Battery Indicator stuck at 100% All day

I sent my Series 5 into the repair center (well, my Apple Store sent it there) and it bounced back from them after a couple days, saying they couldn't replicate the problem. They were useless. It's like the Apple Watch falls into this gulch, as far as Apple support goes. It's the only thing they can't try to fix in the store, at their own Genius Bar. And they weren't that happy with the Apple repair center either. Before I read about the turn it off for 15 min and then back on again, I had literally tried every single thing except getting a new watch (which the store said I couldn't get, since Apple Care didn't cover a repair when they couldn't find the problem). But I've read about people here who got new ones and it didn't help the problem. I've restored from previous, from scratch, put it in the freezer (worked a couple days), taken it to the Genius Bar three times and talked to support in Cupertino (I pay $500 a year for Joint Venture Business Support) and the only consistent thing I ever got was that it was a software issue. No updates ever helped. My previous four Apple Watches, each of the series, didn't have this problem. But then I did the 15 min off and back on (I can't remember how much it was already charged when I did that. I think I did it when it had said 100% for 24 hours and I knew it would in the next 6 hours just randomly die. I haven't had any problems since then and that's been around 2-3 months ago that I did it. If anything, it uses up the battery a tiny bit faster than it used to.

Since my earlier post I have chatted again with Apple Support. Right now the watch battery indicator is working again. What I did was unpair the watch and set up as a new watch (not a restore). I then turned the watch off for a full hour and haven’t added any extra apps to the watch. Initially the watch was stuck on 99% but then started correcting itself and eventually displayed 15% which was the actual battery life. Hope it stays behaving itself! Good luck if you try this

TL;DR: try manually putting your watch into power reserve mode and then turning it back on to recalibrate the battery meter.

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Like others here, this issue cropped up on my Series 4 when sleep tracking shifted my overnight charging routine to morning and evening top-ups. I have worn this watch since launch day in 2018 and never had the problem; figured it was beta-related until I read this thread. Same symptoms: battery stuck in the 90-100% range, but would die in the middle of the day, especially after a workout. Back on the charger, it’d immediately show 100% and not charge further. Hard resets and leaving the watch shut off were unreliable fixes.

But I just found something that worked. I manually put my "100%" watch into power reserve mode, then turned it back on. The battery meter immediately showed the truth: 10% remaining. Now it’s charging normally again. Maybe this will work for y’all too.

Good luck!

I have had the same problem with my Series 5 ever since Watch OS 6.0.1 After every WatchOS update the watch gets stuck at 100% battery until it shuts off due to no battery power. After the shutoff, it has behaved and shown a battery strength that moves up and down as I use and charge the watch.

The update to WatchOS 6.1.2 has been no different.

However, I think I do have some good news. After reading the later posts in this thread I powered my Series 5 ( which was showing 100%) off for about 15 minutes. When I powered it back on, it showed 95% and then dropped within 10 minutes to 53%.

I think a power off for 15 minutes after every WatchOS update might be the solution until the WatchOS bug is fixed.

I had the exact same problem, my Apple Watch has been stuck on 100% morning till evening for the past few weeks. Trying everything from resetting, to waiting for new firmware (didn't fix it) and unpairing. Nothing solved it. Simply turned off the watch for 30min and back on, and voilà, back to normal. So simple...

As I mentioned before it works for me. I have had a couple instances were the Series 5 got stuck at 100% during daily use without having a WatchOS update. Powering it off for at least 15 minutes has resolved those instances as well. This past week the watch said 100% after about 12 hours of use. I powered it off; not sure for how long. When I powered it back on it showed 76%.

Matt, after having a situation similar to the people on this thread, and sending it in multiple times to no avail, it was someone who used to work for Apple who solved my problem, as the iPhone is what links to the watch when it comes to software communication, so any bugs would be passed along.

About three weeks ago, I performed a hard reset for my devices, wiping the phone and setting it up like new. Note that I did not restore the phone from iCloud, as that would download all of my settings, including the faulty Apple battery issue. Of course, this means you need to download every single app and set up everything, but with the exception of the first night when the watch dropped 60% (it should go between 15-20% when I am using the Pillow app), I had no issues up until earlier today, when it hit 20% and brought up the "Low Battery" indicator.

I have since performed a reset of everything again, and the battery issue remained until I ran it down to 20%, restarted the watch, watched as the battery percentage went backwards, and then watched it recharge as normal. I am going to be monitoring it for a few weeks as it is possible that it picked up an error from somewhere, but there is the possibility that this will work for others for much longer, so I want to share what I did.

For anyone who wants to replicate this:

1. Back up your phone to iCloud and your computer. If you do not have enough storage on iCloud, see if you can explain your situation to Apple and see what they can do to potentially accommodate this one-time situation. Keep in mind that WeChat, WhatsApp, and some other apps have their own backup systems, so be sure to follow their routines for storage.
2. Unpair your watch (you can do this after you reset the phone, but it will become more of a hassle because it will be looking for your old phone).
3. Reset your phone's settings.
4. Set up your phone as new. Do not restore any documents or data when you are first prompted, as iCloud will automatically sync this data to your phone once you set it up.
5. Pair your watch. Alternatively, if you did not unpair your watch earlier, refer to step two before returning here.
6. Download your apps, set up the phone with settings that you normally use, and make sure that everything is set up properly.
7. If you are missing information, from apps such as WeChat or WhatsApp and it is crucial that you have them, back up this phone setup, restore the old phone in order to sync them, and then reset the phone to the new backup. Your watch might be searching for a phone for a bit, but once you restore to the new phone, everything will work out.

