Apple Watch Battery Drain Issues after Update

I did not have any 3rd party apps on my watch and, after installing 10.01, had the battery draining issues on my 6. It doesn't appear to be as simple as EkimEnots has suggested. It is a OS software problem.

It is an OS problem duh. The OS has a bug with some third party apps. Deleting these third party apps not reading correctly has worked with mine and countless others. Maybe your watch is 3 years old and the battery can’t handle new software anyways buddy. Lmao

I updated my phone to the most recent update (which I had done for both my series 9 and iPhone 14) and was experiencing a rapid battery drain. After unpairing and repairing my watch it seems to have fixed the issue!

Similar experience for me: After installing watchOS 10.1, would lose charge after about 3 hours. I took my watch to the Apple Store and an Apple Genius ran diagnostics and said the battery was okay, so it must be a software issue and that, since it just started malfunctioning, it must be something new and, therefore, easier to get rid of with a reset. Further, he said that, if this procedure did not work, it would require a more extensive investigation into the software, not detailing exactly what that would entail. He then proceeded to reset my Apple Watch Series 4 by first unpairing it, then resetting it, then re-pairing it to my iPhone 14 with iOS 17.1. Well, after all that, and after several days and more recharges, my Apple Watch can now go from 100% to 18% in FIVE hours instead of 3 hours, so maybe that's "progress"? And, at least I now know it is NOT a battery issue.

Other posts have suggested removing third-party apps, like watch faces, but I never had any of those, so I guess I'm going to try and revert the OS back to 10.0, which was working fine until I updated to 10.1.

I use my watch a lot, and for the $400+ it cost, it shouldn't be a mere piece of jewelry.

Btw, I had accidentally made a service appointment at Best Buy for this issue and, according the their Geek Squad "Apple guy," their policy is to replace the watch for battery and screen issues - at a cost of about $250 for a Series 4!

For me it’s been happening since 10 first dropped. If I didn’t really do much all day, with I full charge at 6am, by 9pm I could still be at 50%. After the update I’m at 30% around 8pm. But I just did the new update. Full charge at 8am. 4:20 pm it’s at 38%. Is there something running in the background???

I agree with you. I have the same problem with my Apple Watch Ultra. It’s annoying that the watch pass more time in the charger than in my wrist. Apple Ultra is supposed to last two days with battery ! Not four hours. Very frustrating!!

I did run diagnostics, I took it in and they told me it’s going to be 399 to repair it or trade yours in and get a new one. I was naive to do that. Now I have a brand new watch that does the same as my old one. I do not use any face apps. My 7 series was perfectly fine until the morning of 10/26 and since could not hold a charge. It was draining while charging. And guess what the series 9 does? The same thing. My son has a series 7 and his is all great with the new update. I am just frustrated and I will call and let them know. They are not cheap watches and my 7 series was lasting 24 hours easy. It is very much a bad PR right now. I have used Apple for over 15 years and never was this disappointed.

What is MobyFace? Never used it. Still have the issue. They should not tell me it’s a hardware issue if they have no clue and tell me their software diagnostics check out clean. So can’t not be frustrated with them.

so I have a series 7 for like more than a year or so, got it on like release. after the 10.1 update the full charge would not last a day. so ok i thought maybe we go buy a new one. got a 9 paired, updated and charged. went to bed for a nap. maybe that's a few hours. woke up its dead! i chat with a support. told me don't believe the communities. It's like saying you all are lying here. submitting your experiences. made me do diagnostics and asking me all these questions. I just ended the chat coz he told me just return it. great ! big help!

Read my previous post. The steps I did in order seems to have worked. I spent all day trying different things. I’m not sure why it worked but it did. Could have been the location services or third party apps or both. I’m guessing everyone’s watch has been feeling quite warm. Clearly something is running in background and draining the battery. I think it’s location services but disabling that on its own didn’t work. Also hard reset is a must. It’s like one or both if these things are stuck on. Just remember to pair the watch with saved data from after you delete third party apps and location service off. When watch ready again turn location service back on

As of today, 29th Oct, the issue is still there. I updated my apple watch SE 1 last night and it drained 95% of the battery within 2 hours. They haven’t fixed the issue with watchOS 10.1 in the public update.

My watch is useless now, updated it to the latest update and it drains the battery fast, not even lasting a full day. With optimized battery turned off it will only charge to 70%. Fix this Apple, this is unacceptable! It was perfectly fine before the update. A charge would last all day and then some.

I did what someone suggested and just unpaired the watch from the phone. This has improved the issue slightly. Battery is not draining so fast on saying that this is not an ideal situation Apple so please sort something out to fix this issue for many many people. This should not happen because of an update

@geapgr Glad that removing face-related apps seems to have worked for you. However, I don’t have any face apps or face-related apps, and I have the same battery drain problem. I’m still convinced it’s the OS update, and Apple needs to fix it.

Wow. Only 28 pages of replies. Good thing Apple doesn’t acknowledge it. Gotta love stellar customer service.

so if I’m understanding correctly, to get the battery life up I should remove all apps and turn off any bells and whistles from the Ultra. Basically don’t use the watch as what you were sold, but treat it like it’s a timex from the 80’s. Well, don’t use it as a stopwatch either. Maybe the old timex in my drawer will be better….just gotta find out what drawer it’s in….****, it’s been over 30 years. Hope I can find it!