Watch just updated to watch OS 8.3 and battery will only last a couple of hours before it is drained?

If the battery drains too fast after an update, see all the replies to:

Battery Drain since watchos 7.4 - Apple Community

WatchOS 7.5 battery drain - Apple Community

FWIW, in some cases, unpairing the watch, completely erasing it, then pairing and restoring the backup will resolve the battery draining issue after an update. (Simply unpairing and pairing again may not work.)

Unpair and erase your Apple Watch - Apple Support

Also, some people have found that simply waiting a few days after an update resolves the battery draining problem.

I figured out a solution after chatting with Apple and them approving to fix mine under warranty. I realized that right around the time of the update I switched phones from my X to my wife’s 11. So to test I switched back to my X and it totally fixed the battery drain problem. I have no idea why clearly a weird software bug Apple needs to resolve.

Same issues on multiple watches, one not upgraded to 8.3. Definitely an issue with Belkin chargers. Improved after I switched to Apple charging cables/pucks, but still reduced battery life (6-11 hours). I wish Apple would acknowledger the bug and issue a fix.

So I texted Apple Support and they ran diagnostics to no solution. He suggested to update my phone to the latest iOS 15.2 and I did. So far today I have made to 1pm and watch battery is at 81% when yesterday it died before lunch. Give that a try.

Update on my problem.

my S4 had serious battery drain since the 8.3 update so much so it won’t charge beyond 25%.

I had completed resets, unpair, restore to backup with no luck.

I completed an online chat and diagnosis, battery was fine and aging as expected (83% of full capacity). Followed up the next day with a visit to a store and appointment, same thing was observed. However the diagnosis also picked up a sensor problem… so my charge issue is possibly linked….. I still maintain it’s the 8.3 update.

the next step was to send away to repair, was advised they would see the sensor issue, assume that’s the problem and repair, not looking further into the battery charge issue before this is resolved.

the cost for this repair was on par with a new watch. So I opted for that.

while this may not be for everyone, I would recommend chatting online or arranging an appointment in store to get a diagnosis of your device… maybe, just maybe it will be easily resolved and not an (un)expected* cost like mine.

*I thought my sensor had an issue for a number of months..

mine been better recently after a few forced reboots and letting it go full flat and charging to 100%

Still around 20-30% less battery at end of the day

something to do with bad wifi or bluetooth connection to iphone I think.

Went in Spa that is other side of window to phone.. Twice went from 30-40% to 5% in under a hour.

Third day I turned off bluetooth and wifi.. was fine.

I noticed in the shower I lost like 5-10% as well

Not sure if bad Wifi or connection to phone.

If I go into bluetooth on watch is spinning around looking for bluetooth health devices.. Which I have none of.

Two things I've done that seemed to fix the issue for me: (1) changed from a Belkin charger to the included Apple charger and (2) Updated my phone to 15.2.1. The phone update seemed to make the bigger impact.

[Edited by Moderator]

mine getting better.. done a few forced boots and also let it go fully flat then to 100%

Today been good so far 72% 11 hours in from 1am 100% which is almost normal.

Although yesterday started well then had to charge around 6pm. 18 hours.. which not great.

I used to get almost 2 days when I first got it.. Every update it worse

This happened to my wife’s apple watch. Her warranty expired so when i took it to the Apple store they were no help.. offered to send it out for repair with a cool quote $299. This is definitely a software bug that made her watch defective. She has a Apple Watch series 6, warranty expired in late September. Checked her battery health on the watch = 95%. But somehow the watch cant last past 2 hours and it runs warm. It even dies within a few hours after putting the watch on Power Reserve mode and having charged the watch to 100%. Also should note that i tried the steps listed to repair the watch and this did not do anything. Im just hoping theres an emergency update that comes out to fix the damage so that she has a working watch again.

Hi ...

My problem explained here ..

https://news.softpedia.com/news/apple-s-latest-update-mysteriously-kills-third-party-apple-watch-chargers-534577.shtml

Thanks

I have the same issue, not charging and/or serious battery drain.

Watch shows as charging, but all this does is maintain the current level of charge. Removing from my dock the 10 - 15 % charge goes in a matter of minutes. This first happened yesterday, and have tried everything today to get it working, resets, erase and re - pair...

Can only be OS 8.3 issue, as it was fine on leading up to the update.

The problem now is that with any future update my watch will need to be 50% power and docked, which i will not be able to achieve!

Hi .. i have the same charging problem ...

I have an apple watch 6 and before upgrading to 8.3 it works with an oem charger .. afte update i couldn't charge more than 20%... it disconnects the charge ... Then i remove the charger and it recharged for 2-3 minutes then stop .. and so on...

I have restart from zero .. and now charger it is working .. let's see what happends tomorrow...

Well lucky you.

I personally just upgraded to watchOS 8.3 nothing fancy.

I since then reset the Apple Watch multiples time, force reboot, etc... Nothing work, the battery drain way too fast compared to watchOS 8.2.

The battery issue definitely appeared on watchOS 8.3.

i have a series 3, and i ran into the same problem as most of you. i got the update on saturday 12/18, and it was fine till yesterday. i charge my watch overnight every night and unplug it at 7:30 ish, but then today it was already 45% at noon! it

usually lasts me till at least 8 pm! is there any other solution than to wait for a few days? because i feel like this is affecting my phone too, which is having a similar issue.