Since updating to WatchOS 10.0.1, the watch battery charges only to 80% overnight and the battery drains more quickly than before the update. I also updated my iPhone 14 pro to iOS 17 around the same time. Would this impact the watch battery?
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
As many here I was affected by the constant battery drain of approx. 5% per hour and I think I found what was causing this for me.
When I checked the Watch App on my phone ==> General ==> About it showed that it synced 15 photos even though I have not selected any photos or albums to sync.
Opening the photos app on the watch confirmed that and showed that there are no photos on the watch.
I then selected an album with one picture to sync and the photo count went up to 16. Next I created a photo watch face and set it to dynamic and suddenly the watch showed random pictures that I never selected to sync. I searched for these photos on my iPhone and deleted them from there until the watch only showed 1 picture being synced, which was the one from the album. I then changed the watch face back from dynamic to album and left the face on the watch.
I did this on Tuesday. Yesterday, on Wednesday my watch was at 37% after wearing it without additional charging for almost 17 hours. Usually it would have been dead after 14 hours max. Today I took the watch off the charger at 7:30, at 8:41 it jumped to 99% where it would have been at 94% or even less before and now at 12:30 it is still at 87% which is 2.6%/hour.
I think the constant photo sync would be a good explanation for this issue as the watch would constantly download new pictured from the phone and would index them. In addition to that it would also explain why not everyone is affected by this since this would not apply to people having their photo sync configured to sync specific albums rather than the watch syncing random photos when nothing is selected for the photo sync. And it would also explain why resetting the watch doesn't help to fix this issue since the watch would start randomly syncing photos again after the reset.
Might be worth to check/try for others.
Updating to WatchOS 10.0.1 was a nightmare. Took forever to update and when I put the watch on it stated I only had 4% battery left. Back on the Apple charger and it took forever to recharge to full. When I put the watch back on the battery lasted for a very short time and again stated I only had 4% battery left. Back on the charger where it now lives until there is a patch or I can get to an Apple Store. Very disappointing from Apple, going forward I will not be updating until I'm assured there are no other issues like this going forward.
Upgrade on Apple watchSE Thursday evening. Went swimming battery was flat after 30mins. Came home charged it and had to charge it again throughout the day. Managed a 100% charge overnight. Had a 20 min walk with the dog and battery down to 55% so back on charge. Just rubbish cannot see the point in this wish I’d never updated 😡
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.
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.
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.
@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!
another issue for me. Other than my battery capacity. Which still sucks. Even after reset, dumping all the 3rd party apps and having to stop using fitness app. No my watch gets hot and only charged to 60%. I don’t think Apple is going to help. Steve Jobs would be ashamed of this level of customer service. It’s your fault not ours is how I get treated when dealing with my internet provider. Apple should be better.
Before update:
Watch could easily hold its charge for the whole day. I put it on the charger every night at 9pm. Then put it on at night to monitor my sleep. Keep it on all day receiving multiple notifications for my workouts and everything else.
After update:
Watch won’t charge over 80%
Watch won’t keep its charge.
Now it won’t even charge…
Message to Apple: please correct this update.
I wish people who are trying to help would stop recommending procedures that don't exist as this only adds to the frustration so many of us are already experiencing. There's no such thing as a "hard reset" on Apple Watch. You can shut it down and restart it, you can unpair and re-pair it with your phone, you can erase watch contents and settings, reset the home screen layout, and reset the sync data. These are our actual options.
Also, your watch is automatically populated with apps installed on your phone. If there's a way to prevent that from happening it hasn't been explained by anyone.
Since last update (10.1) my apple watch SE 2nd gen. less than 1 year old, drains battery within a couple of hours and is kinda useless to wear even during the night when waking up the watch battery is fully empty.
When I want to charge it it can only charge up to around 50% and then it's seen as too hot to charge further. So every time I have to wait until it's not to hot anymore to charge further.
I'm running into the worst battery drain issue I've ever had. I have an Apple Watch Series 6 that just updated to watchOS 10.2 two nights ago. Since then, my battery drains from 100% to dead in under 5 hours! What is going on? I used to be able to get around 36 hours of use from a full charge.
Apple Watch Battery Drain Issues after Update