I am including step seven because I have already wiped out recent chats from both apps, and had to restore the phone to an older version temporarily to retrieve them.

Either way, this is a tedious process that will cost you a few hours, but hopefully it will help solve your issue in the long run.

There’s one fix that has worked for me repeatedly, though the problem comes back eventually. 

Let the watch’s battery drain absolutely completely. When it shut itself down press both side buttons to restart it repeatedly until nothing lights up on the watch face. Make sure the battery is as low as you can get it intentionally.

Then leave then the watch until the battery is absolutely flat. The first time I tried this I left it for 3 days but if the battery is already low enough just waiting overnight, 10 or 12 hours can work. 

Then put it on the charger and restart, being careful not to go over 100% of battery charge level.

This resets some flag or other data that is missed during all other kinds of rebooting or resets. There is something that isn't being reinitialized that only can be by letting the Watch discharge completely.

When you reboot the watch never let it charge over 100%. Always stop charging the watch just before or at 100%. If it goes over 100% this problem comes back and you’ll have to do this procedure all over again. 

This method has restored the usability of my Watch (series 4) several times now.

I discussed how to fix this problem in my previous post in this thread (how to reset the Apple Watch when the battery level display stops functioning and also the watch shutting down randomly as though the battery is dead when it still shows plenty of charge on the display). I don’t remember what date my previous post was. So to recap what I wrote then:

Something gets messed up if the Watch either gets charged beyond 100% or becomes too hot during charging. And whatever that is, it fails to get reset or reinitialized not only on a reboot but even when a hard reset is done or even a full reset and re-pairing with the phone.

The only way to reset the battery display so that it syncs with actual level and also fix the Intermittent crashing of the Watch, to make it reliable again, is to allow the battery to absolutely completely and fully discharge.

Sometimes if the battery level is already low enough that just a few hours or over night are sufficient. Sometimes you need to leave the watch off the charger for up to 3 days. Restarting it on the charger then taking it off the charger again right after it boots and letting it run down its battery charge more can help get the battery down to its lowest level faster. But it could take awhile.

When the Watch no longer shows any glimmer of light on its display when you try to restart it while not on a charger, it still has some residual charge left. So you need to leave the Watch several more hours to make sure all charge is gone. That seem to be the only way to fully reset the battery indicator so it becomes accurate again.

Then the next day you can fully recharge it and it should function as intended. But do not recharge it over 100% and don’t let the watch become hot while recharging. Recharging to about 95% a couple times each day should be enough for most users and will avoid messing up the battery indicator again after it’s been reset.

Mine always goes back to functioning normally battery-wise and stops randomly shutting down after I do that absolute complete battery run-down. — That is, until the next time I stupidly let it charge to or over 100% again or if I let it get too hot while recharging. Either can restart the erratic behavior.

I hope that helps everyone. This is an infuriating problem that I keep hoping Apple will fix.

• Laurie

Yes, turning the watch of for 15+ min helped reset the battery indicator. In addition I have replaced my wireless charger with an original one from Apple and the issue has never returned...

I had the same issue and had tried all of the usual suggested solutions. I then found a tip that I had not seen before and it worked for me (for a week now at least). I'll share it in hopes that it works for others as well.

1. Turn the power off on the iPhone and leave off for at least 20 minutes.
2. Turn the power off on the Watch and leave off for at least 20 minutes. I left both off for 30 minutes.
3. Turn the iPhone on.
4. Turn the Watch on.

Lo and behold, it worked! The battery went to 65% and ticked down in normal increments without shutting off. I have fully recharged every day since and it the battery continues to work normally. I can't explain why that worked, but I hope it works for others having the same problem.

I have had this same problem for the last three days. I tried all the solutions listed, turn off, reset, restore from backup, setup as new. Turn off for an hour. None worked.

Finally I setup watch as new and didn’t let it install all the apps from phone (none so far). Then I turned it off and let set for and hour. 18 hours later it is working and battery levels going down normally. TYJ.

You need to take the watch off and power it down for at least 15 min preferably in a cool room temp place. That will re-calibrate the battery to last you a few charge cycles. I think it has something to do with temperature. Had my watch replaced made no difference. I don't think its a phone issue but I don't think apple has a clue.

My thinking is this is clearly a firmware issue. It did not start on my watch until around the 6.1 update and continues today. I've done full resets and pairing without any change. The only thing that works is turning the watch off for a bit after charging to 100%. Until Apple figures this out and provides a fix I doubt anything will change. I'm currently running latest iOs on both my XR and my AW4 still having an issue.

I'm approaching week 8 of no longer having this issue. I had the watch stuck at 100% several time; I turned off the watch for 30min and replaced my 2 chargers (one fore home, one for travel) with apple OEM wireless chargers and the issue has not come back. I only charge it overnight, while I'm asleep. Somehow I believe not all chargers are the same...