that would work anyway). The only escalation is to get the device checked by Apple, use link Contact Support and enforce your warranty rights.

Ideally you want to go for a Genius Bar appointment where you can speak to a human and show the usage history you have experienced since the watch was last charged. Simply sending it in means they reload software and do a basic health check... probably missing all the other factors.

Same here, i can start at 6am with 100%, I work from home so little drain and go for a run a 2pm with it in workout mode and playing music and by 6pm, I'm at 10%. I can't wear it a full day and before the update, i could easily do 2 to almost 3 days with one charge.