Battery drain in WatchOS 8 on Apple Watch 6

i agree, if it means deleting all the things you bought the watch for to fix it, then it’s not worth it. Just keep using until Apple resolves this.

For the commenter who said it is taking longer to charge, that means something is running continuously even while off the wrist which eliminates biometrics as the culprit. Years ago, I discovered through my own investigation an exercise app on the watch that was never shutting down even after I would close the app on the watch. It drained my battery until I uninstalled that app and never reinstalled that one. So, I’m certain a similar problem is happening again with a common app that everyone probably has on their watch that is running without shutting down.

I’ve since got a new series 7 and only installed a few useful apps onto it and so far so good. I did NOT allow the setup to add all apps possible.

This is not a hardware issue!

And let me tell you why:

I had until recently:

-iPhone Xs (bought in 2020)

-Watch 4 (bought in 2018)

(everything always automatically up to date)

It started sometime mid this year. I even went to the Apple store, did multiple factory resets on both phone and watch, unpaired, paired again... the usual drill. It annoyed me to the point I got a new watch 7 this November.

Everything was running smooth, except my iPhone which was starting to show signs of programmed obsolescence with a few freezes and crashes under iOS 15. So I also bought a new iPhone as well.

Since yesterday I have:

iPhone 13 mini

Watch 7

And 2 days ago I noticed the watch already ended the day at 66% (it hardly goes below 75% when I go to bed). This was before the new iPhone arrived.

Yesterday however it dropped to 50% during the afternoon. I recharged it and it juiced up to 100% pretty fast and even for the rest of the day it quickly was going into the "60s%".

simply unacceptable for a 1-month old watch and 1 day old iPhone.

Like most people here, the fitness app tracks multiple work-outs during days I don't even go to the gym, In fact I got pretty lazy during the lockdowns and I haven't showed up since July this year. This problem with the previous watch also unmotivated me. And I noticed yesterday it had recorded over 1h of workout.

Side note: on the watch settings > Bluetooth, it never loads. Just keeps "watch-balling". This was happening since the previous watch/iphone I had, which further ties the problem to software issues on both devices.

For the record:

I uninstalled all other fitness apps that could demand constant monitoring, disabled background updates, I am currently using it factory-reseted and unpaired and re-paired since this morning. Let's see how it goes. I also erased the old iPhone completely and I could also try spending one day with it paired with the old wiped-clean iPhone Xs.

Shame on Apple for not addressing this issue for months now (and you can find similar stories from even further back), even after several OS updates.

I wonder if there's been any progress from our inner source who commented here a few months ago.

Atleast yours is lasting that long. Mine only 3 months old used to last 2 days. Now i can barley get one day out of it. From 6:30 am to 9 pm. I usually charge it after my run while i shower now just to help it make it through.

like you i had changed nothing when this started. It was sudden. I think there is a software issue with the mail app. My watch stayed at 100 before i got any mail notifications and then once i started getting mail notifications i am now down to 92 after just 2 hours off the charger. Battery health is 100 percent so it for sure isnt a battery issue. But i believe a software issue with either the mail app or heart rate monitor. I have nothing extra loaded on my watch and i even removed all apple apps not needed on my watch. Thy need to bug fix this and soon.

Same issue with Series 5 after Watch OS8. I’ve unpaired, erased and reset it 3 times but it makes no difference. Battery lasted to midnight even with daily heavy workout usage before OS8; next day after update and ever since it only makes it to mid afternoon, with absolutely linear drop regardless of the usage, so it must be OS-caused rather than usage. Battery health still 83%. Online Apple Support said it was a mystery and I should take it to an Apple Shop. Took it to Apple Shop Genius Bar where they said it was a mystery and too young a watch for that, but my only option was to buy a new one. Deeply disappointing and frustrating. Before OS8 it was fantastic and totally reliable. Afterwards virtually useless. Any help appreciated.

I had to set mine up as a new watch. Haven’t tested it yet with Always On.

Five hours and I’m at 96%.

That is odd about the activity rings. I use a different face but my rings seem to be ok.

Did you try it to pair with another iphone or a factory reseted iPhone?

did you made a unpair/pair only? As a new watch?

Yep, I have noticed settings turned on after updates. I’ve wondered if Apple does this because otherwise most people will never discover features.

Same here. I have the Apple Watch 6 Before I could keep the display always on and still have battery at 11pm.

Now it’s over 1/2 drained by noon and I put the display back to display off.

I tried to do what was suggested and using a previous backup. It got worse.

I just did it again but set it up as a new watch. Will see what happens.

This is rather frustrating and Apple isn’t addressing this issue after several updates.

I agree. Apple support only helped by walking me through a full reset and installing the watch as a new one. It seemed to work better the first day after that, but now the draining is happening again. I noticed it drained after I used the workout app on the third time in a day. I only use the workout app for 40 minutes each time so three times should not drain it. This is DEFINITELY an IOS issue. I am confident it will be corrected in a patch release. The support person did say there is no known issue, but now that I called, it is now on their record as an issue. These Forum threads are only conversations and do not become documented issues unless people call in and work with Apple.

Others have said the same that time resolved it itself. I’m hoping that is true, and I said that to my SENIOR support rep at Apple too. If not, it must be an issue with OS or with the workout app. It is the workout app that drains it on mine. However, they are still researching with another meeting with me this Monday, 10/4.

The Friday meeting resulted in no additional information. The person working my case was only told by his technical counterpart to offer me a one time exception to a new watch of same series. Therefore, we can deduce from this they do not suggest battery replacements for the issue; and whatever it is will not be resolved by any of the measures talked about in this thread. It is likely something complex that will take time to resolve in their OS. I expressed my concern that a new watch of same series 3 will have same problem once it is rebuilt using my iphone data. But, it’s all I have to go on now.

I tried this: I un-paired the watch (S4 SS EU model). I made a factory reset on my phone (iP X). Set up as a new phone.Pair the watch. I charge my apple watch to 100% at 10 pm. I want to sleep with my watch (sleep monitor turned on). The battery at 07 am was 30%. The conclusion: It's not working. I'am sad. Very sad.