watchOS 7 Battery Drain

jut adding a +1 this sad thread...

Watch 4 and battery health 96%

Before update: around 23:00 I had around 50% (yes!...)

Now: losing about 7% to 10% per hour.....

Hand washing is off, background replication is out, notifications almost all off, etc etc etc

Sad...

Another series 4 watch with horrendous battery drain. Went for my usual long run today and it was down to 12% when I finished at 8am. Normally it would only be at that level by the end of the day after a long run. Next week I have to increase my run time and the battery isn’t going to last!

Same issue. Series 4 Watch now requires recharging two to three times a day when it used to last almost 2 days. I noticed this with the penultimate Public Beta update (before that battery drain was ok) and in the current release version. I sure hope they fix it - this is extremely bothering and inconvenient.

Yes! Series 4 LTE version. Extreme battery drain with hand washing turned off and loss of mapping on activity even though location services were on before OS update and verified afterwards. Very annoying!

Just did a hard restart on both my phone (XS on iOS 14) and am about to start my day with a 60 min run. We’ll see...

I’m having the same problem with my series 5 I got in February. I did the update yesterday morning before I got my day started. Did a 10 min HIIT and a 40 min walk and I just glance at my battery widget at the end of the day and it was at 17%! I can do several workouts in a day and just whatever throughout the day and be at almost 50% without charging by the end of the days. I happened to wake up in the middle of the night today and noticed my watch was only at 84% charged after being on the charger for 5 hours. Then noticed it started dying on the charger. Turned off the watch and back on and it started charging properly. Did an hour workout this morning and in the midst of a walk and my watch battery is at 72% already! I’ve tweeted at Apple support and see several people on twitter expressing the same problem so I really hope apple is already fixing this serious problem.

Same here with Apple Watch series 5. Usually no problem and have about 25% left at the end of the day. Not anymore! I have to charge my watch during the day. Hope this gets fixed soon because that way the watch is useless!

I have a series 4 as well. It was 100% when I went to bed and when I woke up it was at 70% at 5am. Now 4 hours later it’s at 30%! It will be dead before I’m even off work. Please update and fix please!

I join everybody else. Since the update the watch drains quickly. Annoying when out for a walk to find it has gone dead. If it wasn't for the fact I have gone for a walk mid afternoon yesterday and today I would not have noticed it. Clearly a problem for Apple to fix.

Same here, I have a series 4, 44mm w/att cell service. Updated to watchOS 7, 100% at 12pm and by 6:30pm...DEAD! Only reason I knew it was about to die, the 10% battery alert chimed. Seemed like a few minutes later, it just died.

Same here. I havr series 5, 4 months old. Before update to OS7 I use to have all day hiking workout with gps tracking for several hours and around 20 km long trip, no problem and gave watches on charger around midnight with battery over 15-20%. Today after 11 km and 3hrs tracking it came dead! Apple wake up and fix it immediately!

I have dug around to read that this is not too unusual after a major update. Behind the scenes apparently things are still going on even though you think the update is finished. A suggestion is a hard reset. I am trying that and will see what happens.

I have a Series 5 and updated to WatchOS 7 on Thursday. The battery drain has been terrible. My Watch died after 8 hours yesterday.

I called Apple to report the problem and worked with a support manager who was having the same problem. We both went through the unpair then repair process (restoring from latest backup). At 6:30pm last night I had 97% charge on a battery that shows a 91% capacity in Battery Health. I am posting at 12:30pm the next day and the battery is at 26%. This seems to be about the battery life I was getting before the OS 7 upgrade.

So I suggest going through the unpair - pair process to determine how it affects your Watch. And report the problem to Apple so they will patch it quickly.

I have a Series 4 LTE (cellular disabled), purchased in November, same issue.

I've attempted to shut off all services I don't use, yet my drain is far more severe than OS6 (100 > 86% in two hours sitting at my desk). It previously was at 94-95% over the same period.

Others have noted activity - walking, hiking, etc. - which has an obvious greater impact, but what baffles me is that sitting still would indicate a core OS function type thing.

Also handwashing was off by default on mine. I did turn sleep tracking on, but haven't used it through the night.

There is a fix without repairing that I have found works so far and I have been through all the betas (this started with beta 5). Go to your Watch and go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health and disable "Optimized Battery Charging". This is a new feature by Apple and clearly not working out. You will notice a significant change in battery drain (although I say the battery life is worse overall). Also forget using Always on Display. It has be off until they fix this.

Hope this helps!

🤞🏻

Update. I have changed most of the settings in "Background App refresh" ( under "General" ). To being OFF! Then I have unpaired the watch in the watch app on the iPhone. then repaired it. Took about 30 mins in total. This seems to have sorted the battery drain issue. The watch 4 is now using about 5-6% an hour compared to 10-12% an hour when it was draining horrendously fast after updating to ios14. hope this helps a few people! 🤗👍🏻🕸