With absolutely no changes in usage, apps, charge cycles or anything else, my watch battery, which normally lasts 16 hours and still has 40% or more, started dying within six hours three days ago. I have read past posts from 2017-2019 on this topic. I restarted the phone and the watch. No change. It is 9AM and my watch was 100% at 5AM and is now at 56%. It is usually at about 93% at 9AM. Anybody have any ideas?
Apple Watch
With lack of response from anyone with knowledge a fix, I returned to the settings and discovered that every single app was set to background refresh. This is absolutely not something I would have done on my own. I am a stickler about this on all of my devices. Also, it should be noted that this problem began shortly after an automatic update. It is my unproven theory that something in a recent update tripped those switches. I reset them all to off, and then turned on the four or five I wanted to have on and the problem seems to have improved greatly, if not completely.
With lack of response from anyone with knowledge a fix, I returned to the settings and discovered that every single app was set to background refresh. This is absolutely not something I would have done on my own. I am a stickler about this on all of my devices. Also, it should be noted that this problem began shortly after an automatic update. It is my unproven theory that something in a recent update tripped those switches. I reset them all to off, and then turned on the four or five I wanted to have on and the problem seems to have improved greatly, if not completely.
There were no other responses. However, I did notice that after the most recent update inside of the watch app, all of the switches for background app refresh has been turned on. When I adjusted them and turned most of them off the problem went away.
I recently experienced the issue described in this thread. The battery on my Apple Watch Series 4, which usually has been lasting 30 to 36 hours on a single charge, went into Low Power Mode after about 9 hours. For the next few days this was about all I was getting - 9 or so hours. The only indication suggesting a problem was that my Apple Watch appeared to be constantly using the GPS.
The issue presented itself following a trip of more than 3-hours to the upstate. This fact, along with the pull by GPS eventually led me to look at Significant Locations. My trip to the upstate had added several locations unnecessary locations being listed in its history. I used the Clear History option and I am happy to report that the battery usage on my Series 4 appears back to normal after five days of normal use.
To access this history, use your linked iPhone and go to Settings | Locations Services. Scroll to the bottom of the list and select System Service | Significant Locations.
Again. I pressed Clear History, but I have since discovered that you can press the > icon beside a City and State, select Edit, and remove any location not needed.
Well, I had the same problem as everyone else here. So I took it to an authorized service center. They ran the full diagnostics and found nothing wrong (battery health @ 87% but dying within 5 to six hours - with no extraordinary use whatsoever).
I reported back to apple via Web Support and they were extremely cooperative. The ran a full remote diagnostics on my watch and called me back a few days later and told me they had identified the problem, and were going to replace my Series 4 with a brand new Series 4, even though my warranty had expired.
I've already dropped my original watch to their authorized service center, and will get my new one in about a week!
I use the theatre mode for my series 3 which keeps the watch screen off all the time unless i do something. This allows my watch to last 2 days between charges.
I took it back to the Apple Store (conveniently at the same time as the launch of the new Apple Watch) and they ran a diagnostic on my watch. The tech support person told me he never seen anything like it before; the drastic drop to my battery was deemed highly unusual, especially when the times of some of the biggest drops was when I was asleep and not actively using my watch. I was only one week past my warranty, and because I didn't buy Apple Care, he couldn't guarantee they wouldn't charge me if I sent it off to their repair centre ( he said they don't communicate to store staff so he wouldn't have any control of what they decide to do), even though it's clearly not my doing. He said the service charge would not be worth my while and I might as well get a new watch, which I did and SE, and bought Apple Care this time!
Bought Apple Watch 4 new in Nov 2019 regular use for 1 year. Model MU6D2LL/A. Currently running Version 7.2 (18S563).
This began happening to me in the last 4-5 days. Previously with the settings on my watch I could wake up at 5AM, workout, and spend the whole day using the watch normally with about 40-60% battery remaining around 9PM. Sometimes if I avoided a workout I could use one charge for 2 days. As of 4-5 days ago, battery life decreased to 8-10 hours with the same usage. I hard reset the watch and phone (no change), updated the watch (no change), reformatted the watch and set up as a new apple watch (no change). Since reformatting, I have not installed any additional apps and have turned off background refresh for all apps. This added an extra hour or two to battery life, but did not restore the life to what it once was.
I understand that naturally, battery life will depreciate over time, and I believe I experienced that (first few months I was able to get 2 days out of almost every charge, seldom happened last 6 months). However, this was an extremely unusual change in battery life. I am hoping someone else can help me.
I am having a similar problem but mine says it has 100% charge most of the time (which can’t be true) then it drops to a number between 40 and 60 and turns off with the charging symbol. I put it on charge and it always says it is half full. This happened earlier in the year but it had resolved, it is after the latest update that the issue returned.
it is definitely software related and not anything else.
Sorry to see your struggle. I don't know what to say, other than selling it back to them like I did, getting a 6 or SE with Apple Care. It relieved a lot of stress to not have to deal with the battery issue. Good luck to you.
I have exactly the same problem, but it seems to me that the developers do not care about this ... considering that many have such a problem
Apple replaced my watch 4x now because of the drastic drainage of the battery. Even if I was not using it the battery drains so much.
I got an se. Don’t know what to do at this stage.
If it helped, I would hardly write here. Because I've tried absolutely every possible way. Disconnected absolutely everything that can consume battery power. Today my watch lost 70% charge in 4 hours. And I hardly used them.
Any answers to this question yet. Mine started acting up over the weekend. I only noticed it on Saturday and spent Sunday resetting, unpairing/pairing, reducing notifications on apps, muting sound, adjusting colours on watch face to minimal colours, etc. and I'm still experiencing a drastic drop in battery life. I don't understand why this is happening as I did not make any drastic changes to my usage. Help?
Thanks, Vegan Advocate! Mine is a Series 4 and I just turned Airplane Mode on, which preserved the battery a little. I'm hoping Apple will reply and provide an update that will rectify this situation.
Background App Refresh was actually the first place I looked. My settings were still turned off which is why I'm confused that this is happening. My settings have always been purposely reduced to minimize battery usage. Hope this resolves soon.
Apple Watch Series 4 Sudden Battery Drain
