apple watch battery draining after update

The same thing happened to me. Series 4. A month or so after I got 5.2, my battery started draining super quickly. After normal use, I used to get 60% or so leftover battery at the end of the day. After the drain started, it drained and turned off on its own by 7-8pm.

I took it to the store, they of course ran 2 minute diagnostic and they said the physical hardware is fine. They gave me the standard battery saving "tips", even though my usage patterns did not change before and after the issue started.

I tried a complete wipe and reset as new, didn't help. I wiped again and did not install any third party apps, I turned off background refresh, I kept it in airplane mode, I did not set up cellular, nothing helped. I upgraded to 5.2.1 when it came out, same deal.

I took it to the store again, they ran the same diagnostic, the person assisting me said "I see something in the background is draining your battery". The person assisting me gave me the same stale tips about apps and background refresh. I insisted that those did not help me, and then they shipped it off to the repair center. Less than 24 hours after they got it, they sent it back to the store with "couldn't replicate issue". I assume they ran the same superficial diagnostic instead of wearing it for a couple of hours to see the battery drop dead in front of their eyes.

I'm about to go pick it up from the store today, and I am not happy at all with how it was handled.

I understand that it's not something inherently wrong. I did not accuse Apple of badly designing watchOS or putting in "hidden/bad code" to ruin the battery life. This is an issue that only a small amount of users are experiencing. I deduced that it might be a software issue since Apple's own hardware diagnostic told them that the physical battery is at top (100%) health.

I already did what you suggested. I went to the Apple Store, I told them exactly what has been going on, I gave them info on how much my Watch used to last before the bug appeared and after it did, I even showed them my useage statistics as I recorded them before and after each suggested fix (watch wipe and reset, no use of 3rd party apps, airplane mode). The person on the Genius bar agreed with me that their in-store diagnostic showed significant and unexplained battery useage. However, when the device was sent to the repair center, it was sent back as "couldn't replicate" less than 24hrs after they received it. Including shipping times in between, there is no chance that an actual technician wore the Watch for 10 hours to see it die from 100% to 10% battery life with "regular/expected" use.

In my opinion, there are three points of "failure" in any device. Software, Hardware, and User. Apple ruled out hardware failure. My careful logigng of the actions I take on my Watch, the apps I install, and the wipe to factory settings takes away most "User" points of failure. The only thing that has not been extensively tested on my specific device is the software itself. If there is a bug that affects a small number of devices, a bug that persists through a factory erase, then that's something that needs to be looked at. Given that the end user has no way to truly wipe and reinstall the Watch from scratch, this is something Apple needs to assist me with.

Telling me or other users to do what I or they already did (carefully document my situation), and then giving a very vague statement about "use consumer law" feels patronizing. I don't want to be combative with Apple - I was courteous and professional. I am just asking further advice on how to re-approach Apple in a way that they can actually test my Watch and investiate my issue beyond just a standard "have you tried turning it off and on" or "I see the hardware battery life is 100% so there is no issue".

I am having the same issue. Right after I did the update the battery life has dramatically dropped. I now have to try to charge it throughout the day or it won’t make it to 10:00 pm. Very disappointing. Before the update I would have around 30% battery at bed time. We need a new update to fix the software issue

I suggest you start by getting some real numbers for battery life, and compare with the 18 hours life under Apple’s standard conditions, Apple Watch - Battery - Apple

Your watch is still within 12 month warranty, so you have plenty of time to gather the evidence you need to reject it.

I think you are wrong about this being something in Apple's software, because we see relatively few complaints about a very high selling device. If it was software or something inherent in the design of the watch it would be expected to impact every watch user - certainly hundreds of thousands maybe millions, not the few tens of complaints here in ASC. (I've not counted every single complaint here but I look at most threads and my subjective impression is still not into hundreds).

As I suggested above, get some real usage statistics you can compare with Apple Watch - Battery - Apple then if you think the watch is not performing to the claimed quality, use the evidence to make a warranty replacement claim or use consumer law as appropriate to where you live.

