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Apple watch Battery drain after 7.3.1 update

After update of my series 5 apple watch, I see that the battery drains considerably faster.


Am I the only one?

Posted on Feb 18, 2021 5:01 AM

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Posted on Feb 18, 2021 5:28 AM

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.

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Feb 18, 2021 5:28 AM in response to Podcasterquestion

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.

Feb 24, 2021 3:45 AM in response to Podcasterquestion

After 7.3.1, with a fully charged watch, I could only swim 45 minutes until power reserve notice on so I could not see my laps. Used to be over 50% after an hour swim. Charged watch shortly before bed but 88% within an hour and power reserve 10% was on 7 hours later using AutoSleep. Normally more than 50% charged overnight after even 8 hours sleep.

Mar 1, 2021 12:44 PM in response to Podcasterquestion

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.

Mar 7, 2021 10:55 AM in response to Randy-12

I've tried to do this and it hasn't helped. Are you saying that you need to have the watch powered on and then when you force the restart on the iPhone and see the Apple logo that you then do the restart on the Apple Watch? I thought I did this correctly, but it hasn't helped battery life. I don't want to lose my Activity data, so I'm trying to avoid unpairing and setting it all back up.

Mar 7, 2021 11:03 PM in response to watchuser3433

Quick update after doing a full unpair and restore (from backup) and doing the force restart, etc. I had a 100% charge at 6:45pm and it's now 10:52pm and I'm at 32%. That's almost a 70% loss of battery in 4 hours. I didn't do any workouts, didn't use the map, have turned off push notifications, sleep detection, basically anything that could possibly drain the battery. This is not normal. The only thing I haven't done is unpairing and setting up as a new watch. Is that the only thing I can do? I read a lot of threads where the unpair/restore from backup seems to solve the problem, but that is not working for me. Any suggestions? This is really frustrating.

Mar 8, 2021 12:37 PM in response to daniilfromberlin123

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...

Mar 9, 2021 6:39 AM in response to Podcasterquestion

I took mine off the charger this morning and during my run (that was within an hour of taking it off the charger) it acted like it shut off due to battery then came back on and said it was at 10% and then stayed at 10% for the next hour. Then when I put it on the charger in my car within 10 minutes was back up to 51%. Whatever was in that update has definitely screwed with the battery life on the watch.

Mar 9, 2021 9:29 AM in response to lindafromcherryville

Apple: this can't happen with Apple.

This happens with the cheap Android based phones...but their cost is 150$....not 400$ minimum like Apple.

Please, release the Beta version that corrects this (and which also helps to unblock the phone with face mask...which is a good novelty...but maybe 1 year late...).


A bit upset Apple...!!!

Mar 28, 2021 9:59 AM in response to dlangfel

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.

Mar 28, 2021 4:21 PM in response to BobHarris

that's so true....but the situation here is that everything that was running prior to the update was exactly what was still running after the update. And the watch battery drain was only AFTER the update. I just did the latest update today and hopefully that will address the problem. There seem to be multiple occurrences with the draining watch battery since the prior update....all over the web...

Apple watch Battery drain after 7.3.1 update

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