Watch battery drains rapidly, even in flight mode

Obvious questions;

How does the watch stand up on non-school days?

How does the watch behave if it is borrowed and tested by a parent (wearing 2 watches?).

How does the battery stand up if the watch is taken off charge at the usual time then simply left idle at home for the day?

Has this problem started only from a few months ago, Or could it have been present from new even if it was not recognized immediately?

Apologies if suggestions below have already been tried…

I suggest you start by checking (again) for software updates which might be available for the problem watch. Apple has released WatchOS 9.4 recently so if it is not yet updated, (a) it might have a bug fix to solve the problem, and (b) just refreshing the software might help.

If the watch software is up to date and the problem persists, I suggest you erase and unpair completely then setup again. Depending what you have already tried, I would consider pairing as a regular vanilla Apple Watch (parent borrows for testing) and test for a few days to see how it behaves in comparison with your regular adult Apple Watch. Then reset back to Family Setup and *you* test again in your regular usage to see if the different setup changes battery drain. Hopefully this will give a few clues about whether the problem might be something in the Family setup or school environment, maybe a very poor cellular signal or even a cellular blocker device, which we know can increase battery drain.

Ok, good luck. Fault finding is part of my day job, and I know how frustrating it can get.

I have a few extra pointers which might help.

When you unpair it will save a backup anyway. DON'T reinstate the backup when you shift to regular setup, you want it to behave like a new watch. I would be tempted to not use the backup when you revert to Daughter Mode, just in case there is something less than ideal in the saved settings.

2 points about the watch;

If you look in the Apple Watch settings app (the grey gear wheel) *on the watch itself* you will find the Battery tool which includes a bar graph. (I think you know where this is because you mentioned battery health).

There is also a Screenshot tool which defaults to unavailable so you have to turn it on in settings (On the watch itself, or iPhone Watch App). This is your independent witness tool to capture the evidence of how fast the battery drains. If you are able to take it to the Genius Bar and show the picture you might get a better result.

You said 9 months old. Apple's standard warranty is 12 months in most regions around the world, unless you also added AppleCare+. Based on what you have mentioned I think you should be asking the relevant questions direct to Apple, because the watch doesn't seem to meet Apple's cited performance level for battery life.

If you find you need to press your case direct to Apple, contact Apple Support and pick your preferred means of contact. If I was in your situation I would be hoping the "Apple Calls Back" voice option was available, otherwise the online chat. If you are lucky they might be able to do online diagnostics and get the logs etc without you even leaving home - just in case, if you use voice contact then try to give them a phone number which is *not* the paired iPhone, so you can talk and manipulate the route to the watch without risking a lost contact.

I've had rapid battery drain with my Apple Watch the last few days since the software update. I noticed today that the watch is syncing audiobooks, podcasts (Next Up) etc which I had switched off previously. Just a thought - is any stock app like that changed and it trying to sync content?

Hi, I’m wondering what you found when you unpaired the watch from family share and paired as your own? My son’s watch will be fully charged before bed and down to 85% by morning. It’s a brand new SE. I turn off his wifi and cellular until he is ready to use. None of this happens on my watch that is attached to my phone and in the same house. It seems there is a power share issue and a fight on the watch’s part for the most efficient connection source. I am getting ready to send my son to a new school with the watch. I went to the school and set up the wifi in advance for him and was told there are no blocks to the wifi. I find it disheartening if this problem occurs there as it was the sole purpose of me getting him the watch too as opposed to his own phone. My son’s watch is a brand new SE w zero added apps. My watch is an SE and also brand new. All of our devices are running on up to date software as well. Please share your findings. A child hopefully doesn’t have to toggle between turning cellular off vs using wifi to make the watch functional and send a simple text or call to their parent from school.