I have a series 3 watch and before last saturday my watch lasted 2 full days before it needed to be charged. I applied the update saturday afternoon and ever since, it will barely last 14 hours before its under 10%. ive always had all of the 'extras' disabled like raise to view, its always in silence mode, and i only use it to check messages and any notifications which may pop up. i've tried re-pairing it with my phone, ive wiped it and reset it up as new a couple of times and its still below 10% by 8pm at night. im hoping theres a correction in the next update

I'm not about raising pitchfork mobs. Apple has serviced my other devices quickly and professionally in the past, and I don't want to be part of a hate train. I got my Watch back as "could not replicate the issue", and it's still draining very fast (>15% an hour even when doing absolutely nothing) even after I paired it as a new Watch to a new iPhone.

I'm at a loss on how to explain my problem to the Apple Genius / repair center technician without them just dismissing it after the quick 2 minute hardware scan comes clean. It's probably something in the core OS that's messed up, and since I cannot truly wipe/reinstall the OS at home, I need them to do it for me and see if that works.

I just got mine a couple of weeks ago after giving my s3 to my mother for mother's day. Then, just a couple of days ago (5-23-19), it started draining very quickly. I haven't changed any of my use habits from before. I'm almost convinced it has to be an OS issue causing it. Mine is BRAND NEW and I'm having these same issues. Hopefully it is something they acknowledge and address fairly quickly because when these things can't even last a 18-24 hr cycle (my s3 regularly lasted 48 hrs), it makes them almost useless (or at the very least, way over priced). Someone update if they hear of anything or figure out some fix.

Same here.. very disappointed. My V4 watch was lasting more then 48 hours without any air plane mode till I have upgraded to 5.1.3 and beyond. From that point it’s getting crazy.. some times it lasts 52 hours (air plane at sleep time), sometimes it lasts 15 hours.. my usage is below minimum.. there is no logical reason behind this behavior.

i have contacted apple support and the hw diagnostic did not find any issues.

i have collected some battery behaves but when I have tried calling apple again to send this info no one called me back.

i believe there is a huge bug here that apple ignores. New features were not introduced in 5.1.3 and beyond, just bug fixes, and something is consuming too much power.. and yes I have tried every method like reset per as new using only the default apps and so, shuttling down app refresh music downloads.. basically turning the smart watch into a dumb watch .. nothing helped. You can read about those kind of problems on every apple forum.. bottom line very disappointing. Don’t think I will ever buy such a watch again. Instead of enjoying I am busy keeping it alive ..

ibrangerz wrote:

[snip]

The only thing that has not been extensively tested on my specific device is the software itself. If there is a bug that affects a small number of devices, a bug that persists through a factory erase, then that's something that needs to be looked at. Given that the end user has no way to truly wipe and reinstall the Watch from scratch, this is something Apple needs to assist me with.

Everyone uses exactly the same software, and the hardware is nominally identical within each model (two variants, cellular or not) so unless a software function or bug is specific to individual serial numbers every device can be expected to behave the same way. The only possible variations are in settings or third party software installed on the device.

Telling me or other users to do what I or they already did (carefully document my situation), and then giving a very vague statement about "use consumer law" feels patronizing. I don't want to be combative with Apple - I was courteous and professional. I am just asking further advice on how to re-approach Apple in a way that they can actually test my Watch and investiate my issue beyond just a standard "have you tried turning it off and on" or "I see the hardware battery life is 100% so there is no issue".

I think you missed my point. I understand from your comments that after you made contact direct with Apple Support they have been unable or unwilling to resolve the problem, and you are left with a device which is pretty much unusable, does not meet the advertised description, and not fit for purpose. If they won't offer to swap it so you can test a different specimen you need to escalate to a bigger stick which will force the issue.

Well just think about that ..

the hw was tested through diagnostic files sent through my iPhone . No issue was found . While using 5.1.2 every thing was perfect . From 5.1.3 the battery drain started. Just look at the last charge log I have collected:

the watch lasted 24 hours doing nothing while 12 out of it was on air plane mode . Is this normal ..? I don’t think so. 3-4 days ago I have purchased v3 to one of my sons . He never updated the OS and his watch lasts 3 days between charges.

now if the hw of my watch has an issue I would expect that the diag files would show this, but they are not ..

more then that .. my older boy had v4 too. He never upgraded and stayed in 5.1.2. His watch lasts between 35-48 h depends on usage.

look ok at this log, this is my watch from last night till now.

