Battery charge plunges after watchOS 9.5

Earlier today I tweeted to @Applesupport, but no response. I guess they have realised it's a software glitch and hopefully they are working on a fix.

Within 60 minutes of a workout, the battery % drops by 24-25%!!!

And I also checked, this Apple watch 7 was purchased by me last May 2022 and within 12 months the battery health has reduced to 93%

So I am convinced, now that September is nearing, this update by Apple has purposefully triggered the battery drainage so that we are forced to consider a new Apple Watch.

I am pretty sure that with all software upgrades the battery % starts draining faster.

G10Bud wrote:

So I am convinced, now that September is nearing, this update by Apple has purposefully triggered the battery drainage so that we are forced to consider a new Apple Watch.

I am pretty sure that with all software upgrades the battery % starts draining faster.

That is a conspiracy theory of the most illogical type. They produce updates that can be installed successfully on 5 year old devices with zero problems. Your difficulty with your device is personal to you and should be looked at individually, and should not be conflated with any Apple master plan you may have imagined. 

Apparently LD150 you don’t seem to have a problem with battery drainage after the update or updates, but many do including myself and I believe that G10Bud is reacting under utter frustration that Apple have not addressed this Discussion forum to date about this immense problem that is affecting many. So be gentle!

One of the requirements for “every line of this” is that our phones cannot run VPN? I use my phone for work and it requires VPN, so does that mean certain fixes are not available? Can I not have a watch now if I use vpn? Seems unrealistic.

Kgun76 wrote:

One of the requirements for “every line of this” is that our phones cannot run VPN? I use my phone for work and it requires VPN, so does that mean certain fixes are not available? Can I not have a watch now if I use vpn? Seems unrealistic.

It is IMHO, most unfortunate you are required to have a VPN on your iPhone. But that can and often does cause issues with iPhone and Apple Watch. The fact is iPhone does NOT need to have a VPN. But as you have a work phone and of course you must follow the requirements of your employer. In doing so, you can't hold Apple responsible for issues an employer required VPN can and usually causes. I would recommend you bring your issues to the IT folks at your company. Apple can't solve individual issues caused by using a VPN.

On a personal note, while I've not had any unusual battery drain issues with my Apple Watch Ultra through any update, I am seeing beyond great battery life under WatchOS 9.4.1. I strapped my Ultra to my wrist at 7:30 AM (eastern) this morning. While I've only texted a bit, so no heavy usage, my battery did start at 100% this morning and at nearly 12:30 PM, my battery is at 99% remaining.

Hi PWS52,

If you don’t mind, I probably missed it. What series watch do you have? In 15 hours are you saying you used 70% or have 70% left? Meaning you used 30%.

My stats on my Ultra are, for 12 hours I used 25%. That is with the 9.5.1 update yesterday. Before the update I was regularly using 20% for 12 hours. So my watch is now consuming 25% more. That is an improvement over the initial update where it was consuming 50% more. Hopefully it resynchronizes and recalibrates and returns to what it was before the update.

Thanks

PW, thanks for sharing that info. That’s looking pretty good and impressive. Trending really good. A little update on my Ultra. It looks like it has returned to normal and possibly better. 5% battery use for 9 hours. That was off a full charge and some sleeping involved, but still wearing it. In a 14 hours it will be 48 hours since 9.5.1 update. It’s looking like 48 hours after the update plays a big role.

I too will update again in about 14 hours for a full 24 hour update and some regular usage.

Happy charging to everyone.

Well folks as promised, another update. Everything seems to be normal now. 32 hours has used 49%.

I’ve only had my watch 2 weeks, so I wasn’t sure what to expect after an update. Pretty wild consumption swing initially.

I will say though, I am one happy camper.

Good luck to all.

That is very impressive. The series 8 is a very sweet watch. If I would have been aware of that kind of battery performance, I’m pretty sure I’d be wearing that watch at the moment. That’s the truth as I actually ordered and received the S8 and sent it back to apple unopened because I was worried about not having a long enough charge. Your stats would have convinced to keep that watch. These forums can be very helpful in many ways.

thanks

I do have the graphite series 8 which offers a few more features including the sapphire crystal glass but actually was interested in the Ultra until I put it on my wrist and decided against it, however I love the features of the Ultra and the battery life ….thank you!

Bradly82 wrote:

I am keen to know where I can get WebOS, I have never heard of this.

I think that poster meant watchOS. WebOS is not something that Apple uses and would certainly not run on an Apple Watch.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebOS

My watch is barely lasting 4 hours. It was fine just a week ago. Sure it wasn't lasting as long as it did when I bought it but I could at least make it through a work day. Now I can't even make it to lunch.

Very reassuring, that is the first action in the user tip I just posted.