Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT
Ever since I downloaded the new update on my Apple Watch the battery is draining fast. I took it to the Apple Store they sent it away. I got it back today and it’s still doing the same thing. I literally turned everything off, rebooted and set it up as a new watch and I still have the same problem. Does anyone else have this problem?
Apple Watch Series 4, watchOS 5
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.
Update on my Watch. I went back to the store and carefully explained my battery drain issue once more, giving them %, telling them about the fact that it drained even when it was off, etc, etc. The apple genius that helped me took careful notes, since she could see I had it already sent for a repair once. They shipped it off to the depot once again, and I was just informed that they're sending me a replacement unit.
Those of you that go to the store, make sure you've already checked off all the boxes. Remove any third party apps, disable background refresh, and don't have an active cellular connection. Let the watch do its thing for a day or two while it's as vanilla as possible. That'll help persuade the person assisting you that you've already tried every single trick in the battery saving book but you're still experiencing unnatural drain. Keep a good log of how quickly your Watch drains. Write down your % every hour. See if yours also drains while it's turned off. Record that. I think that this helped me a lot during this third visit to the store than the previous times.
Sadly, I was not told exactly what was causing the issue (runaway software? something in the hardware that tripped the battery?), so I am not much help in diagnosing the exact problem. The fact that they replaced my unit points to something really weird ~ either that, or they decided to just write it off given that it's the second time in a month I sent it for a repair. I assume that the replacement unit will behave. If not, I'll post here. Best of luck everyone.
Ever since the last upgrade (to 5.2.1) my watch drains before the end of the day if I workout. It will go into power reserve sometimes by 5 pm. Totally unhappy and just assumed Apple would realize they created an issue and there would be a fix in the next upgrade. But after reading all these comments, I'm not feeling too hopeful.
I had mine set back to the factory and was told my battery is just fine. Of course the battery is fine it’s the update that’s the problem. How many of us have to have the same problem before they will come up with an answer
I am also having this problem post os 5.3 update. I was able to wear my watch all day with battery remaining before plugging it in before bed. However, the last 3 days it has drained before 3 p.m.! I turned off the background app refresh which wasn’t an issuer prior and did a restore. The battery still seems to be quickly draining. I am going to start keeping data prior to sending it in to apple but wanted to chime in that this last update may have caused some battery draining issues.
Mine has too!!! I put it on at 6:30 am, by 12pm it’s 10% and telling me to put it in power down mode! The day before update, my watched (3 series) last till next day at noon before needing to be charged. This update has upset me, I had nooooo issues till this new update. Fix it Apple please!
My Apple Watch 4 is only a couple months old. It was working fine until the recent update to fix the walkie-talkie issue. Now the battery drains constantly. Nothing suggested here seems to help. Why do these updates if they have not been fully researched? Very frustrating... Now I have to go to an Apple store...
We all have strange battery issues that no one really explains ..
my son has a new several months watch 3, sometimes he goes to sleep with100% while watch is on the table, and wakes up with 0 .. I have watch 4 with last update, sometimes the watch lasts 2.5 days, with all day hiking, sometimes it lasts a day without doing anything..
after researching and being with apple several times on the phone , I can assure you, support people don’t know more then me about this issue. We checked WiFi yes or no/ resetting, pair as new, backup restore and so.
i assume there are some conditions when the watch is doing something in the background which we are not aware of, or simply bugs on the OS like trying to download stuff without being connected to power or WiFi and so.
so what next ..? If you leave it .. it’s suddenly starts working again properly.. I know it’s a bad answer .. but it is what it is.. unfortunately does not look like a steady product.
I had the exact same problem with the battery dying before the end of the day. I found a fix at least for me. I went into Siri and turned off the Siri link to all of my apps. I didn’t notice it before but it seems that the update has tried to integrate Siri into each app and I think it’s causing the watch battery to drain quickly.
On my phone, I went to “Settings,” (the general settings for the phone, not the watch) then to “Siri & Search,” then I scrolled down to where it mentions that Siri can make suggestions in each app listed. I then turned off Siri suggestions for every one of those apps listed. I had to turn off each individually. It’s now been a couple of days and I’m not having the battery drain problem on my watch.
my series 3 went just like yours from literally going 48+ hours (no excessive use) to not staying charged more than 12 hours no excessive use . this happened overnight. 2 weeks ago i rode 50 miles on saturday and still had battery until sunday night. i don't know what is going on please let me know. i am very disappointed with loss of life I knew it was too good to be true. i was so amazed and happy with my watch and battery life right now after 9 hours it's 36%
I turned off all notifications and I found when I raise my watch to look at the time that drains it so I’ve found myself limiting the time I look at the time. ( somehow I think that’s what the watch is for) but I can stretch my battery to 12 hours by doing that. I sure wish they would come up with an update to cure this. I feel I’m not getting to use my expensive watch for what I bought it for
I updated my watch 4 to v 5.3.1 last night and I am running iOS 13.1 beta on my phone. Today, my battery drained by 3 pm. I went into the settings on my phone (for the phone, not the watch) under Notifications, every app was turned on for Siri Suggestions. Not sure if it was like that before, but I turned them all off and hopefully this will work.
Mines exactly the same, since getting iOS 13.1 public beta and the Watch OS 5.3.1 on the same day my battery life is awful. Logged with Apple via the Feedback app for public beta but not response! I’d suggest anyone having these issues log it that way so they can’t ignore us!
How can a device go from staying up literally 2 days to not staying up 15hrs all happened in one day you know has been caught doing this kind of **** if I do discover they did this I will NEVER buy another apple product. I have tried all the “fixes” and nothing has helped this is bs and a huge co. Screwing hard working people over again and again. Hope someone can solve this
Thanks for the suggestion, but I tried this and it eliminates the ability to "search" for an app on my phone. When you touch the screen and swipe down, to go to app search, it is the "siri & suggestions" that finds your apps you are looking for on your phone. I left all mine on because it's useful to me. :-(
apple watch battery draining after update
