Apple Watch Battery Drain Issues after Update

I have an Apple watch 8 also. I bought it a few months ago. The battery usage had sped up quite a bit but not as bad as what some people are experiencing. Mines would run down in the low 40% level but that's from almost a full day. Before it was running down to the low 50% level.

There is something wrong with this last major update. I hope Apple is working on a fix for this. I noticed that some people have the Ultra model and it's still happening.

This is ridiculous!

My watch used to last all day, now I can't even make it from the morning until 3PM after this latest update!

How does Apple manage to make each update worse? It's almost like it's on purpose...

Fix for me:

Unpair

Pair again

Remove the Moby Fox application

Once done back to normal except it’s only charging to 80% with battery optimization turned off

The length of time on that charge is normal now

This worked for me, don't know if it will work for others, but here's what I did:

1) Delete ALL non-Apple watch apps;

2) Shut down watch;

3) Charge to 100% (I used a 5W Apple charger instead of my usual 12W Apple charger, but I don't know if a slower charge has any effect);

4) Restart watch

Voila! I've been using my Watch S4 as usual and, after 15 hours, I still have 47% charge left! Quite a change from earlier when battery died in 3-5 hours.

Hope this works for others! Good luck!

I updated my watch last night, it won’t hold a charge for more than 50 minutes. Customer service said they would fix it for $99. They are not liable because the warranty is expired. Maybe give more than a year if you are planning to trash my watch after 2 years. I keep seeing these rando accounts saying to wait several days and it will fix itself. I have seen no proof anywhere. Get your bot a** out of here.

My series 6 watch has been doing the same thing the past few days. All I did was update to IOS 10.1

I tried live chat & was told things seem fine but to do further research they'd need me to return the watch & it would cost $330.00 to perform the work. I declined. Apparently the watch is just unusable now due to the update.

Same here. And for those stating that it's due to the 'Optimal charge' feature, even turning that off the watch won't hold a charge more than 6-8 hours. Wtaf, Apple? I rely on my watch for a lot. Super sucks that an update is making it less usable.

To all,

After much frustration i would like to share that deleting an app called MOBYFACES and a couple of others especially CLOCKOLOGY. Also pressing the crown and side button (Force Reboot) my Ultra Series 1 has been holding its charge and I saw a change immediately. It even charged fast like it was doing when i first purchased. Will be cautious on future updates.

Hope this helps others.

To all,

After much frustration i would like to share that deleting an app called MOBYFACES and a couple of others especially CLOCKOLOGY. Also pressing the crown and side button (Force Reboot) my Ultra Series 1 has been holding its charge and I saw a change immediately. It even charged fast like it was doing when i first purchased. Will be cautious on future updates.

Hope this helps others.

Since as far as I can see nobody has explained how to delete apps from the watch, here's the easiest way to do it:

In the Watch app on your phone, scroll down to the list of apps under "Installed on Apple Watch." Tap on the right arrow for the app and set the green slider to the left. It will then be uninstalled on the watch but remain on your phone, and added to the list of "Available Apps" at the bottom of the list.

Personally I would advise against removing all third party apps. Even if this corrects your battery draining issue, it means you will still not know which app was misbehaving. Taking away one or two at a time and seeing if it helps gives you a much better chance of finding the problem. Generally trying one thing at a time is a preferable diagnostic approach. The blunderbuss approach may fix the problem, but you'll never know why.

BTW, installing watchOS 10.1 seems to have corrected the battery drain issue on my Series 5. So probably a lot of us can simply do this and forego the other steps.

YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD BE NICE? IF APPLE ACTUALLY ACKNOWLEDGED THIS OBIVOUS ISSUE!

2,371 PEOPLE! WE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO REMOVE APPS! APPLE SHOULDN'T BREAK OUR PRODUCTS WITH UPDATES!

REDDIT IS POSTING ABOUT THIS SAME ISSUE!

You shouldn't have to use the forced restart unless the watch is unresponsive to the normal shutdown invoked by holding down the side button. A forced restart is the equivalent of yanking the plug out of the wall -- not something you ever want to do on purpose.

I followed the advice to uninstall third party apps, and did nothing else… and my battery problem has abated for now.

No idea which apps are at fault, as I can’t find the battery usage meter screen for each app.

I lose 70% in 5 hours after a full charge. My watch would last two and a half days and had enough battery to spare but now I can not use if I will be gone for more than 8 hours. I have the Apple watch ultra first gen.

I did the turn off and turn back on routine a couple of weeks ago. I had did it two other times with no changes. But the last time I did it my battery life seems like it's back to normal. I have a series 8 that I bought a few months ago.