Apple watch Battery drain after 7.3.1 update

After any IOS or OS update I find that a few forced restarts both your iPhone and your watch are needed.

First try force restarting your iPhone by whatever method your version calls for.  As soon as you see the Apple logo force restart your watch by holding in the crown and side button for 10 seconds till you see the Apple logo then release.  Log into your iPhone and wait for your watch to boot, then log into it.

Failing that I'd try unpairing the watch from your iPhone then pairing it back setting it up as new.

For what it's worth, the unpair-reset-restore approach did not work for me. I contacted Apple Support via chat and was advised to upgrade to OS 7.4. I did that and the problem has not yet recurred. Since the previous failures were so incredibly similar and I've recreated those conditions twice, I'm encouraged. It may not stay fixed but so far, so good.

I just had the same issue. Besides the battery issue, my Activity information also seemed to be locked up and I couldn't start a new exercise activity. Tried doing force restarts on the watch and iPhone, and that did not fix it. Also tried turning off some background app refreshes with no luck. Eventually went ahead and Reset the watch (from the watch) by erasing all content and settings. After I restored the watch backup my system has been running well again.

Mine drained in an hour but I followed suggestion and turned off iphone, whet it restarted at the apple, I restarted the watch. All was fine after that.

I've done the reset that Randy-12 indicates me (not repairing, just resetting), and now looks battery drainage is corrected.

It is the first time this happened to me in some firmware update (even more strange when the update was for battery charging issues (!!).

Hope it helps somebody and thanks Randy.

dlangfel wrote:

I did the reset also and it looked like it was better , but only lasted a few days. Now it's back to draining very quickly again! Please help Apple!!!

This is a user-to-user technical support forum. The volunteers here are not Apple.

If you need help from Apple, then click on the "Contact Support" button at the top right side of this web page.

You should look at the 3rd party Complications and apps you have added to your Apple Watch. Maybe one of them is not playing nice.

Everytime I post the a possible solution, Apple delete my message. So therefore I'm trying it once again and trying to be cryptic.

Try to update to 7.4 b

It's a temporary solution because the version is not official yet. But it seems that they haven't implemented that bug yet or fix it already. However, with 7.4 the watch gets the one-day battery life back.

I had the same issues. I could fix it by installing 7.4. it worked.

I tried this version. Still have same issue. But 7.5 B1 fixed it again. I have approximately 24 hours of battery again. It’s not 30 but 24 hours is fine for me.

7.4 isn’t available in the U.S. to my knowledge...just took it into the store and they are having to send it off to get checked out. Diagnostics both through remote support and in store showed no issues, but the battery is only lasting 4-6 hours on a full charge...well under the 18+ Hours I was getting before. I have an Edition for the Series 5 which comes with 2 year warranty (bought in Jan 2020) so I’m hoping it gets covered. There is a small crack on the back, but it was working fine. Now my fear is that they will say the back needs to be replaced and then charge $500 USD for that...

Checked the developers forum as well and same complaint. Major battery drain since the last update. Have done nothing different, no new apps. Went from 18 hours to 12. Rebooted both devices. No improvement. Unable to close rings because it dies within 12 hours. Switched to the simplest watch face too. C’mon apple help us out.

Restarted phone and watch. Will check and hope I can exercise an hour or autosleep enough for watch to be useful!

Guys please report the issue. Hopefully the more that report it the better chances it will get checked.

https://www.apple.com/feedback/watch.html

7.4 Its only available as a B-Version. You have to register for it online via Apple. It’s very easy, please check online how to install it.

Guys please report the issue. Hopefully, the more that report it the better chances it will get checked.

https://www.apple.com/feedback/watch.html