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Battery Draining After WatchOS 9.3 Update

I upgraded my Apple Watch Series 7 Cellular to watchOS 9.3 yesterday and noticed a lot worse battery life. The battery goes from 100% to 0% in just 6 hours and is connected to Wi-Fi rather than Cellular. I have already reset it to factory settings and performed a hard reset, and the issue persists. I hope Apple did not do this on purpose. Is anyone else noticing the same?

Apple Watch Series 7

Posted on Jan 26, 2023 11:25 AM

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May 31, 2023 12:14 PM in response to td161

Software has dependencies. Software updates on devices may no longer be comptible with third party software on your phone or watch. Security updates in particular can have conflicts with third party security software (none of which is necessary but gets pushed to gullible users)

Third party app developers bear the responsibility for beta testing including power drain and conflicts, not Apple.

That is why I wrote the ultimate test/remedy is Apple Watch battery drain - the ultimate … - Apple Community in order to completely rule out conflicts and corruptions. This has been linked to in other links.

I am no longer following this thread as the "the update broke my device" mentality becomes boring and depressing after 10 year or so.

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Jul 11, 2023 9:02 AM in response to larry12b1

Did you check for self discharge? (another suggestion you may have omitted)

Remember none of the senior contributors on here have your battery problem so it is either

  • your battery, or
  • your settings, or
  • your apps.

All we can do is give you DIY analysis tools, or point you to Apple for help

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Jan 26, 2023 2:26 PM in response to bacandido

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.


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Jun 2, 2023 2:59 PM in response to jodene65

If you've had the watch for "a few years", you may need to have the battery replaced. Go to Settings>Battery>Battery Health. If it's below 80%, you need a new one. Whether you've budgeted for the replacement of consumable parts is something only you would know:


Apple Watch Service & Repair - Apple Support


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Jan 29, 2023 9:41 PM in response to HawkRider03

After the update, I reset and repaired my watch again. It sure is a hassle but after Im done with that. My battery lasts me for 2 days without charging from 100%. 2nd end of the day is around 38% remaining. So I guess so far it has been good so far. This is the latest action I did. Hope it helps.

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Jan 31, 2023 3:35 AM in response to shoyeeb

I haven’t been able to fix this issue yet. I tried hard resetting both the watch and iPhone, pairing and resetting the watch to factory settings, etc, but nothing has worked so far. I spoke with Apple support about this issue but they don’t seem to care.

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Feb 1, 2023 2:37 PM in response to bacandido

When there are new updates, there are times when apps that I have selected to NOT update in the background are all turned on again. Weird, I know, but it happens. Check for that issue, and turn off the ones you don’t need to constantly update. Also, go to notifications and deselect apps you do not need notifications for. After I get everything back to how I had it previous to the update, I turn off my iPhone first, then watch, then restart iPhone, then watch. In that order. I don’t know what is is, but it works for me. Have been doing this turn-off-start sequence once a week for several years. I wish I could offer more insight, but I’m sure there’s a new update to follow. You can also check out this vid on YouTube that may help. https://youtu.be/wRwuX7r868M

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Feb 4, 2023 5:01 PM in response to bacandido

This is ridiculous! My Ultra used to last two days with swimming and running. I updated from 9.2 to 9.3 and the following morning it was fully charged to 100% at 9am. I went for an ocean swim at 3pm and it died after 5minutes of swimming. So only lasted 6 hours from 100% to dead.

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Feb 6, 2023 1:28 PM in response to battery-troubles

I had a similar issue with an iwatch 8 after Updating the software. I took it back as only owned if for a few days. The second watch almost did the same after updating but managed to move back to the 9.2 software and it worked well again. Apple clearly have a huge problem with 9.3. Come on Apple a few more software testers would help.

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Battery Draining After WatchOS 9.3 Update

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