Battery drain on my Apple Watch after watchOS 9.5.2 update

I am also having a major battery problem after the update. I need help from Apple. My watch went from over 80% one evening and powered off shortly after I woke up the next morning. I'm charging it for the 3rd time today.

It is not uncommon for heavier than usual battery load for a day or so after software update. For a guess, everything getting reindexed in the device storage.

@ Dah•veed I agree completely about trying a reboot. This often seems to fix such problems for me.

 Watch batteries are rated for 18 hours with normal daily use on the Watch page at apple.com. Anything beyond that is extra. The Ultra 36 hours.

Many folks find that a hard reset can resolve battery issues after an OS update.

M1 Mac mini, macOS 13.4;  Watch, series 7 GPS/cellular, watchOS 9.5.2; iPad Pro 2nd Gen, iPadOS 16.5; iPhone 12 Pro, iOS 16.5; TV 4th Gen, tvOS 16.5; HomePods, audioOS 16.5 and Airport Express w/ Airplay 2

The automatic shutdown occurs at about 10% of capacity on my Watch Ultimate using the default settings it had when I bought it in December 2022.

My watch shuts down a few times per month, usually while I’m asleep.

Just a moment ago the Maximum Charge was still 99%.

My Apple Watch Ultra used to last 30+ hours between a 100% charge to asking for a recharge (30% or lower).

After I updated to Watch OS 9.5.2 that 30+ hours dropped to about nine hours.

A hard reset of the watch improved the 100-30% cycle time to about 20-ish hours and now I can squeak by with one 100% battery charge every day.

I’m sure that Apple is getting enough feedback and will work out the underlying issue quickly. I usually dread software updates, but I’d really like an update that fixed this problem!

Since the 9.5.2 update, the battery life on my watch is poor. This morning, the battery went from 100% to 29% in less than 1.5 hours. I have model A2351. I’ve already tried the obvious, unpairing and resetting the watch. My iPhone is up to date. Rebooted both phone and watch several times.

Bought my Apple Watch Ultra a week ago, put the watch in the charger it came with the other night while it was also updating, woke up to the watch extremely hot to touch & stuck in reboot. 5 seconds it would show Apple logo & 5 seconds off. Tried to hard reset, didn’t work. After 30min of messing with it the screen went blank & hasn’t been able to turn on since. Have to send the watch in to be repaired.

I can’t speak for “everyone” but the battery life on my Watch Ultimate dropped to about 28% of what it had been the day before I installed the 20T571 update to WatchOS 9.5.2. A couple of hard resets, changing some settings, and removing some apps got my battery life back to 64% of what it was before the update.

Before the update I could easily recharge to 100% every second day, and depending on usage and timing could sometimes safely make it into a third day on one charge. After the update if I’m very careful about usage I can get by with only one charge to 100% each day.

If I make more than one phone call, use the GPS at all, or even run more than ten timers then I have to charge my watch twice per day.

I stopped wearing my watch. I get less than 4 hours of battery before it dies. I’ve reset both my phone and my watch. I’ve checked for a leaky battery and the watch retains charge overnight when turned off. I’ve turned off every option I can (Bluetooth, wifi, background app refresh, etc.) , put it in airplane mode, decrease screen brightness, etc. and it still loses charge quickly.

My watch loses charge quickly when reset *before* it’s paired with a phone. Everything I’ve done to troubleshoot points to the 9.5.2 release on my watch.

My Series 8 drains overnight while I am sleeping and seems to barely drain during the day since the update. This update has been horrible so far on my battery. Before I was able to charge once a day or sometimes a day in a half, but not any longer. I have tried everything so I am guessing this is some kind of software thing since so many of us are having this issue since the update. I hope they figure it out soon and release a fix update sooner rather than later otherwise I may just need to send it back and try a different smartwatch. I like Apple because it has the smallest watch face of the major brands. My wrists are really small and the other brands are wider than my wrist in most cases.

I’ve been wearing my watch just to track my workouts since it doesn’t last more than 4-6 hours on a full charge. My battery health has decreased in a couple weeks from 96% to now 90%. Very frustrating.

If a full charge of your watch only lasts 4-6 hours then something is very, very wrong. The odds are very good that the problems are in the software settings, not the battery itself.

Get the watch fixed. Without knowing the particulars of your watch model, personal preferences, and your other Apple gear this discussion could take a couple of days (about 20 messages) to work out.

If you have a Genius Bar nearby at an Apple Store, a Best Buy, or even a few other places then that feels like your best answer.

If a Genius Bar isn’t available but you have AppleCare, use it. The people I’ve worked with via messaging have been great. They will help you get things working better.

if nothing else works, I’ll help you figure it out here. One message at a time!

@YetAnotherSQL - thank you for your reply! I downloaded the urgent release (16.5.1(c)) and was hoping that may help. When I powered on my watch yesterday it immediately started losing battery within 5 minutes.

I’m also thinking about install watchOS 10 beta but also have to install iOS 17 beta. Not sure if I’m adventurous enough. Lol. If I do the beta installs, I will report back on my results to help others.

There is a Best Buy close to me. I’m hesitant to spend money to replace the watch face when everything points to a SW condition that an update will hopefully address.