Battery drain in WatchOS 8 on Apple Watch 6

I find it funny that the new watch OS update is pretty much for series 3 watches. Will test this update out later today and see if battery life improves. If so, then we’ll know why the update was for only Series 3 watch owners as a lot of us have been complaining to Apple for almost three months about battery life being reduced to half a day.

I upgraded both iphone X and watch 4 to latest OS today. At 7pm I'm at 68%. However, there have been some days where it's at 10% by this time of the day. It seems highly variable in spite of stripping away all functionality such as noise alert, sleep, etc. I always keep my phone near watch so only bluetooth is used.

I'll keep monitoring it.

S4 here too. I only had good battery for a day. The severe drain started again while I was sleeping wearing the watch. Honestly, I feel like throwing away this watch. Apple has really gotten worse with their software. This is unacceptable.

I had a similar drain of most of the battery in a couple hours last week, even though no apps were being used that I could tell. Cellular had been switched off to control the experiment. This was with a one week old battery cuz Apple had just replaced it for $100. But then the next few days the watch drained slowly, then the next day quickly. Something highly variable. I can't figure it out, except to say that it's poor software quality. I update to latest OS version as soon as it comes out.

I also turned off intelligent charging just in case that was the problem, though I don't see how it could be.

At one point - three software versions ago maybe last week? - the charger wouldn't even keep up with the battery drain. IN other words, the percentage was going down while I was trying to charge it, cellular turned off. That was surreal. I rebooted the watch and phone and that "fixed" it.

I have a cellular Series 3 watch. Since updating to watchOS 8.1 the battery drains to zero super fast when I use it for exercise.

For example, the past twice I’ve exercised using the Outdoor Walk mode whilst listening to a podcast - the battery drains to 0% in less than 1 hour.

Apple has killed my otherwise perfectly functioning watch with an “upgrade”.

Welcome to the watchOS8.1 (tested 2 days)

Update the watch to watchOS8.1, doesn't help any, same problem same issue

then unpair the watch, set up as a new watch, with NO additional apps install (I select choose it later)

amazing thing happening!!!

Now the watch battery drop from 100% to 91% in 4 hours..... then SHUT DOWN!!!!! Sudden Dead!!!

put back to charger to boot up, it start charging up from 90% to 100% in 20mins, and then can use another 2 hours, drop from 100% to 91%, and SHUT DOWN, SUDDEN DEAD again.....

sorry to all the software enginner who working hard in fixing this issue on the watch OS update

but it fail

and to Apple, you have broken my heart on the trust of your products.

suggestion to Apple : just set all the apple watch Series 1-6 to retire product, and suggest everyone to buy Series 7 to fix this issue may be the fastest way.

sad......

If that is hardware problem, in the Setting>Battery, it shows battery health is 95%......

so, who knows if that is HW problem or SW problem

I just see that is a PROBLEM after updated to watchOS 8

it works fine before.... ( at least it will announce me when that is 10% battery left after 12 hours of use)

Oddly enough, my Watch 4 cellular battery seems to last longer and longer each day. It's almost as if the watch is learning how to conserve energy. My use of the watch is basically identical each day.

My battery is allegedly only three weeks old, however. I have battery management turned off, though eventually I will turn it back on, because as a former battery engineer, their approach does make sense.

Strange set of experiences we're all having!

Just updated watchSE to 8.1 from 8.0.1.

usually I charge my watch for 2 hours or so each morning and by next morning I usually have about 30 to 40% left. Last night it went 0 at about 2am.

yet to try unpair/repair trick but not hopeful based on this thread.

Apple needs to sort this asap

Is the the solution or a temporary fix? I've notice I've tried to use a backup (not using iTunes) for earlier updates from April, May and June and it'll just put the newest update back onto the watch after I selected an older backup.

That's still quite a drain though. Mine is draining at roughly 7% an hour. When I first updated to WatchOS 8.1 it was 99% for 4 hours. Sigh, I miss having not to think about battery life with the Watch.

update: battery life has come up over the past few weeks. Now it decreases from 100% to 35% over 20 hours, which is a huge improvement. Strange how fast it drained (6 hours max) at first, three OS upgrades ago. My use patterns have not changed.

Congratulations!!!! To those who got fixed or improvement…

After few days, and I decide to follow the method “reset iPhone to factory, restore from backup, then unpair and pair”

and this is my result…..

speechless :(

I will try that and see if that helps. I just got home on the second day where my watch should be at about 35-40% but it's at 20%. I really do believe it's the 8.1 update. Ever since updating to that and resetting to factory and starting over, my battery life has taken a huge hit.