Charge 7

9:00 pm 100 wi fi

11:30 pm 87 plane mode 

11:00 am 73 out of plane mode wi fi

11:33 am 69 wi fi

12:00 pm 66 wi fi

12:25 pm 63 wi fi

1:07 pm 58 wi fi

2:20 pm 50 wi fi

6:03 pm 23 wi fi 

7:03 pm 15 wi fi

7:46 pm 8 wi fi

9:00 pm watch died 

24 hours 12 ! Hours in plain mode

What I have also noticed that pair as new might help on the first charge but right after it goes down again ..

so look at this logs :

pair as new reset all my network as advised by apple support. Charge 1 great charge 2 not that great but ok charge 3 bad performance.. how can that be explained?

Charge 1

————-

6:30 pm 100 wi fi till 7:00

8:15 pm 100 no wi fi

10:30 pm 98 no wi fi

wi fi from 10:30 till 11:44

11:44 pm 96 started air plane mode

8:10 am 87 out of air plane mode

8:40 am 86 no wi fi 

12:00 pm 79 no wi fi

16:00 pm 74 no wi fi

19:35 66 with wi fi

9:08 am (after air plane from 11:30 pm) 48 wi fi out of air plain

12:20 pm 42 no wi fi

16:00 33 no wi fi, after 30 minutes walk and akg.

17:15 32 no wi fi getting into plain mode 

18:30 28 out of plain mode 

21:30 19 with wi fi

More then 48 hours on normal use

Charge 2

—————-

10:20 am 100 no wi fi

12:40 pm 100 no wi fi

2:26 pm 99 no wi fi, 10 min walking, music on iPhone 

4:00 pm 95 no wi fi music on iPhone 

5:00 pm 94 no wi fi

7:30 Pm 84 wi fi

8:00 pm 81 wi fi

9:30 Pm 71 wi fi

10:00 pm 66 wi fi

11:00 pm 60 wi fi

11:25 pm 57 wi fi entering air plane

8:15 am 47 wi fi out of air plane

8:28 am 46 no wi fi

10:20 am 40 no wi fi

Reset to Bluetooth on iPhone to see if makes a difference 

11:50 am 37 no wi fi music on phone 

14:40 32 no wi fi

16:12 28 no wi fi

18:20 19 wi fi

19:05 13 wi f

Drops to proximity 32 hours normal use

Charge 3

—————

10:18 am 100 with wi fi

11:50 am 96 no win fi

Bluetooth reset on iPhone to see if makes a difference 

1:08 pm 86 no wi fi

2:10 pm 79 no wi fi 

3:10 pm 71 wi fi

4:00 pm Performed hard reset on iPhone .

and watch to see if it makes a difference.

4:04 pm 65 wi fi

5:20 pm 56 wi fi

6:57 pm 46 wi fi not wearing 

8:04 pm 39 wi fi

9:40 pm 28 wi fi

00:38 am 9 with air plane started on 11:30 pm

Watch died around 01:00 am 

Drops to 15 hours !! Not even the 18 hours by apple

I have the same issue, did the last update and it installed some walkie talkie app. My watch would last two days and still have 15% battery. Now I take it off the charger and within 1hour I’m at less than 50%

Very frustrating and the watch is only two years old. I’ve reset it, set it up as new etc... same issues.

Hey guys, funny update from my Watch today.

I had some intensive yardwork, and since I was not wearing sleeves, I thought I'd take off my Watch to keep it safe. When I took it off, it had 74% battery remaining. I turned it OFF (no power reserve, no airplane, straight up OFF), and when I put it back on about 4 hours later, it booted up at 55% battery. Fun! I kept it on for a few minutes (it dropped to 52% during that time), then turned it off again, took it off, and resumed yardwork. After another 4-5 hours, I put it back on and it was down to 27%.

So it looks like it's draining when it's completely off too? That sounds crazy. I'm going back to the Apple Store sometime this week, let's see if they have anything to say about that.

I would try a very simple test to see how much power is consumed just by a shutdown and reboot. Start with the watch at some level below 100% so you know the battery level is not maxed out then power off, give it 5 minutes or so and power up again. Restart should not take more than a few percent off the battery (my test on a Series 3 dropped 1%), double digit drop is unacceptable so if you can get this as a reproducible demonstration it is a very short visit to the Apple Store rather than having to wait for several hours.